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ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “Debt-ceiling bill set to lose in the House. Why bother to vote?” (Christian Science Monitor, May 31, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0531/Debt-ceiling-bill-set-to-lose-in-the-House.-Why-bother-to-vote
2. “The Whole Picture. Our diversity is great, say Paul Staley, unless we make no effort to understand communities we don’t live or work in” (Perspectives, KQED public radio, May 31, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this Perspective
3. “
4. “SF Budget to be Unveiled” (KQED News, May 31, 2011); program featuring commentary by CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); Listen to the program
5. “S.F. bond measure gets voters’ support, poll shows” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 30, 2011); story citing DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/BAQP1JMF5M.DTL#ixzz1Nx8jqzIW
6. “Keeping Track; Events, People on the move, New business, Goodworks” (The Vancouver Sun (
7. “Online Learning Portals: Customizing Colleges Right Out of Higher Education?” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 29, 2011); story citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).
8. “Daniel Borenstein: Public-pension accounting hides the size of the problem” (Bay Area News Group, May 29, 2011); column by DANIEL BORENSTEIN (MPP 1980/MJ 1985); http://www.insidebayarea.com/columns/ci_18155641
9. “S.F.’s cleaning up its sidewalk act, study finds” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2011); story citing study directed by DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/26/BAJU1JL48E.DTL#ixzz1NZFih0Ni
10. “Bee owner McClatchy announces $236 million Miami land sale” (Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2011); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/27/3659187/bee-owner-mcclatchy-announces.html#ixzz1NZWh6asT
11. “Raising the nation’s debt ceiling” (The Nightly Business Report [PBS], May 26, 2011); program featuring commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
12. “New Mileage Stickers Include Greenhouse Gas Data” (
13. “Coal-fired rules debate gets heated -
U.S. EPA hears health, economic arguments at meeting in
14. “
15. “Committee nominates 2012-13 student regent” (Daily Bruin, May 24, 2011); story citing JONATHAN STEIN (MPP/JD cand. 2013) and DAVID CROOM (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/05/committee_nominates_201213_student_regent
16. “Brown’s latest state budget is aggressive against debt” (Sacramento Bee, May 23, 2011); story citing EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/23/3646247/browns-latest-state-budget-is.html#ixzz1NCBBcT8r
17. “Bears without borders: Berkeley’s impact around the world: Europe” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 14); story citing LISA DREIER (MPP 2002/MA-ERG 2002) and ALAIN DE JANVRY; http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
18. “Bears without borders:
19. “Making Connections” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 29); story citing HIMAMAULI DAS (MPP/JD 1997), http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
20. “Jerry Brown recasts tax push, targeting California’s ‘wall of debt’” (Sacramento Bee, May 17, 2011); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/17/3631897/jerry-brown-recasts-tax-push-targeting.html
21. “Collective anxiety; More state bills target benefits, bargaining rights” (Modern Healthcare, Pg. 32 Vol. 41, May 16, 2011); story citing DAVID WEIMER (MPP 1975/PhD 1978).
22. “Warner earns political capital as force behind debt
panel” (
23. “A fight over new law” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 15, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
24. “The price of fuel efficiency” (Washington Post, May 13, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
25. “East Bay cities vie for Lawrence Lab expansion” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 12, 2011); story citing JENNIFER OTT (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/11/BAAD1JF063.DTL#ixzz1M9kSaabQ
26. “Why debt limit issue may drag on through Election 2012” (Christian Science Monitor, May 10, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0510/Why-debt-limit-issue-may-drag-on-through-Election-2012
27. “GOP urges Obama to repeal—not expand—Medicare pay board” (American Medical News, May 9, 2011); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999).
28. “Jockeying begins for seats on San Francisco redistricting panel” (San Francisco Examiner, May 8, 2011); analysis citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/05/jockeying-begins-seats-san-francisco-redistricting-panel#ixzz1OnvVfXYU
29. “Shark finless soup touted by chefs” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 7, 2011); story citing research by DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/06/BA8K1JD57H.DTL#ixzz1LtYjVnKM
30. “APNewsBreak: Injunction sought
over
31. “
32. “Private sector ‘key to food security’” (Business Day [
33. “UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Poverty Report Shows Anti-Poverty Programs Worked” (States News Service, May 4, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
34. “Big Ideas @
35. “Van Hollen Deep in the Fray over Deficit, Spending” (The Baltimore Sun, May 2, 2011); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
36. “When fever’s gone, HCWs still shed virus. Outbreak shows course of H1N1 pandemic” (Hospital Employee Health, May 1, 2011); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP/MPH 1985).
37. “Economic worth of PPPs” (Business Line, April 29, 2011); book review citing AIDAN VINING (MPP 1974/PhD 1980).
38. “CityWise: Budget fix salves $8 million shortfall as city approves new body armor for police” (Oakland Tribune, April 28, 2011); story citing SABRINA BIRNBAUM LANDRETH (MPP 2004); http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_17953132?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
39. “Medicaid Director Brings Value-Based Health Care and
Stronger Leadership Skills to
40. “UW Conference on Long term unemployment in industrial countries” (Econbrowser, April 26, 2011); event featuring DAVID WEIMER (MPP 1975/PhD 1978).
41. “Big changes in Medicare appear to be inevitable” (Dayton Daily News, April 24, 2011); analysis citing JANUARY ANGELES (MPP 2002).
42. “New York Auto Show: Green Goes Mainstream (Finally)” (Hybrid Cars, April 20, 2011); column by ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.hybridcars.com/news/new-york-auto-show-green-goes-mainstream-finally-29766.html
43. “Federal cuts could devastate programs to help people living in poverty” (Oakland Tribune, April 12, 2011); story citing SARA BEDFORD (MPP 1991); http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_17830508?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
44. “Small Bites: Local challenge, CSA memberships, kosher wine, picnic knives” (The Oregonian, April 12, 2011); story citing DAVID BELLER (MPP 2007); http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/04/small_bites_local_challenge_cs.html
45. “
46. “Prius sales top 1M as pump prices spur interest in hybrids” (USA TODAY, April 7, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-04-06-prius-tops-one-million-in-sales.htm
47. “DC Conference Focuses on Global Warming and the Law” (Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Pg. NaN Vol. 19 No. 4, April 2011 National Edition); event featuring NED HELME (MPP 1971).
48. “Parents, Students, Community Members Gather to Move Education Forward” (Targeted News Service, March 28, 2011); event featuring JEFF PERTL (MPP 2009).
49. “
50. “Cutting Head Start is bad fiscal policy” (CNN.com, March 14, 2011); op-ed citing DAVID DEMING (MPP 2005).
51. “Districts converge in
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “The GOP’s last wish. Republicans are gaining more support for a plan that would make Medicare a voucher-based system. If Republicans focus on Medicare during the 2012 presidential campaign, will it help them or hurt them?” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 31, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0531/The-GOP-s-last-wish
2. “GOP presidential hopefuls yet to radiate in state” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2011); analysis citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/MNDD1JLD5S.DTL
3. “Study documents plunging crime rate locally, nationally” (Contra Costa Times, May 25, 2011); story citing STEVEN RAPHAEL; http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_18140136?nclick_check=1
4. “
5. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Rein in government contractors who use taxpayer money for political advantage” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 24, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0524/Rein-in-government-contractors-who-use-taxpayer-money-for-political-advantage
6. “Making Connections” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 30); story citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM, DANIEL MULHERN, and Dean HENRY BRADY; http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
7. “Climate Scientist Fears His ‘Wedges’ Made It Seem Too Easy” (National Geographic News, May 17, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/05/110517-global-warming-scientist-concern/
8. “
9. “Boeing fight gives Republicans weapon against labor board” (Seattle Times, May 12, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015040005_nlrb13.html
10. Robert Reich’s Blog: “The battle for the soul of the GOP. In the match between Wall Street and the Tea Party, who will win the Republican soul?” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 10, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0510/The-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-GOP
11. “Homeland Security dollars pouring into
12. “State schools’ maintenance backlog in the billions” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 2011); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/09/MNJT1IOESR.DTL
13. “Recession repeat greater threat than inflation” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/07/INTV1JB6OL.DTL#ixzz1LtJfVJty
14. “Why
15. “Granholm tenure lesson in new generation of role reversal” (Detroit Free Press, May 5, 2011); story citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM and DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.freep.com/article/20110506/COL10/105060439/Rochelle-Riley-Granholm-tenure-lesson-new-generation-role-reversal
16. “Questions he leaves behind” (The International Herald Tribune, May 4, 2011); commentary citing MICHAEL NACHT.
17. “HUMANITIES Soul food in the age of money. The humanities are essential to the core function of universities, to prepare students for a meaningful life” (The Australian, May 4, 2011, Australian Literary Review Edition); book review citing DAVID KIRP.
18. “Is Home Ownership Overrated? Jimmy Stewart taught us that buying a house was the key to building the American dream; James B. Stewart wonders whether that’s still true” (Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2011); column citing JOHN QUIGLEY; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB70001424052748704507404576178902057331740.html
19. “In death, bin Laden still the root of anxiety” (Washington Times, May 2, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER; http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/2/in-death-bin-laden-still-the-root-of-anxious-times/?page=all#pagebreak
20. “Budget debate’s center tilts to left” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/30/INLK1J7M3M.DTL#ixzz1LEWRXM2v
21. Op-ed: “How to Be a Real Man. The old rules don’t work—as I’ve learned being married to a powerful woman. Here’s what I’m telling our son about modern manhood” (Newsweek, May 1, 2011); op-ed by Visiting Lecturer DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.newsweek.com/2011/05/01/how-to-be-a-real-man.html
1. “Debt-ceiling bill set to lose in the House. Why bother to vote?” (Christian Science Monitor, May 31, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0531/Debt-ceiling-bill-set-to-lose-in-the-House.-Why-bother-to-vote
By Peter Grier, Staff writer
The US House on Tuesday is set to consider a bill that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling. Right now, that legislation is almost certain to get voted down. Republicans will oppose it in block, since it includes no large budget cuts that might make it more palatable. Many Democrats may cast “no” ballots as well, given that voters oppose a debt-ceiling hike.
So if the thing is doomed, why bother to vote on it at all? …
Republican House leaders say they have scheduled the vote as a way to demonstrate support for their position that any change in the debt ceiling must be accompanied by deep spending cuts….
But Stan Collender, a federal budget expert and partner at Qorvis Communications, says that the failure of this bill has no predictive value as to the fate of any future effort to raise the debt ceiling.
A debt-ceiling bill that included deficit reduction might be just as likely to lose, writes Mr. Collender in his weekly column in Roll Call. Some members would dislike the deficit reduction measures. Others would think they might not go far enough. Some GOP members elected with tea party support have pledged to never vote to raise the debt ceiling, on principle.
From the point of view of Collender, it’s possible that the reason the debt-ceiling bill is coming up now is to provide political cover for Republicans.
“The leadership may have finally realized that, with polls showing a substantial majority of Americans opposing an increase in the borrowing limit, many House members – especially middle-of-the-road Republicans – have to be given a chance to vote against the bill now so they will be able to vote for it later,” he writes….
2. “The Whole Picture. Our diversity is great, say Paul Staley, unless we make no effort to understand communities we don’t live or work in” (Perspectives, KQED public radio, May 31, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this Perspective
By Paul
Staley
After explaining for what seemed like the twentieth time that my company had bought real estate in Bay Point not Bayview, I realized that although we all live in the Bay Area, we each live in our own version of it….
... For many of us the
names of the usual choke points on the traffic reports, such as Loveridge or Sunol, might as well
be cities on the fabled Silk Road of
I suspect that one of the reasons the growing disparity in income in this country is not as big an issue as one might expect is that we live in a kind of world where such disparities are hidden to a large degree….
As a result our sense of compassion remains dormant and our outrage is not aroused because we don’t see the whole picture. For all our diversity, we are essentially a mosaic in which most tiles look just like the ones right next to them….
3. “
By Frances Dinkelspiel
Telegraph Avenue. (Photo: Nancy Rubin)
While UC Berkeley students eat regularly downtown and on Telegraph Avenue, they generally go elsewhere to shop for clothes, get their hair cut, buy sundries, or go out on the town, according to a new survey of 1,800 graduate and undergraduate students.
While 40.3% of the respondents
say they eat weekly on
But the students said
they would frequent
“The survey underscores
the fact that a high proportion of students do not feel safe in the business
districts, particularly on
4. “SF Budget to be Unveiled” (KQED News, May 31, 2011); program featuring commentary by CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); Listen to the program
Reported by Erika Kelly
SUPERVISOR CARMEN
5. “S.F. bond measure gets voters’ support, poll shows” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 30, 2011); story citing DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/BAQP1JMF5M.DTL#ixzz1Nx8jqzIW
--John Coté
A $248 million bond
measure to deal with the major backlog in
The poll by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates … found that 91 percent of likely voters thought deteriorating local streets were at least a somewhat serious problem, more worrisome than the quality of public schools and just below unemployment as a serious concern.
Some 66 percent of respondents in the poll said they were at least leaning toward supporting the bond measure, which also includes money to fix sidewalks and streetscape improvements. The number went up to 67 percent after voters heard arguments for and against the measure.
Measures that require two-thirds voter approval are typically difficult to pass, and the bleak economic climate in recent years has only made things worse.
Throw in the fact that certain voters view filling in potholes and paving streets as a basic government service that taxes should cover, and the city would seem to have a tough argument to make for borrowing. In fact, a similar bond measure was pulled from the ballot in 2009 because of opposition.
But David Metz, a partner at the polling firm, said their results show promising support.
“Even in a bad economy,
this is right around two-thirds,”
6. “Keeping Track;
Events, People on the move, New business, Goodworks”
(The Vancouver Sun (
… Aidan Vining, professor at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, is one of two finalists for the Kenneth J. Arrow Prize for Senior Economists, awarded annually by Berkeley Electronic Press….
7. “Daniel Borenstein: Public-pension accounting hides the size of the problem” (Bay Area News Group, May 29, 2011); column by DANIEL BORENSTEIN (MPP 1980/MJ 1985); http://www.insidebayarea.com/columns/ci_18155641
By Daniel Borenstein, Staff columnist
IF THERE’S any hope of
resolving the
Unfortunately, federal rules for private-sector pension accounting do not apply to government retirement systems. So public-employee plans are free to legally cook the books and hide the full size of the mounting debt.
The difference in the rules allows public-pension plans, when setting rates, to overstate how much money they have, understate how much they need and unconscionably spread out debt payments for generations. It’s politically driven accounting.
If public-pension systems were forced to operate under federal accounting rules that apply to private-sector plans, the required annual payments would often more than triple, devastating state and local government budgets. The public backlash would be unbearable for elected officials and the cost would force layoffs of many more workers.
Instead, public-pension systems paper over the problem. For example, consider the pension plan for the state’s non-safety workers. When the California Public Employees’ Retirement System required the state to contribute $2 billion for the current fiscal year, it was on a 2009 actuarial valuation that showed the pension plan was 81 percent funded.
If CalPERS had been required to follow private-sector accounting rules, the state would have been required to pay more than $7 billion and the accounting would have shown the plan to be roughly only 55 percent funded, according to estimates prepared for me by a private-sector pension consultant….
8. “Online Learning Portals: Customizing Colleges Right Out of Higher Education?” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 29, 2011); story citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).
By David Glenn
Somewhere out there is an ambitious but frugal high-school graduate who wants to avoid a traditional college path. Maybe she has read Anya Kamenetz’s DIY U or one of the other end-higher-education-as-we-know-it manifestoes that have circulated in recent years.
Her plan is to pursue an education à la carte, spending as little money as possible. She’ll use free online resources like MIT’s OpenCourseWare project. She’ll find workplace apprenticeships. If she needs specialized training, she might take a few classes at a local college. Maybe this will all eventually add up to a formal degree, and maybe it won’t. What our student really cares about is cultivating skills and wisdom, and persuading employers that she has educated herself well.
That strategy might or might not be smart. But an online infrastructure is emerging that could someday make it easier to attempt it. Depending on how it evolves, this infrastructure might profoundly change how Americans certify their skills and transform their relationship with colleges….
Marina Gorbis, executive director of the Institute for the Future, a California-based think tank, has recently been lecturing to accrediting organizations about what she calls the disaggregation and personalization of higher education. She does not believe that universities will disappear; in fact, she says face-to-face learning communities are more important than ever. But she does expect traditional credit-hour and degree structures to change fundamentally as students find new tools for demonstrating their competencies.
“Degrees will continue to play an important role,” Ms. Gorbis says. “But it’s very hard to assess higher-level skills simply by knowing that someone has a degree.” For that reason, she believes, portfolios and specialized tests will become more important to employers than simple course transcripts. And that, in turn, might lead students to lower their costs by doing as much of their learning as possible outside the high-tuition confines of a traditional degree program….
9. “S.F.’s cleaning up its sidewalk act, study finds” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 27, 2011); story citing study directed by DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/26/BAJU1JL48E.DTL#ixzz1NZFih0Ni
--John Coté
It appears
Forget about those Muni
transfers, DJ flyers and excrement (dog or otherwise). A new study commissioned
by the city controller found that people roaming
In fact, some people surveyed were satisfied with sidewalk cleanliness in many locations that failed the city’s own maintenance standards, according to the report by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates that was released Thursday.
The opinion research and public policy analysis firm interviewed 841 random people at 56 locations in all 11 supervisorial districts in the city.
The most common complaints were about cigarette butts, trash, smells, grime and a generally dirty appearance, the report found, as opposed to graffiti or leaf litter. The report recommends adjusting city maintenance standards to focus on cigarette butts, glass and feces, which drew the most negative reactions, and to come up with a plan to counter offensive odors….
10. “Bee owner McClatchy announces $236 million Miami land sale” (Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2011); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/27/3659187/bee-owner-mcclatchy-announces.html#ixzz1NZWh6asT
By Dale Kasler
The McClatchy Co., after
years of frustration, said today it has sold a parcel of land in
Sacramento-based McClatchy, which owns The Bee, said the land has been sold to a Malaysian company called Genting Malaysia Berhad, a worldwide resort developer and operator. The Herald will occupy the building for two more years rent free while McClatchy looks for other sites….
“The sale of this real estate has no impact on the mission of the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald,” said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman and chief executive, referring to the Herald’s Spanish-language edition….
The news of the Malaysian deal sent McClatchy’s stock up 30 cents to $3.06 in early New York Stock Exchange trading….
11. “Raising the nation’s debt ceiling” (The Nightly Business Report [PBS], May 26, 2011); program featuring commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
TOM HUDSON (host): The vice president and a bipartisan group of congressional negotiators met for a little over an hour today. They’re working to hammer out an agreement to cut federal spending and raise the nation’s debt ceiling. Time runs out in early August. Lawmakers in the talks say they are making progress, but a key issue will be just how long any extension of the debt ceiling will last….
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: ... Budget-watcher Stan Collender is not looking for the talks now under way to reach a long-term agreement.
STAN COLLENDER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, QORVIS COMMUNICATIONS: I think they are going to need something at least symbolic, a fig leaf, something that a number of members of Congress can hang their hats on that will say: well, it’s not as much as I would have liked, but it’s as much as we were going to get, that will just allow them to vote for a debt ceiling increase. My guess is they will also do a relatively short-term increase, maybe just enough to get through next March, so we’ll have to come back and do this again….
12. “New Mileage
Stickers Include Greenhouse Gas Data” (
By John M. Broder
The federal government unveiled new window stickers, which will go
into effect for vehicles starting with the 2013 model year. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The federal government unveiled new fuel economy window stickers on Wednesday, for vehicles starting with the 2013 model year, that for the first time include estimated annual fuel costs and the vehicle’s overall environmental impact.
The new labels, which replace a five-year-old design that provided only basic information about estimated fuel economy, represent the broadest overhaul in the sticker program’s 35-year history. There will be different labels for conventional vehicles, plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles, with cars running solely on battery power estimated to get 99 miles per gallon.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation, which are jointly responsible for the window sticker program, rejected a radically different design that would have prominently displayed a letter grade from A to D comparing a given vehicle’s fuel economy and air pollution to those of the entire fleet of new cars.
Automakers objected to that sticker as simplistic and potentially misleading. The government instead adopted a much busier label with more information and a sliding scale comparing vehicles across classes….
Some environmental advocates pushed hard for the letter grade system, saying it provided car buyers the clearest way to compare vehicles across classes.
Luke Tonachel of the Natural Resources Defense Council said that the letter grade would have been preferable, but said he was glad that the new label provided pollution impacts and operating costs….
13. “Coal-fired
rules debate gets heated - U.S. EPA hears health, economic arguments at
meeting in
CHICAGO (AP) — Environmental and medical advocates urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to adopt strict new rules regulating toxic emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants, saying it would reduce respiratory illnesses, birth defects and developmental problems in children. But some industry groups said the benefits are exaggerated.
If the proposed rules
are adopted, it would be the first time that the EPA regulated toxic air
emissions such as mercury, lead, arsenic and acid gas emitted by coal-fired
power plants. The facilities emit 386,000 tons of toxic air pollution annually,
by far the largest industrial source of it in the
“The EPA has failed
until now to issue a rule to protect public health and the environment,” said Steve Frenkel,
director of the Midwest office of the
14. “
--Wyatt Buchanan,
Chronicle
(05-24) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- Over the next four years, California’s general fund budget is projected to grow from $88.8 billion to $112.5 billion, but that additional money—which will raise the general fund to its highest level in history—will not restore recent cuts to parks, health care and social services.
Instead, more than half will be automatically spent on K-12 schools and community colleges because of voter-approved Proposition 98, while most of the remaining increase will cover rising costs of health care, prisons and the costs of debt and borrowing.
Despite the cuts, the state’s expenses are projected to grow.
“The two biggest drivers of growth in the coming years ... will be schools and health care. Virtually every other aspect of state government is in a slow-growth mode,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.
But conservative experts on the state’s finances said lawmakers do have the option of changing laws - limiting eligibility for programs, providing fewer services or just doing away with a program altogether - in order to control the growth.
“Normal growth isn’t
necessarily acceptable,” said Mike Genest, who was director of the Department of Finance
during Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration and now operates a
15. “Committee nominates 2012-13 student regent” (Daily Bruin, May 24, 2011); story citing JONATHAN STEIN (MPP/JD cand. 2013) and DAVID CROOM (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2011/05/committee_nominates_201213_student_regent
By Crystal Hsing [with reports by Kelly Zhou, Bruin senior staff]
A UC Board of Regents’ special committee nominated Jonathan Stein, a graduate student in public policy and a law student at UC Berkeley, to be the 2012-13 student regent….
A native of
As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, he founded Berkeley Common Cause, an organization that focuses on effecting state government reform to end the UC budget crisis, according to UCOP.
Stein also took a prominent role in the 2010 elections, working to generate support for a proposition regarding legislative votes on budget issues.
David Croom, a master’s student in public policy at UC Berkeley, has worked with Stein in their school’s Graduate Assembly.
“He’s been pretty big about
getting involved with our legislators around
Alfredo Mireles, the incoming student regent, described Stein as “incredibly humble, down to earth and approachable.”
“He’s somebody who does not shy away from the big problems facing our university or state government,” said Mireles, a graduate student in health policy at UC San Francisco.
In addition to advocating for access and affordability, Stein also aims to improve the campus climate for diversity during his one-year term as student regent, according to UCOP….
[See the UC Newsroom story: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/25608 ]
16. “Brown’s latest state budget is aggressive against debt” (Sacramento Bee, May 23, 2011); story citing EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/23/3646247/browns-latest-state-budget-is.html#ixzz1NCBBcT8r
By Kevin Yamamura
Gov. Jerry Brown lays out his revised plan for a
Like many cash-strapped
families,
Under [Gov. Jerry Brown]’s new budget schedule, much of the state’s tax revenue growth over the next two years would help clean up balance sheets rather than buy more school days or restore Medi-Cal cuts.
The state would generally wait to pump more money into programs until 2013-14. Despite significant revenue growth in the meantime, schools and low-income residents would generally have to wait to claw back from the Great Recession….
There is one area where reversing payment deferrals could have a significant impact: K-12 schools and community colleges.
Lawmakers have delayed $10.4 billion in payments to schools, roughly equal to 20 percent of their funding. The amount is so large that districts have taken out short-term loans and exhausted reserves to cover the state’s IOUs.
In the short run, Brown’s plan would clean up the school districts’ books and eliminate borrowing costs they have had to pay. But districts that borrowed to cover the state’s promises won’t be able to restore their classroom cuts until these deferrals are eliminated.
For that reason, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office believes the governor’s plan will keep school programs in many districts at their current size for at least the next two years, even though the schools budget is slated to grow from $49.7 billion to $56.3 billion by 2012-13.
“It is very aggressive; he’s trying to eliminate debt entirely before building up programs,” said Edgar Cabral, a K-12 expert with the Legislative Analyst’s Office. “It would be a tough couple years, but if they get there, there would be no more debt after.”
17. “Bears without borders: Berkeley’s impact around the world: Europe” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 14); story citing LISA DREIER (MPP 2002/MA-ERG 2002) and ALAIN DE JANVRY; http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
… Every January, the
alpine town of
She mobilizes attendees to use the power of business to reduce hunger and poverty. “The blessing and curse is that someone has a new idea every 10 minutes,” she says. “I’ve tried to hunker down and really develop momentum around one issue.”
18. “Bears without
borders:
“Teach for Pakistan is a powerful idea to believe in, a movement
that gives us a sense of community, and a challenge to every young Pakistani to
do something extraordinary for this country. This is the beginning of an
educational revolution.” –Khadija Bakhtiar M.P.P. ‘10, a recent
19. “Making Connections” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 29); story citing HIMAMAULI DAS (MPP/JD 1997), http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
…Berkeley Law Professor David Caron J.D. ‘83 [and current president of the American Society of International Law] … mingles with Himamauli Das ‘97 … at an event he hosted at the Library of Congress….
20. “Jerry Brown recasts tax push, targeting California’s ‘wall of debt’” (Sacramento Bee, May 17, 2011); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/17/3631897/jerry-brown-recasts-tax-push-targeting.html
By Kevin Yamamura
With state revenues rising, Gov. Jerry Brown reframed his call for tax extensions Monday, saying they are still necessary to help the state whittle down an accumulated “wall of debt.” …
While the revenue spike
has improved the state’s immediate outlook, Brown said
Michael Genest, who served as Department of Finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when state leaders used many of the payment deferrals targeted by Brown, praised Brown for seeking to reverse some of the maneuvers.
“I would say he’s using the additional money to clean up the books, which is what he said he wanted to do – to clear some of the underbrush,” said Genest, whose administration argued at the time that the state needed every last solution in the midst of an historic downturn.
Genest also said he sees some politics at play.
“The subtext of that is pretty obvious,” Genest said. “He doesn’t want to take the pressure off the taxes.” …
21. “Collective anxiety; More state bills target benefits, bargaining rights” (Modern Healthcare, Pg. 32 Vol. 41, May 16, 2011); story citing DAVID WEIMER (MPP 1975/PhD 1978).
By Jessica Zigmond
Far from over, the Wisconsin budget battle that erupted earlier this year has made its way to the courts and underscores how state employees—and even their work environment—can be affected by decisions lawmakers say they must make to maintain services and prevent layoffs.
Wisconsin gained national prominence in March after the state Legislature pushed a budget bill that first-term Republican Gov. Scott Walker said would help the state plug a nearly $140 million budget deficit and allow 1,500 state employees to keep their jobs.
The bill required what
David Weimer, professor of political science and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, says in an e-mail that state workers now contribute 6.2% of their health insurance costs, meaning that percentage would double.
“The unions had agreed to go along when they saw the governor would do away with collective-bargaining rights,” Weimer says….
22. “Warner earns
political capital as force behind debt panel” (
By Raju
Chebium, Gannett
RESTON,
Warner, a Democrat from
Warner came to the Senate just two years ago, but he’s already gained the respect of colleagues on fiscal matters.
As
In an article for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Collender wrote that Warner’s approach of reducing the government’s costs rather than its size—as tea party conservatives demand—may be the only practical path available to Congress….
23. “A fight over new law” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 15, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
By Mark Davis, Jeremy Redmon; Staff
Just because Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed an immigration reform bill into law late last week does not necessarily mean life for illegal immigrants will change when the law takes effect July 1.
Instead, say legal observers, the governor’s signature is but the latest development in an issue that may not be settled until it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
... Like
The law creates new
hiring practices for many
Opponents of the law
need to act fast, said Karen Tumlin, a lawyer with the
24. “The price of fuel efficiency” (Washington Post, May 13, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
By Peter Whoriskey
As the first Toyota Priuses took to
But there was a problem:
They cost too much, and consumers spurned them. Last year, the vehicles
represented less than 3 percent of cars and light trucks sold in the
Over the next few
months, regulators are scheduled to set the next round of
On one side are
automakers, which warn that the highest targets could add as much as $10,000 to
the price of a new car, devastating a
On the other side are environmentalists, who dismiss the automakers’ cost estimates as bloated and argue that the costs of investing in fuel efficiency are tiny compared with the effects of global warming and dependence on foreign oil.
The proposal to raise
the standard to 62 mpg, which would translate into “real world” average
efficiency of about 45 mpg, is also backed by 17
“The cost of investing in clean car technology will be vastly outweighed by the billions saved averting the dangers of global warming,” said Roland Hwang, transportation director for the Natural Resources Defense Council….
25. “East Bay cities vie for Lawrence Lab expansion” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 12, 2011); story citing JENNIFER OTT (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/11/BAAD1JF063.DTL#ixzz1M9kSaabQ
--Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Subha Venkat and Paul Yousefi work at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, which is expanding. (Lance Iversen / The Chronicle)
Six
“This can be a game-changer for Alameda Point,” said Deputy City Manager Jennifer Ott. “The lab can be part of shaping the community out there. They can tell us what they want, and we can work together to make that happen.”
Alameda Point is
somewhat in limbo after the City Council voted last summer to cut ties with the
developer, 13 years after the Navy pulled out. The city would want to see high-tech, high-paying jobs at the site, and hopes the new lab
would spur development across the old base, which makes up one-third of
“The City Council
decided to offer this land for free so we’d be on a level playing field with
26. “Why debt limit issue may drag on through Election 2012” (Christian Science Monitor, May 10, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0510/Why-debt-limit-issue-may-drag-on-through-Election-2012
By Gail Russell Chaddock, Staff writer
Washington -- House Speaker John Boehner’s call for trillions in federal spending cuts as a condition for increasing America’s $14.3 trillion debt limit just raised the bar for budget talks between congressional leaders and the White House, set to resume Tuesday – a move likely to keep the debt limit issue running through the 2012 election.
In laying down his marker, Boehner signals to the White House that Republicans will exact a high price to raise the debt ceiling, to be paid off in spending cuts, not tax increases….
... With a deeply polarized Congress and divided party control of the House and Senate, plans that solve the debt crisis by mainly raising taxes or mainly cutting spending won’t have the votes to prevail.
“Polls for years have said, ‘don’t touch Medicare,’ so the [House] vote on Medicare [calling for transforming it into a subsidy program] is likely to be as damaging to Republicans as health care [reform] was to Democrats,” says Stan Collender, a congressional budget analyst, now with Qorvis Communications.
The way out for embattled congressional leaders is to propose actions that would result in the nation’s bottom line changing by trillions, without specifying precisely how that will be achieved, he adds. “The best you’re going to be able to hope for now is a change in the budget process,” and let a future Congress decide how to change it, he says….
27. “GOP urges Obama to repeal—not expand—Medicare pay board” (American Medical News, May 9, 2011); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999).
By Charles Fiegl, amednews staff.
... The board’s mandate includes recommending cuts when Medicare spending exceeds projected targets, but the board has limitations on how it can accomplish this...
Its cost-cutting instructions would expand under the president’s plan to reduce budget deficits….
The issue of promoting value-based purchasing, also known as pay-for-performance, would require changing the board’s authorization under the health system reform law, said Tricia Neuman, director of the Medicare Policy Project at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Current law prohibits the board from cutting benefits and doing anything that could be perceived as rationing health care, she said.
The American Medical Association has opposed the IPAB as currently structured because of potential adverse impacts on patients and physicians. Medicare physician pay already is subject to the sustainable growth rate formula, which mandates annual pay decreases starting with a roughly 30% cut scheduled for Jan. 1, 2012….
The concerns [AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, MD] cites also are mentioned in a Kaiser Family Foundation issue brief on the IPAB written by Neuman along with Juliette Cubanski, a principal policy analyst with the foundation, and Jack Ebeler….
“On the one hand, the SGR has imposed some constraints on Medicare spending growth and on the Congress,” authors of the report wrote. “On the other hand, it has made Medicare an unreliable partner with physicians, whose participation is essential to carrying out the program’s mission of assuring access to care for beneficiaries.” …
“As a technical matter, it is unclear what would happen if IPAB makes a statutory recommendation to enact a [physician pay] freeze for several years,” the authors wrote. “From the board’s perspective, this has no cost, but it clearly has a [Congressional Budget Office] scoreable cost.” …
[Read the report by Ebeler, Neuman & Cubanski: “The Independent Payment Advisory Board: A New Approach to Controlling Medicare Spending,” Kaiser Family Foundation, April (www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8150.pdf ) ]
28. “Jockeying begins for seats on San Francisco redistricting panel” (San Francisco Examiner, May 8, 2011); analysis citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/05/jockeying-begins-seats-san-francisco-redistricting-panel#ixzz1OnvVfXYU
By: Joshua Sabatini – Examiner Staff Writer
Losing candidates,
nonprofit leaders and other political figures are lining up for a chance to
serve on an influential task force that could change the political bent of
Today, Elections Commission Director John Arntz is expected to officially announce that The City’s 11 supervisorial districts will need to be redrawn based on the results of the 2010 census….
With new boundaries, long-standing progressive or moderate districts could shift….
Redrawing district boundaries must meet certain legal requirements, including distributing population equally among all 11 districts and no dilution of the voting power of a language or racial group.
“It’s highly likely every district will be changed to some extent, some will be changed a lot, some will be changed a little,” political consultant David Latterman said….
29. “Shark finless soup touted by chefs” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 7, 2011); story citing research by DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/06/BA8K1JD57H.DTL#ixzz1LtYjVnKM
--Jessica Kwong, Chronicle Staff Writer
A bevy of local chefs joined environmentalists and public officials Friday in an effort to convince the Chinese community that a proposed ban on shark fin soup isn’t an attack on their cultural heritage.
Since Assemblymen Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, and Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, introduced AB376 in February, Chinese Americans, who see shark fin soup as an important part of their traditional cuisine, have emerged as the main opponents of the legislation….
A new poll, however, shows that a surprising number of Chinese American voters back the ban.
Commissioned by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium, the poll found that 76 percent of
“Chinese Americans feel no different than the rest of the community,” he said. “This is a bipartisan issue—men and women, liberals and conservatives, all generations, voice concern for shark finning.”
Environmentalists argue that the world’s growing appetite for shark fin soup, an expensive delicacy, is threatening the future of many species of sharks. In too many cases, they say, fishermen practice the “finning” technique, in which they catch or net the sharks, chop off the fin and toss the shark’s bleeding body back into the ocean.
The poll, conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, [Dave] Metz & Associates, surveyed 800 voters, including the oversample of Chinese Americans from Feb. 7 to 10….
30. “APNewsBreak:
Injunction sought over
By Josh Loftin, Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two civil rights groups asked a federal judge Friday to stop a Utah immigration law from taking effect next week, saying it would create a police state and violate constitutional rights to due process.
The American Civil
Liberties Union and the
Because the law could force people to prove their citizenship when arrested for any crime, there is the very real danger of racial profiling by police officers if it goes into effect, said Karen Tumlin, the law center’s managing attorney.
“We are focused on the
imminent threat of harm to people of color in the state of
31. “
By Jon Ortiz
Commissioned by pension overhaul advocates poised to seek changes, the report drew immediate fire from public employee unions, which have muscled up to fight the emerging pension wars.
The two-part study, commissioned by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, also cautions that public pension obligations threaten to crowd out money for public services….
The study by Sacramento-based Capitol Matrix Consulting estimates the impact of those proposals on various employees based on length of service and whether they are safety or miscellaneous workers. Nearly every scenario envisions deep cuts to employee benefits and employer costs….
Capitol Matrix, co-founded by former Finance Department Director Mike Genest, looked only at what employers pay for benefits, not what employees contribute. It echoes some of the unsustainable public pension warnings contained in February’s Little Hoover Commission pension report, although Genest and co-authors Brad Williams and Jay Peters took care to strike a neutral tone during a teleconference with reporters.
“I don’t know what the right retirement system is,” Genest said….
A 45-year-old California state employee halfway through a 30-year career making $60,000 per year—$5,000 less than a private sector counterpart—receives on average $46,492 in health, retirement and other benefits for a total compensation of $106,492, according to the study. The private sector worker in the state receives, on average, $31,737 in benefits for $96,737 in total compensation….
32. “Private sector ‘key
to food security’” (Business Day [
By
UNLESS business was a
part of the solution for global food security, governments’ agricultural
development initiatives would have limited success in increasing production to
feed citizens, the World Economic Forum (WEF) heard in
Among issues being discussed by the forum is food security at a time of rising commodity prices as well as increased volatility in food markets, which poses both humanitarian and political risks.
Lisa Dreier, director of food security and development initiatives at
the WEF, told Business Day that the forum wanted to present African
governments with the potential for increasing business participation in
agriculture through the provision of business-led solutions to help meet
agricultural goals. While most governments had committed to increasing spending
on agricultural infrastructure in line with the New Partnership for
Ms Dreier said the forum discussed a strategy, launched in
The strategy, “Realizing a New Vision for Agriculture: A Road Map for Stakeholders”, outlines contributions that the private sector could make in implementing sustainable agriculture systems that meet global needs.
She said one of the
objectives of the meeting in
The road map was developed through the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative—an alliance of 17 global companies, national governments, international organisations and farmer leaders—to accelerate sustainable agricultural development using market-based approaches.
“The initiative works to develop a shared agenda for sustainable agricultural growth among stakeholders, based on a vision of agriculture as a positive driver of food security, environmental sustainability and economic opportunity,” Ms Dreier said.
33. “UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Poverty Report Shows Anti-Poverty Programs Worked” (States News Service, May 4, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
Prepared by researchers
at the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, the report takes a broader measure of the needs and
resources of
Under the Wisconsin
Poverty Measure, 11.5 percent of the state’s population was poor in 2009 -
nearly identical to the 2008 level. Meanwhile, the official poverty rate for
These differences are
striking considering the
Specifically, adjusting
for the expanded tax credits under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
of 2009, researchers find a 1.9 percent reduction in the poverty rate; counting
food assistance received by families under the state’s FoodShare
program results in a 1.2 percent reduction in the poverty rate. Most striking,
the refundable taxes and tax credits counted in the
The report was prepared by IRP Director Timothy Smeeding, Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution, IRP researcher Joanna Young Marks and Katherine Thornton, a programmer analyst at IRP. The team is at the forefront of a growing number of groups across the country developing state and local poverty measures.
In
34. “Big Ideas @
… The competition winners by category:
Scaling Up Big Ideas Competition
Total Prize: $35,000
Sponsor: The
Team Members: Alissa Johnson, Kenneth Armijo, Sara Beaini, and Adam Langton
Current water-heating technologies in developing countries are either expensive or have poor quality that increase health and environmental risks. CalSolAgua (CSA) designed a simple, yet patentable, low cost solar water heating system capable of reducing energy costs and carbon emissions for households in developing countries. CSA’s solar water heater can sell for one-third of the price of competiting water tank heaters and less than one-eighth the cost of existing solar water heaters. Additionally, it will reduce carbon emissions by over 90 million tons, which is the equivalent of taking 17 million cars of the roads….
Safe Water Enterprises Competition
Total Prize: $30,000
Sponsor: Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership
Team Members: Fermin Reygadas, Sheila Addams-Sapper, John Erickson, Teresa Gomez, Matt Kennedy, Courtney King, Devina Kuo, Nick Lee, Sarah Price, Shilpa Raja, Aparna Ramkrishnan
Diarrheal disease from
drinking unsafe water is one of the leading causes for death in
Science Technology
and Engineering Policy Competition
Total Prize: $3,500
Sponsor: Science, Technology and Engineering Policy Group
Team Member: John Erickson
Many piped potable water systems in developing countries do not provide continuous service…. The paper finds that managing demand is a less expensive and more effective way to improve service quality for residents in developing countries affected by unreliable water availability.
Social Entrepreneurship Competition
Total Prize: $25,000
Sponsor: Big Ideas @
Team Members: Fermin Reygadas, Sheila Addams-Sapper, John Erickson, Teresa Gomez, Matt Kennedy, Courtney King, Devina Kuo, Nick Lee, Sarah Price, Shilpa Raja, Aparna Ramkrishnan….
35. “Van Hollen Deep in the Fray over Deficit, Spending” (The Baltimore Sun, May 2, 2011); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By John Fritze - The
These days, as the
top-ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, the
On the budget committee,
his top task is to provide a counterweight to Republican Chairman Paul Ryan.
The
Ryan’s budget proposal
riveted
The Van Hollen proposal, which failed a House vote, hewed closely to broad outlines proposed by the president, cutting billions of dollars in defense spending while raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year.
Van Hollen’s decision to draft a budget came partly in response to criticism of his Democratic predecessor on the budget committee. South Carolina Rep. John M. Spratt, who chaired the committee last year, did not produce a budget at all—and became one of the highest-ranking Democrats to lose his seat last November.
“The previous chairman was highly respected but very low-key,” said Stan Collender, a budget expert with the Washington-based business consulting firm Qorvis Communications. “They were looking for a younger, energetic communicator.” …
36. “When fever’s gone, HCWs still shed virus. Outbreak shows course of H1N1 pandemic” (Hospital Employee Health, May 1, 2011); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP/MPH 1985).
Even when health care workers return to work after being ill with influenza, they still may be shedding viable virus. That is a finding from an analysis of a small outbreak of pandemic H1N1 in the fall of 2009.1
Viral shedding is
unlikely to lead to transmission if the infected person does not have any
symptoms, says Tim Uyeki,
MD, MPH, MPP, a medical epidemiologist with the influenza division at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in
... “Persons who are not symptomatic are unlikely to be transmission risks,” comments Uyeki. “But we need more data to understand the risk of transmission from someone who is asymptomatic but infected.”
The lessons from this outbreak also might have limited application to seasonal influenza. In this case, no one had pre-existing immunity to the pandemic strain and the vaccine was not yet available.
But it still underscores the need to be vigilant about infection control, says Uyeki. “Annual influenza vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza and is recommended for all health care personnel,” he says. “Nevertheless, influenza vaccine effectiveness varies from season to season and is not 100%. Even vaccinated persons may still develop influenza illness from influenza virus infection. That highlights the importance of infection control measures to prevent and control nosocomial transmission.” …
37. “Economic worth of PPPs” (Business Line, April 29, 2011); book review citing AIDAN VINING (MPP 1974/PhD 1980).
There is no book in recent times with a sweep as comprehensive and vast, insights as rich and thoughtful, data as recent and authentic, and production as lavish and well-done as the International Handbook on Public-Private Partnerships by Greame Hodge and Anthony Boardman, two scholars who have gone beyond the known in this interesting and complex field of great relevance today….
Anthony Boardman and Aidan Vining try to postulate what the economic worth of a PPP could be. They argue that PPPs postpone governments cash outlays; make the government’s current balance-sheet look good for future liabilities are seldom reported ; may improve cash flows for citizens; may be more willing to pay a toll to a private operator than to the government for the same service; and lastly, transfer of risk to the private sector.
A caveat is that in
sharply polarised polities, especially in imperfect
democracies, large PPP projects actually increase political risk for they can
become the subject of debate and dislocation of the incumbent (worse case
scenario), especially where there is some form of crony capitalism involved.
Enron’s huge
38. “CityWise: Budget fix salves $8 million shortfall as city approves new body armor for police” (Oakland Tribune, April 28, 2011); story citing SABRINA BIRNBAUM LANDRETH (MPP 2004); http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_17953132?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Sean Maher
The shortfall largely comes from the city having issued fewer parking tickets, as well as $1 million in expected billboard revenue that didn’t come through, Landreth told the Finance and Management Committee.
However, the city’s estimates for medical costs ran high by about $9 million, she added—the city stopped collecting medical costs from the individual departments in April and should have the shortfall made up by the end of the year….
Landreth assured them the medical cost differences are being included as her team works on the new budget….
39. “Medicaid Director
Brings Value-Based Health Care and Stronger Leadership Skills to
Medicaid is the second
largest driver of spending in
“I wanted to be in an
environment where I was learning about cutting-edge things and how to transform
Medicaid,” instead of focusing only on the day to day, said
Acquiring knowledge that
will be essential to implementing the Affordable Care Act in
“I wanted to focus on an approach where we could get better value out of the system, better ability to measure outcomes and provide incentives to our providers to make the right decisions about the best type of care to provide,” said Douglas….
40. “UW Conference on Long term unemployment in industrial countries” (Econbrowser, April 26, 2011); event featuring DAVID WEIMER (MPP 1975/PhD 1978).
--Menzie Chinn
This Thursday, the La Follette School and the UW Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy is holding a conference on “Long term unemployment in industrial countries: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses”….
Here is the agenda for the conference: …
1:30pm-3pm. Session 1: Politics, and Policy (in conjunction with the Political Economy workshop)
Chair: Mark Copelovitch, Political Science and La Follette,
UW Presenter: Kenneth Scheve, Political Science,
41. “Big changes in Medicare appear to be inevitable” (Dayton Daily News, April 24, 2011); analysis citing JANUARY ANGELES (MPP 2002).
By Jack Torry -
Driving the sharply competing revisions outlined by President Barack Obama and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, RWis., is the realization that it is nearly impossible to balance the federal budget without changing Medicare or the way it is financed….
Obama has talked of limiting Medicare’s growth rate by giving greater power to an independent advisory board established in last year’s health law. Every year, the board would establish a target of how much money Medicare could spend.
By contrast, Ryan has pushed for more of a free-market solution by eventually ending Medicare’s fee-for-service system and providing seniors with federal dollars [the average voucher would be about $8,000] to buy insurance from private companies….
Over the next few decades, Ryan’s plan would generate huge savings for the federal government, with the deficit gradually disappearing. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for the typical beneficiary “would be greater under the (Ryan) proposal than under traditional Medicare.’’
“The primary objection
with Ryan is that it’s not cost-containment, it is cost-shifting,’’ said January Angeles, a senior policy analyst at
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning nonprofit
organization in
42. “New York Auto Show: Green Goes Mainstream (Finally)” (Hybrid Cars, April 20, 2011); column by ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.hybridcars.com/news/new-york-auto-show-green-goes-mainstream-finally-29766.html
By Roland Hwang
It used to be the Los Angeles Auto Show was
considered the “green” auto show. Now with gasoline soaring towards $4 gallon
gasoline, every auto show is a green showcase. At this week’s New York
International Auto show, a staple of the annual car circuit, the spotlight will
be not be on the latest muscle cars but instead on the hottest market segments,
fuel-efficient hybrid electric vehicles and high efficiency, conventional
gasoline cars that get 40 MPG or more. With no relief in sight for high
gasoline prices, 2011 is shaping up to be a record breaking year for
fuel-efficient cars.
The Market Has Spoken, and It Wants More MPG
Rising fuel prices have primed consumer demand for fuel efficient cars. According to Michigan-based auto market expert Alan Baum, March sales of hybrids rose 46%, almost three times as fast the overall market rate of 17.2%, compared to the same month last year. The market for highly fuel efficient small cars, such as the Honda Fit, rose 30%, almost twice the average rate. The worst performing segment? Traditional, truck-based SUVs, which grew at 7.2%, less than half the rate of the market average….
Equally as important,
there is now near certainty that
This guest post was contributed by Roland
Hwang, Transportation Program Director for the Natural Recource
Defense Council’s energy program. Based
in
43. “Federal cuts could devastate programs to help people living in poverty” (Oakland Tribune, April 12, 2011); story citing SARA BEDFORD (MPP 1991); http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_17830508?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
By Cecily Burt -
Nic Ming was scrambling
for nonexistent administrative work when a friend told her about the Kitchen of
Champions culinary training program run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
near downtown
In her second week of on-the-job training Ming, 37, was learning to prepare pot stickers and beef stew. She’s also working on a business plan and already looking ahead to the day when she can open her own restaurant.
But a compromise budget
reached between the White House and Congress contains cuts to federal block
grant money that helps pay for that program and dozens of others across
Those cuts include a $942 million reduction to the Community Development Block Program and at least a $20 million reduction to the Community Services Block Program….
The community services
grant funding is awarded to programs that help lift people from poverty. The
president’s original budget called for the complete elimination of the program,
said Sara Bedford, planning and policy
manager for
“For us, this is really
a good sign,”
44. “Small Bites: Local challenge, CSA memberships, kosher wine, picnic knives” (The Oregonian, April 12, 2011); story citing DAVID BELLER (MPP 2007); http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/04/small_bites_local_challenge_cs.html
--Leslie Cole
On our radar: 2011 CSA Memberships
Vegetable boxes brimming
with squash, peppers and melons might seem like a kale-induced dream about now.
But if you want a weekly cache this summer from a Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) farm, you’ll have to wake up and act fast. Area CSAs are now accepting members, and the more popular ones
fill up quickly. In case you’re not familiar with the idea, you sign up, pay
for 20-plus weeks of produce, and come May or June, start reaping the bounty of
your farm. CSA farm shares have changed with the times, with more growers
offering half-shares or extras, everything from wine and cheese to eggs and
meat. Most deliver weekly produce shares to farmers markets or pickup points
around the city. Among the new farms offering memberships this year is the
Growers Alliance CSA, a collective of 10 refugee farming families in the
45. “
By Sean Maher
Quan, the City Council and the heads of most city departments met in a grueling daylong retreat at the Joaquin Miller Community Center to consider how to handle a structural budget deficit now estimated at $58 million, a figure that puts the city $12 million deeper in the hole than Quan’s first reports….
The city’s total budget is just under $1 billion, with less than half of that made up by the general fund, where the deficit lies, largely as a result of plummeting property taxes. Of those funds, Budget Director Sabrina Landreth said, only about $72 million is discretionary at this point, leaving almost no wiggle room to tackle the $58 million deficit….
46. “Prius sales top 1M as pump prices spur interest in hybrids” (USA TODAY, April 7, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-04-06-prius-tops-one-million-in-sales.htm
By James R. Healey,
Edmunds.com, an auto-shopping site, says Americans bought 37% more hybrids the first quarter this year than they did a year earlier, a marked response to higher fuel prices — an average $3.71 a gallon now vs. $2.83 a year ago, according to motorist group AAA.
Simpler, less-expensive hybrid tech is coming from corporate affiliates Hyundai and Kia and from Volkswagen, Roland Hwang of the Natural Resources Defense Council says. “It’s a hybrid system for the masses that’ll really push (hybrids) into the mainstream.” …
47. “DC Conference Focuses on Global Warming and the Law” (Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Pg. NaN Vol. 19 No. 4, April 2011 National Edition); event featuring NED HELME (MPP 1971).
On Thursday and Friday, April 8 and 9, American Law Institute-American Bar Association will review Global Warming: Climate Change and the Law….
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now requires reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, and broad EPA regulation of such gases may be around the corner. States and regions across the country are implementing both sector-specific and economy-wide regulatory regimes. The course will provide attendees with an overview of climate change and clean energy regulatory regimes at the state, federal and international levels. Participants will learn of likely future developments and their implications for clients, gain practical tips, and learn of the pitfalls and ethical issues involved in greenhouse gas reporting. Topics include regulation of gases under the Clean Air Act, international negotiations and trade, and the recent developments on Capitol Hill.
A keynote address will be delivered by Patrice Simms, deputy assistant attorney general, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice. Other speakers from academia and private practice include … Ned Helme, president, Center for Clean Air Policy….
48. “Parents, Students, Community Members Gather to Move Education Forward” (Targeted News Service, March 28, 2011); event featuring JEFF PERTL (MPP 2009).
MONONA,
* Susan Fox, president, Monona Grove School Board
* Tom Howe, teacher,
* Doug Johnson,
superintendent,
* Jeff Pertl, senior policy advisor, Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction
* Jack Norman, research
director, Institute for
49. “
By Hannah Dreier
To that end, the city has launched an array of economic development programs, including a new website and a targeted ad campaign….
“There’s a perception
that Brentwood is way out there,” economic
development manager Alex Greenwood said, “but we feel that
The city hopes to brand
itself as a regional crossroads at the edges of the Bay Area, Tri-Valley,
Officials here boast
that
The city is seeing some
payoff. For example, Safeway will soon relocate its district offices to
Brentwood from
“All towns are coming up with creative ways to lure businesses,” he said. “But I like to think that there is no one more aggressive than we are.”
50. “Cutting Head Start is bad fiscal policy” (CNN.com, March 14, 2011); op-ed citing DAVID DEMING (MPP 2005).
By Kathleen McCartney, Special to CNN
Early childhood education is the single best investment we can make for our children. Unfortunately, the U.S. House proposed a spending bill for the remainder of 2011 calling for drastic cuts to education, including a 22.4% reduction in funding for Head Start and Early Head Start….
James Heckman, a Nobel
laureate economist from the
His analyses demonstrate convincingly that every dollar invested in early education produces a 10% per annum return….
From the beginning, policymakers and social scientists have debated whether Head Start is effective enough. Rigorous experimental studies have demonstrated that children in Head Start outperform other poor children on a range of cognitive and social outcomes; however, some social scientists have dismissed statistically significant effects as too small.
In fairness, the results for standardized achievement and cognitive tests are rather modest. But they don’t tell the whole story. David Deming from Carnegie Mellon University conducted a clever evaluation of Head Start by comparing siblings, one who experienced Head Start and one who did not. His findings show that Head Start children score higher on a measure of young adult success that includes high school graduation, college attendance, idleness, crime teen parenthood and health status. And the effect is large; in fact, Head Start closes one-third of the gap between children from families with median incomes and those with bottom quartile incomes.
The health effect that Deming identified has been replicated in many other studies. Children participating in Head Start are less obese, more likely to be immunized and less likely to smoke as adults. This saves us money, too….
51. “Districts converge
in
By Erin Richards
Hundreds of parents,
teachers and school supporters packed the
A roll call revealed
supporters from at least 25 districts from around
In a presentation to break down the complexities of school funding, Jeff Pertl, policy initiatives adviser for the state Department of Public Instruction, explained the revenue limit and how high-spending districts will lose more money and low-spending districts will lose less money.
But no matter where districts fell in that range, he said, “it’s still going to be very, very bad for you.”
“Kids didn’t create this budget mess, but kids are going to have to pay for it,” he said, receiving applause.
It was also clear that neither Pertl nor the majority of the audience members were in favor of the governor’s proposals to drop the requirement for schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program to take the annual state achievement test.
Pertl acknowledged that nobody likes the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination.
“But if you’re going to take public money there should be public accountability and all kids should take the test,” he said, receiving more applause….
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “The GOP’s last wish. Republicans are gaining more support for a plan that would make Medicare a voucher-based system. If Republicans focus on Medicare during the 2012 presidential campaign, will it help them or hurt them?” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 31, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0531/The-GOP-s-last-wish
By Robert Reich
Forty Senate Republicans have now joined their
colleagues in the House to support Paul Ryan’s plan that would turn Medicare
into vouchers that funnel money to private health insurers. They thumbed their
nose at the special election in upstate
So now it’s official. The 2012 campaign will be about the future of Medicare. (Yes, it will also be about jobs, but the Republicans haven’t come up with any credible ideas on that front, and the Democrats seem incapable of doing what needs to be done.) …
It would be one thing if Republicans had consistency on their side. At least then they could take the high road and claim their plan is a principled way to achieve the aims of Medicare through market-based mechanisms. (It isn’t, of course. It would end up squeezing seniors because it takes no account of the rising costs of health care.)
... Remember, this was the same GOP that attacked the President’s health-reform plan in 2010 by warning it would lead to Medicare cuts….
Can we be clear about that budget problem? It’s not driven by Medicare. It’s driven by the same relentlessly soaring health-care costs that are pushing premiums through the roof and causing middle-class families to shell out more and more money for deductibles and co-payments.
Some features of Obama’s new healthcare law will slow the rise — insurance exchanges, for example, could give consumers clearer comparative information about what they’re getting for their insurance payments — but the law doesn’t go nearly far enough.
That’s why Democrats should be proposing that anyone be allowed to sign up for Medicare. Medicare is cheaper than private insurance because its administrative costs are so much lower, and it has vast economies of scale….
Let the GOP go after Medicare. That will do more to elect Democrats in 2012 than anything else. But it would be wise and politically astute for Democrats to go beyond just defending Medicare. Strengthen and build upon it. Use it to reform American health care and, not incidentally, rescue the federal budget.
Robert Reich is chancellor’s professor of
public policy at the
2. “GOP presidential hopefuls yet to radiate in state” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2011); analysis citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/29/MNDD1JLD5S.DTL
--Carla Marinucci, Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Political Writers
The expensive and potentially nasty battle for
the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is officially under way — even in solidly
blue
But political observers say they’ll have competition from the one to watch: [ex-Minn. Gov. Tim] Pawlenty.
Despite his low name
recognition, “he has the most upside,” said Henry Brady, dean of the
Most of the others — notably Paul, Bachmann and Santorum - are too far out of the mainstream to attract moderate voters, he said....
And then there’s former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is scheduled to begin a high-profile East Coast
bus tour today — including a stop in early primary state
“She seems to be trying really hard to be a media star, but not a presidential candidate,” Brady said....
“There are people out there who want to know whether she’ll hang in there when the going gets tough,” Brady said. “It sure looks like she’s a quitter.”
3. “Study documents plunging crime rate locally, nationally” (Contra Costa Times, May 25, 2011); story citing STEVEN RAPHAEL; http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_18140136?nclick_check=1
By Jim Steinberg, Staff Writer
The suburban areas of the San Bernardino-Riverside county region … saw violent crime decrease nearly 45 percent between 1990 and 2008, according to a study released today by the Brookings Institute.
The 44.8 percentage decrease from 1,748 cases of
violent crime per 100,000 in 1990 to 970 in 2008 was the second largest drop
for a suburban area in a survey of the 100 largest
The findings were part of a comprehensive study that analyzed the FBI Uniformed Crime Report and U.S. Census Bureau data from 1990 to 2008.
The study found that the gap between city and suburban violent crime rates declined in nearly two-thirds of the metro areas….
In the study, crimes in the cities of
“These classifications have a different meaning
in the East,
Nationwide, violent crime rates dropped by almost 30 percent in cities, while property crime fell by 46percent.
The Brookings study found that as crime rates fell and communities diversified, relationships between crime and community demographics weakened significantly….
Raphael said the study documents trends in the 100 largest metro areas but does not attempt to analyze what is occurring in a particular city nor does it explore the reasons behind the decrease in crime.
“What it does say is that in some ways, cities have become more liveable,” he said.
“The implications of this are that people can start returning to the cities to live, where they might be closer to work, reducing the need for long commutes,” he said.
4. “
--Mike Dorning, Bloomberg News
Seven publicly traded
As a group, multinational companies with current or former chief executive officers on Obama’s jobs council have, over the past four years, almost doubled the cumulative amounts they’ve reinvested overseas, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
By doing so, companies may be able to take
advantage of faster-growing markets or lower production costs, and they can
defer
“That’s a signal that they are betting less on
The companies represented on the White House
council continued to reinvest earnings abroad even when
5. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Rein in government contractors who use taxpayer money for political advantage” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 24, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0524/Rein-in-government-contractors-who-use-taxpayer-money-for-political-advantage
By Robert Reich, Guest blogger
President Obama is mulling an executive order to force big government contractors to disclose details of their political spending. Big businesses are already telling their political patrons in Congress to oppose it — and the pressure is building.
The President should issue the executive order
immediately. And he should go even further – banning all political activity by
companies receiving more than half their revenues from the
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest contractor, has already got more than $19 billion in federal contracts so far this year. But we know very little about Lockheed Martin’s political spending other than its Political Action Committee contributions. We don’t know how much money it gives to the Aerospace Industries Association to lobby for a bigger defense budget.
We don’t even know how much Lockheed is giving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby against Obama’s proposed executive order requiring disclosure of its political activities.
Don’t we have a right to know? After all, you and I and other taxpayers are Lockheed’s biggest customer. As such, we’re financing some of its lobbying and political activities….
6. “Making Connections” (The Promise of Berkeley, Spring 2011, p. 30); story citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM, DANIEL MULHERN, and Dean HENRY BRADY; http://issuu.com/shawnm/docs/promiseofberkeley_spring2011/16?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true
The Goldman
School of Public Policy hosted a lecture, “Cracking the Code: Creating Jobs
in
… Dan Mulhern, Governor Granholm, Steve Silberstein ‘64, M.L.S. ‘77, and Carina Ryan at a reception before the lecture.
… Dean Henry Brady, Harold Smith, and Doug Goldman ‘‘74….
7. “Climate Scientist Fears His ‘Wedges’ Made It Seem Too Easy” (National Geographic News, May 17, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/05/110517-global-warming-scientist-concern/
--Doug Struck in
When the torrent of predictions about global warming got too depressing, there were Robert Socolow’s “wedges.”
The
It was a mistake, he now says....
He said his theory was intended to show the progress that could be made if people took steps such as halving our automobile travel, burying carbon emissions, or installing a million windmills. But instead of providing motivation, the wedges theory let people relax in the face of enormous challenges, he now says....
Professor Dan Kammen of the University of California Berkeley, currently serving as the chief technical specialist for renewable energy and energy efficiency at the World Bank, said that one should be far less surprised with the response to the paper. Of course, the paper was seen as offering a simple prescription for tackling global warming, he said; its very title was “Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years With Current Technologies.” ...
But Kammen added, “Socolow and Pacala made a vitally important contribution, connecting the energy and climate communities with the simple statement of the ‘Rosetta Stone’ of the climate equivalence of greenhouse gas emissions” (that 1 gigaton of emissions was equal to 2.12 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase in 2004, when the paper came out.) Kammen said the paper then made the important contribution of highlighting the emerging wisdom that heterogeneous, technologically diverse suites of solutions were needed....
8. “
By Don Lee,
Reporting from
For 40 years, his father earned a good living
from the sprawling General Electric Co. complex in
No such dependable future awaited the younger Miller. A wave of corporate downsizing in 2009 abruptly ended his career in marketing, and he’s been unemployed ever since....
It used to be that almost anyone willing to work hard could get ahead. Now, that doesn’t seem so certain.
“The social contract was ripped in pieces,
rendered ineffective by unforeseen forces such as globalization,” said former
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who teaches at UC Berkeley’s Law and
9. “Boeing fight gives Republicans weapon against labor board” (Seattle Times, May 12, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015040005_nlrb13.html
By Stephanie Armour and Holly Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg News
Republican lawmakers are seizing on a National
Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing as a chance to rein in an agency
they say is tilting toward unions and damaging
The agency’s complaint last month that the plane
maker retaliated against union workers in
“This decision has served as a lightning rod
against the NLRB and is mobilizing the Republican base,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor who specializes in labor issues at the
“I’m shocked and deeply upset about the
relentless attacks,” [UC Berkeley
Professor] Robert Reich, labor
secretary in the
10. Robert Reich’s Blog: “The battle for the soul of the GOP. In the match between Wall Street and the Tea Party, who will win the Republican soul?” (Christian Science Monitor Online, May 10, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0510/The-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-GOP
By Robert Reich, Guest blogger
… Wall Street and big business fear Tea Partiers won’t allow House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling without major spending cuts – and without tax increases on the wealthy….
The Tea Partiers don’t care about the debt
ceiling. To them, it’s a giant bargaining chit to shrink government. Nor do
they worry about credit markets. If the full faith and credit of the
[House Speaker John] Boehner says he won’t allow
the
Boehner knows the only way to get cuts of this magnitude without increasing taxes on the rich (or cutting defense — something else the GOP wouldn’t think of) is to make mincemeat out of Medicare and Medicaid, slash education and infrastructure, and kill off most of everything else people of moderate means depend on.
In other words, Boehner’s conditions are just
another version of the Paul Ryan plan House Republicans approved last month –
the same plan that brought howls at recent Republican town meetings. Democrats
will never agree to it, nor should they. Nor will the rest of
And that means no agreement to increase the debt ceiling….
Robert Reich is chancellor’s professor of
public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national
administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton.
He has written 13 books, including ‘The Work of Nations,’ ‘Locked in the
Cabinet,’ and his most recent book, ‘Aftershock: The Next Economy and
11. “Homeland Security dollars pouring into
--Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Robert Reich of UC Berkeley says the spending makes no sense. (Lacy Atkins / The Chronicle)
State and school budgets are being slashed, but
federal Homeland Security dollars are pouring into
Over the years, such money has gone for training, for consultants and for just about every high-tech gadget and piece of equipment imaginable—be it a fully equipped, $1 million San Francisco police mobile command truck or Alameda County’s fleet of $60,000 trailers with decontamination showers….
In all, state records show
These days, an estimated 20 percent of the spending statewide goes to training local law enforcement in dealing with a biological, chemical or nuclear attack, as well as an earthquake.
“It makes no sense,” Robert Reich, a UC Berkeley public policy professor and former
“For every dollar a terrorist spends seeking to
create havoc in
12. “State schools’ maintenance backlog in the billions” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 2011); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/09/MNJT1IOESR.DTL
--Mihir Zaveri, Chronicle Staff Writer
Mark Fewins
(left) and Armando Garcia work to weatherproof the stairs of UC Berkeley’s
For years, a dark stairwell inside a UC Berkeley science building posed a potentially deadly threat as leaking water pooled next to 12,000-volt transformers and switchgears.
Lacking money to repair the leak, maintenance workers attempted to configure a temporary solution. They rigged sheet metal to divert the leak so that it wouldn’t drip on the electrical equipment and blow out the power that runs laboratories where scientists are conducting some of the world’s most advanced biological research. Yet that solution posed a new danger—that someone could be electrocuted if they stepped into the growing puddle.
Only recently has work begun to repair the leak, a $625,000 project that the university tried to avoid because of the cost. But even that may not be the end of the problem. Another stairwell in the same Valley Life Sciences Building has a similar leak.
Money problems at
Prestigious private universities, meanwhile, report few problems with leaky roofs, crumbling walls or malfunctioning air conditioners.
“People come back from other campuses and claim that our facilities for teaching are not as good as they are at other universities,” said John Ellwood, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley….
13. “Recession repeat greater threat than inflation” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/07/INTV1JB6OL.DTL#ixzz1LtJfVJty
--Robert Reich
Most of Wall Street thinks the biggest threat to the economy right now is inflation. It’s not the first time the Street has been dead wrong. The bigger threat is another recession.
The most significant economic news from the first quarter of 2011 is the decline in real wages. That’s unusual in a recovery, to say the least. But it’s easily explained this time around. In order to keep the jobs they have, millions of Americans are accepting shrinking paychecks. If they have been fired, the only way they can land a new job is to accept even smaller ones.
The wage squeeze is putting most households in a double bind. Before the recession, they’d been able to pay the bills because they had two paychecks. Now they’re likely to have 1 1/2, or just one, and it’s shrinking.
Add to this the continuing decline in the value of the biggest asset most people own—their homes—and what do you get? Consumers who won’t and can’t buy enough to keep the economy going. That spells recession….
The biggest irony is that the Street is doing wonderfully well right now, in contrast to most Americans. Corporate profits for the first quarter of the year are way up. That’s largely because corporate payrolls are down….
© 2011 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of the new book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.”
14. “Why
By Robert Reich
After a week of non-stop Osama Bin Laden,
All over Capitol Hill Republicans and Democrats are debating spending caps and automatic triggers, and whether to begin them before or after Election Day.
But if you don’t mind my asking, what about the economy? ...
Ironically,
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the
15. “Granholm tenure lesson in new generation of role reversal” (Detroit Free Press, May 5, 2011); story citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM and DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.freep.com/article/20110506/COL10/105060439/Rochelle-Riley-Granholm-tenure-lesson-new-generation-role-reversal
--Rochelle Riley, Free Press Columnist
Gov. Jennifer Granholm serving as photographer’s assistant. (Eric Seals / DFP)
It was supposed to have been Gov. Dan Mulhern.
One of seven children raised in a traditional family
on the east side of
His plan was to have a successful political career with his wife — a civil rights attorney — by his side.
She had graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California-Berkeley with degrees in political science and French. They both had law degrees from Harvard.
But during a marriage prep counseling session with the Rev. John McInness, the priest suddenly turned to Mulhern with a question.
“He said, ‘Dan, what happens in eight or 10 years if people come to Jennifer and say: “You’re a great lawyer. You’re attractive. You’re a hard worker. You’re a woman. And it’s time for a woman.” How would you feel?’ “
The story was among those that emerged in an hour-long interview this week with former Gov. Granholm—whose official portrait will be unveiled today in Lansing—and her husband....
In their new roles as lecturers at the University of California-Berkeley, Granholm will teach in the law school and the school of public policy, while Mulhern will teach in the law and business schools....
[A related story appeared in the <a href=“http://www.freep.com/article/20110506/NEWS15/110506033/Gov-Jennifer-Granholm-s-portrait-unveiled-Michigan-Capitol“>Detroit Free Press</a>]
16. “Questions he leaves behind” (The International Herald Tribune, May 4, 2011); commentary citing MICHAEL NACHT.
By Joe Nocera
To give the devil his awful due, Osama bin Laden
was the greatest terrorist of the modern age. He took what had been disparate,
disorganized terrorist groups and reshaped them into a disciplined and immensely
ambitious organization, Al Qaeda, with the singular goal of waging jihad on the
West in general and the
But the thing that matters most right now is whether the world today is safer than it was on Sunday, when Bin Laden was still among the living. Though it is not an easy question to answer, it seems to me that there are four areas where it ought to be asked: …
TERRORISM ITSELF Michael Nacht, a former Defense Department official who now teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, believes that Bin Laden’s death will diminish the terrorist threat to the United States. Nacht compared terrorism in the Bin Laden era to a ‘‘fatal disease.’’ Now, he says, it’s more like a chronic illness: ‘‘It can still cause you trouble, but it’s not a mortal threat.’’ …
17. “HUMANITIES Soul food in the age of money. The humanities are essential to the core function of universities, to prepare students for a meaningful life” (The Australian, May 4, 2011, Australian Literary Review Edition); book review citing DAVID KIRP.
By Steven Schwartz
… Despite the fervour they induce, the humanities are in crisis. Humanities academics feel undervalued or, worse, in danger of being tossed overboard as leaky finances force universities to jettison disciplines to keep afloat. Language departments have been disappearing from Australian universities for years. More recently, classics and philosophy have begun to fade away as well. History remains reasonably robust but nothing is sacrosanct. One Australian university has recently abandoned English. O tempora! O mores! …
The perilous state of the humanities has spawned a plethora of worthy books lamenting their decline. There are so many such books that “academic declinism’’ has become a genre of its own…. The authors of these books chart the symptoms of decay: fewer humanities courses, low-paying jobs and generations of students leaving university never having read the books that define our civilisation.
The leitmotif of the academic declinism literature is money, sometimes too much, sometimes too little. In Universities in the Marketplace, former Harvard president Derek Bok shows how “excessive commercialisation in every part of the university’’ can corrupt traditional academic values. For example, when the free exchange of information—a bedrock virtue—collides with the secrecy requirements of profit-making, it is the latter that wins. Bok also decries the conflicts of interest that arise when academics become entrepreneurs. (An academic trying to commercialise a new drug may be tempted not to publish research that fails to support its efficacy.)
David Kirp, author of Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bottom Line, agrees with Bok, noting that the impetus to make money has elevated subjects that have immediate financial returns over less bankable subjects such as the humanities….
Shakespeare,
Einstein and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education, By David Kirp,
18. “Is Home Ownership Overrated? Jimmy Stewart taught us that buying a house was the key to building the American dream; James B. Stewart wonders whether that’s still true” (Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2011); column citing JOHN QUIGLEY; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB70001424052748704507404576178902057331740.html
By James B. Stewart
(Getty
Images)
For generations of Americans, It’s a Wonderful Life pretty much sums
up the benefits of home ownership. George Bailey takes over his father’s
savings and loan in
In the wake of the real estate bubble and collapse, all of these assumptions have been called into question—and in some cases, are under attack. Decades of policies designed to foster home ownership are being reexamined, from taxpayer support for the giant mortgage agencies to the tax deduction for mortgage interest. In light of this sea change, I decided to reapproach the sacred cow of home ownership with an open mind. Does it make sense financially? Does it promote social benefits? …
Nonetheless, home ownership has historically
yielded other financial benefits. “Over 75 years the mortgage system is how the
middle and lower-middle class accumulated capital,” John Quigley, a professor of economics at the
19. “In death, bin Laden still the root of anxiety” (Washington Times, May 2, 2011); story citing JACK GLASER; http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/2/in-death-bin-laden-still-the-root-of-anxious-times/?page=all#pagebreak
By Jennifer Harper,
Security at transportation
hubs such as
He lurked in the shadows of the American psyche for a decade: Osama bin Laden was the potent symbol of evil, the elusive foe, the monster, the myth. And now he’s gone, leaving the nation to celebrate his death but ponder an uneasy future….
Horror lingers, though. We’ve had an encounter with the proverbial bogeyman….
Jack Glaser, associate professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, also categorizes bin Laden as a “bogeyman,” but a persistent one. The terrorist leader’s link to Sept. 11 grants him a singular, historic significance.
“In this sense, there is nobody else like him in modern American history. Even presidential assassins, whose acts have had a wrenching effect, were quickly brought to justice and so couldn’t haunt us in the same way. But also they did not have that quality of being ‘the other.’ Bin Laden was scary, wily and different, and he wanted to destroy us,” Mr. Glaser said.
“His death at the hands of
20. “Budget debate’s center tilts to left” (San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/30/INLK1J7M3M.DTL#ixzz1LEWRXM2v
--Robert Reich
House Budget Committee Chairman GOP Rep. Paul Ryan has offered a plan that funds tax cuts for the rich by slashing programs for average Americans. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)
We continue to hear that the Great Budget Debate has two sides. The president and the Democrats want to cut the deficit mainly by increasing taxes on the rich and reducing military spending, but not by privatizing Medicare. On the other side are House budget chair Paul Ryan and congressional Republicans, who want to cut the deficit by privatizing Medicare and slicing programs that benefit poorer Americans, while lowering taxes on the rich.
By this logic, the center lies just between.
Baloney.
According to the most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 78 percent of Americans oppose cutting spending on Medicare as a way to reduce the budget deficit. Meanwhile, raising taxes on the wealthy is supported by 72 percent. That includes 68 percent of independents. Even a majority of registered Republicans—54 percent—say taxes should be raised on the rich….
In other words, the center of
To think of the “center” as roughly halfway between the president’s and Paul Ryan’s proposals is to ignore what Americans need and want. A “middle ground” that’s halfway between decent and indecent is still less than decent.
© 2011 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of the new book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.”
21. Op-ed: “How to Be a Real Man. The old rules don’t work—as I’ve learned being married to a powerful woman. Here’s what I’m telling our son about modern manhood” (Newsweek, May 1, 2011); op-ed by Visiting Lecturer DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.newsweek.com/2011/05/01/how-to-be-a-real-man.html
Mulhern teaches at the
Editor’s
note: Mulhern is married to star Democrat Jennifer Granholm,
the former governor of
Dear Jack,
At your physical yesterday, the nurse measured you at 5 feet 9 inches. You have officially passed your old man. And at 13, you’re not done growing.
There’s never been a better time to grow into manhood, but not everyone thinks so….
I always thought that I would become governor,
and then I’d “be the man.” But the train tracks got switched, and instead Mom
pulled into that station. I came to wonder about my strength. Do you remember
when I took you along to my speech about leadership to some Cisco executives in
…But the choices Mom and I made to put her public service in front of my career, and for me to lead at home, left me vulnerable and caused me to rethink what it means to “be a man.” It has not been a tragic end to my manhood, but a wondrous beginning. It’ll get even better for you….
May 6 Robert Reich gave the dinner talk at the California Democratic Party State Convention; see the video at: http://www.youtube.com/user/cademorg#p/u/2/-KDCt1NMPVI
May 12 Robert Reich testified at the U.S.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Hearing on the
“Endangered Middle Class: Is the American Dream Slipping Out
of Reach for American Families”—chaired by Senator Tom Harkin; http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4dcaaaf75014a.pdf
To view a complete list
of GSPP videos, visit our Events Archive at: http://gspp.berkeley.edu/events/webcasts
Recent events viewable on UC Webcast: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events.php?group=The+Richard+%26+Rhoda+Goldman+School+of+Public+Policy
If you would like further information
about any of the above, or hard copies of cited articles, we’d be happy to
provide them.
We are always delighted to receive your material for inclusion in the Digest. Please email the editor at wong23@berkeley.edu .
Sincerely,
Annette Doornbos
Director of External Relations and Development