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1. “Energy Efficiency in the Residential Sector: Practice, Policy, Prospects” – A UC Berkeley Policy & Research Conference
September 8, 2011, Registration & Breakfast: 7:30am // Program Begins: 8:30am
Sponsored by the
Speakers include: … Cisco DeVries (MPP 2000), Renewable Funding
For
information and on-line early registration: http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/greenresidential.htm
2. “After a
Disaster – the Future of Japanese Energy and Smart Grid Policy”
Dr. Takanori Ida - CEPP visiting scholar - Kyoto University
Graduate School of Economics
September 21,
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., Room 105 Goldman School
Presented by
the Center for Environmental Public Policy (CEPP) at the
Please RSVP
to cepp@berkeley.edu by Friday, September 16, 2011
3. “Headwinds
and Tailwinds: The Path Forward for the
Jason Furman,
President Obama’s Assistant for Economic Policy and Principal Deputy Director
of the National Economic Council.
October 4,
2011, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Room 250 Goldman School of Public Policy. Lecture
followed by a light reception.
4. “Engaging
Youth in the Bay Area: Innovative Initiatives by Nonprofits, Governments, and
Young People" –
Youth Policy
Committee Forum moderated by Professor Jane
Mauldon.
October 4,
6:00 - 8:00 p.m., GSPP Living Room
Organizations
represented will include:
5. “Working
Together in Tough Times” — 5th
October 6,
2011 (8 a.m. - 6 p.m) — October 7, 2011 (8 a.m. - 5
p.m.)
Day Two:
Friday, October 7, 9 a.m.
Keynote
Speaker: Robert Reich, professor of
public policy at UC Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
6. The Rhoda Goldman Health Policy Lecture:
“Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Surgeon”
Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa
October 11,
2011, 5:30-6:00 p.m. Public Reception; 6:00-7:15 p.m. Presentation, Q&A
Sutardja Dai Hall, Banatao
Auditorium, UC Berkeley
7. “Governing
Oct. 18, 2011,
Afternoon Functions include:
Panel 2A: “Criminal Justice in Realignment” (Capitol Room 126) – Moderated by Steven Raphael
Paneel 2B: “Recruiting K-12 Students: College Preparation and Retention” (Capitol Room TBA) – Moderated by Henry Brady
More information on conference details and to register by September 30 deadline
8. GSPP in
October 18, 2011: 3:30-4:30 p.m.
6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Networking Happy Hour with GSPP Alumni. Information on location is forthcoming
Registration Deadline : October 14, 2011. Registration fee $10 per person. Register here
This is a no-host event. More info
9.
November 3,
2011, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
The Westin
Georgetown Hotel. More info and
to register
ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “The Billion-Dollar Bet: Which Pension Reform Measure Will Pass and Survive Legal Challenge” (SF Weekly, August 31, 2011); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002).
2. “Plan to kick-start housing wins
3. “Congress Faces New Fiscal Tests” (The Financial Times Limited, August 26, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976) and SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).
4. “The Conversation. Paul Staley asks his father if he’s ready to die” (Perspectives, KQED, August 24, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this Perspective
5. “Workers’ comp premiums likely to
level off next year in
6. “Rick Perry Vaults to Republican Front Runner Status;
Glenn Beck Makes Speech to Small Crowd in
7. “San Rafael’s Alcohol Justice, formerly the Marin Institute, still fighting after 24 years” (Marin Independent Journal, August 21, 2011); story citing BRUCE LIVINGSTON (MPP 1989); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18730758?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
8. “Port Authority Toll Hikes Approved” (The Record (
9. “
10. “California interests line up to shape state’s health exchange” (Sacramento Bee, Aug. 16, 2011); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/16/3840407/california-interests-line-up-to.html#ixzz1VCvmYju0
11. “Vermont Town Sees Value of Flood Insurance” (Homeland Security Department Documents and Publications, Release Number: 1995-036, August 16, 2011); publication citing KARI DOLAN (MPP 1990).
12. The State Worker: “Why a six-figure public pensioner wants pensions changed” (Sacramento Bee, August 16, 2011); blog citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/08/why-six-figure-public-pensione.html
13. “S.F. mayor’s race to test new public financing law” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 2011); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/14/MN4J1KME2N.DTL#ixzz1V7pDayy5
14. “As lawmakers return, will Brown push pension overhaul?”
(
15. “
16. “Blue Cross pulls further ahead; Health insurer adds to marketshare in state” (Crain’s Chicago Business, Pg. 2 Vol. 34, August 15, 2011); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
17. “Henn votes on Lido, despite
financial ties” (Daily Pilot (
18. “Transit Ridership Surges Across Bay Area” (San Jose Mercury News, August 12, 2011); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997).
19. “Workplace Rights for Domestic Employees May Expand” (The California Report, KQED public radio, August 12, 2011); features interview with LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005); Listen to the program
20. “Paul ad untrue on Dem budget efforts in ‘80s - Politics
- GOP rep misleads that foes produced only tax hikes” (The Telegraph (
21. “Comm Daily ® Notebook” (Communications Daily, August 11, 2011); column citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
22. “Pawlenty sees
23. “Study: Early Care and Education Industry Strengthens Entire California Economy” (California Progress Report, August 9, 2011); commentary and research by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005); http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/comment/reply/9240
24. “Rating falls, markets plunge, critics rage. But tea party isn’t blinking” (The Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
25. “
26. “Local Issue: Child Abduction Response Team” (The Record
(
27. “The Next Big Fight; After the Wrangling over the Debt Ceiling, an Appropriations Battle Looms in Congress” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 7, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
28. “ChinaSF Honored in National Award from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives” (Marketwire, August 5, 2011); newswire citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008).
29. “Opinion: Jews turn on Obama” (Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, August 5, 2011); op-ed by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
30. “Efforts under way to unravel California’s budget” (Sacramento Bee, Aug. 4, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/04/3815718/efforts-under-way-to-unravel-californias.html#ixzz1U4nyHVOv
31. “Capitol Journal:
32. “Deficit panel faces rough road; Few lawmakers have volunteered for what most predict will be a thankless job, though lobbyists are already gearing up to pounce” (Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2011); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
33. “Youth appeal fades. Cities crave work force made of
‘creative class.’
34. “Lost Hitchcock film discovered in
35. “Debt Deal a Bitter Pill - Giffords’ Surprise Return For Vote Marks Rare Sign of Unity in Fiercely Divided House. Default Deadline Drives Yes Votes; Next Up, Senate” (San Jose Mercury News, August 2, 2011); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975).
36. “Teachers Unsure of Where They’ll Be Assigned” (The California Report, KQED radio news, August 2, 2011); commentary by EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.californiareport.org/
37. “Fox Special Report with Bret Baier” (Fox News Network, August 2, 2011); program features commentary by SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).
38. “FCC: Broadband Speeds are Largely as Advertised” (The National Journal, August 2, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
39. “The cross-country incidence of the global crisis” (IMF Economic Review, Pg. 77 Vol. 59 No. 1, August 2011); study citing JOHN KOWALSKI (MPP 2008/MA-IAS 2008).
40. “Senate panel to probe state’s computer woes” (Press of Atlantic City, August 1, 2011); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975).
41. “Navajos Laying the Groundwork for a $200 Million Wind Farm” (The Bond Buyer, Pg. 7 Vol. 377 No. 33557, August 1, 2011); story citing LISA SCHROEER (MPP 2005).
42. “Bring Workers Home - NHC and NAR 2011 Regional Forum on Workforce Housing” (States News Service, July 28, 2011); event featuring MAUREEN FRIAR (MPP 1990).
43. “Bills would pressure charter schools on test scores” (Fresno Bee, July 27, 2011); story citing BRIAN RIVAS (MPP 1992).
44. “Researchers: Sharing Risk with Providers Risky” (National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services, July 25, 2011); story citing SUZANNE DELBANCO (MPP/MPH 1994/PhD 1999).
45. “The Weather Channel to Air ‘Changing Planet’ Town Hall Meeting July 26th” (US Fed News, July 21, 2011); event featuring CHRIS BUSCH (MPP 1998/MS ARE 2000).
46. “Two Reports Reveal Grim Outlook for Children's Programs in the Federal Budget” (States News Service, July 20, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
47. “Northern suburbs could lose affordable housing” (Washington Post, July 19, 2011); story citing ANGINETTA RODGERS (MPP 2003).
48. “Mayor Lee Welcomes China Sunergy’s North American Headquarters to San Francisco” (States News Service, July 12, 2011); newswire citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008).
49. “Civil rights groups file lawsuit challenging Alabama immigration law” (The Colorado Independent, July 10, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
50. “
51. “New Website Answers What Works in Global Health” (States News Service, June 17, 2011); newswire citing ELLIOT MARSEILLE (MPP 1977/PhD 1995).
52. “Judge delays ruling on access to
53. “
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Rick Perry’s secret plan to save blue states from red states. Fiscal secession would actually benefit liberal states, which receive less federal tax benefit than their conservative counterparts” (Christian Science Monitor, August 31, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0831/Rick-Perry-s-secret-plan-to-save-blue-states-from-red-states
2. “President Obama needs a bold jobs plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 28, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/26/INQA1KR0UD.DTL#ixzz1WRYLPXep
3. “Analysis: Buffett Trades off His Reputation” (New York Times Online [*requires registration], August 26, 2011); analysis citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/08/26/business/business-us-buffett-banks.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Berkeley&st=nyt
4. War Room Blog: “This Labor Day, we need protests. As corporate profits soar, American workers are experiencing their worst decade in a century” (Salon, August 25, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/25/labor_day_protests
5. “Robert
Reich Welcomes New Students to
6. “A Tough Job, but Someone’s Gotta Do It. What can the Obama administration do to help the long-term unemployed?” (Slate, August 22, 2011); analysis citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.slate.com/id/2302132/
7. “The Tarnished State of California’s Golden College System” (Time Magazine, August 22, 2011); story citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2089593,00.html
8. “Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Wall Street
Tumbles; Crisis in
9. “Fear & greed: The real energy challenge”
(Climate Spectator [
10. Blog: “Austerity is bringing on a global recession” (Salon, August 17, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/great_recession/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/17/austerity_global_recession
11. “Business Leaders Respond to Starbucks CEO’s Pledge to Boycott Campaign” (ABC News/Money Online, August 16, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://abcnews.go.com/Business/business-leaders-respond-starbucks-ceos-pledge-boycott-campaign/story?id=14315653
12. “
13. War Room Blog: “How the Democrats could have saved healthcare. The new law may die in the Supreme Court. If it had included a public option, this all would have been avoided” (Salon, August 15, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/15/healthcare_law_constitutionality/
14. “Bottom Line: Jennifer Granholm, ex-Michigan governer, on jobs” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2011); column citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM and DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/13/BUTI1KLRF4.DTL
15. “American Political Science Association Announces 2011 Awards” (PR Newswire, August 12, 2011); award citing SEAN FARHANG.
16. “Another bad day for stocks on Wall Street” (KGO TV, August 10, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; video link
17. “War Room Blog: Why the president doesn’t present a bold jobs plan” (Salon, August 10, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/10/reich_obama
18. “Op-Ed:
19. “Debt deal doles out economic pain unfairly” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 7, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/06/INTD1KIGP8.DTL#ixzz1USjohD2l
20. “Editorial: Congress, White House need to focus on economic recovery” (Contra Costa Times, August 6, 2011); editorial citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_18624480
21. “Ex-Obama adviser thinks
22. “The Republican’s Double-Dip, and What Must Be Done” (Bay Citizen, August 5, 2011); Citizen Opinion Blog by ROBERT REICH; http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/citizen/republicans-double-dip-and-what-must-be/
23. “NewsHour: Raise the Roof: Debt Crisis Averted, But Debate Far from Over” (PBS, August 2, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec11/debt_08-02.html
24. “Real Time Economics Blog: Reactions to the Debt Deal” (Wall Street Journal Online [*requires registration], August 1, 2011); blog citing ROBERT REICH; http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/08/01/reactions-to-the-debt-deal/?mod=google_news_blog
By Joe Eskenazi
... Here in
[Jeff] Adachi, the author of Prop. B and this year’s follow-up, is the man pension reform built. ...[H]e’s also a candidate for mayor....
Pension politics, however, is not an easy subject to follow. Adachi’s 11th-hour entry into the mayor’s race further muddies an already complicated battle between a pair of esoteric measures on November’s ballot: the “mayor’s plan” or “city plan,” meticulously kneaded into existence by city labor and management and near-universally endorsed by the people in this city called upon to endorse things—and Adachi’s blunter and less labor-friendly rival pension proposal. Wading through the politics and sussing out the differences in the competing measures would be a commitment for voters even if they weren’t, in effect, deciding a proxy battle between two mayoral candidates: Adachi and Mayor Ed Lee....
With the majority of local political power swearing fealty to Lee’s pension plan, it’s his race to lose, says David Latterman, a mayoral consultant for David Chiu and USF lecturer. “The city version is going to be an easier sell,” he says. “Everybody under the sun is endorsing it. It’s like one of those school bond measures.” As long as the elfin mayor remains near-universally popular, it figures his pension measure will enjoy trickle-down approval. Should Lee’s opponents’ barbs stick, however, a change in strategy may be called for....
2. “Plan to kick-start
housing wins
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
JACKSON HOLE,
Economists appeared eager to consider dark-horse programs as many see difficult economic conditions, if not another outright recession, in the cards for the next 18 months....
Analysts said trial balloons are appearing that suggest President Barack Obama may announce a new idea to help the housing sector....
Support for the plan in
“There is a feeling that
there is no flexibility in fiscal policy and the Fed’s QE2 didn’t generate the
type of pickup in demand that was hoped for,” said Mickey Levy, the chief economist at Bank of
“It is a new feeling of despair,” he said....
3. “Congress Faces New Fiscal Tests” (The Financial Times Limited, August 26, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976) and SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).
By James Politi in
An early test of whether US politicians can craft a consensus on fiscal policy in the wake of Standard & Poor’s debt downgrade will come as early as next month, when Congress needs to approve a new round of funding for the government.
Much of the attention on Capitol Hill is focused on the work of a bipartisan panel of lawmakers—known as the “supercommittee”—that has been charged with recommending by late November as much as $1,500bn in measures to shrink US deficits.
But there is a more pressing fiscal issue that has to be dealt with by the end of next month: Congress needs to extend a new budget law funding more than $1,000bn in federal programmes and departments for the 2012 fiscal year, which starts on October 1.
Failure to do so would
mean the
“I would say the odds are better than 50-50 that someone will try to hold [the government] hostage for more spending cuts,” says Stan Collender, a budget analyst at Qorvis Communications and former Democratic staffer in Congress....
Others are not worried at all about the chance of a government shutdown in the autumn. “There will be a lot of noise from conservatives but the chance of a real fight that brings the spectre of shutdown back on the radar is low,” says Sean West, an analyst at the Eurasia Group.
4. “The Conversation. Paul Staley asks his father if he’s ready to die” (Perspectives, KQED, August 24, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this Perspective
By Paul
Staley
... We assume we know what it’s like to be young because we were young once. But old age is a place we have never been. We may see it up close as our parents age, but we will never know what it’s like until we’re there. From day to day we may comfort ourselves with the adage that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we certainly dread where we will find ourselves after thousands of tomorrows have come and gone.
One of the lessons we learn as we get older is that the little things are what matter and I suspect these are precisely what make us hold on to even a seriously diminished life; the face of a grandchild or the taste of ice cream. We may never discover the meaning of life, but our sense of what life means to us can dwindle down to a short but precious list. When it comes our turn, the ice flow that carries us away into the darkness may not seem preferable to a small pleasure this day and the next....
With a Perspective, this is Paul Staley.
Paul Staley is a real estate
professional. He lives in
5. “Workers’ comp premiums likely to level off next year in
By Dale Kasler
Workers’ compensation
premiums in
That’s a far cry from
the early 2000s, when soaring rates touched off a mammoth debate about the cost
of doing business in
Technically, the latest
filing by the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of
Overall, even though medical costs are increasing, the bureau thinks current rates are “pretty close” to what insurers should charge in 2012, Hannan said.
“We’re not urging anyone to lower rates,” he said. “There’s definitely some upward pressure on costs.”
Frank Neuhauser, a workers’ comp expert at the University of California, Berkeley, said it’s impossible to predict what insurers will do about premiums. But he added, “My guess is they’ll stay pretty close to steady.” ...
6. “Rick Perry Vaults to
Republican Front Runner Status; Glenn Beck Makes Speech to Small Crowd in
... Chris HAYES, Guest
Host: It’s not every week that the East Coast of the
HAYES: Joining me now, Michael Linden, director for tax and budget policy at the Center for American Progress, progressive think tank....
So, to play devil’s advocate, you know, at some level, you could say, look, they are governors of states, the money is already appropriated for this federal money pot, and these disasters are disruptive events that come from outside. They’re not budgeted for. And good for them for getting their share of the money. What is wrong with that?
MICHAEL
In fact, if they didn’t ask for the government’s help, that would be a dereliction of duty. Federal government has enormous resources that it can bring to bear when appropriate and governors should take advantage of that, but these are the same governors who are going out there saying ... the government’s the problem, ... we don’t want the government in our lives and our backyards.
But, of course, they do want the government when it suits them....
... [T]his is a long and less than proud tradition of conservatives going back to—I mean, the Recovery Act, right? Members of Congress denouncing the Recovery Act left and right, but only too happy to accept the money that came with it, and, of course, the jobs that came with it.
HAYES: You know, one of the things I think that’s interesting about a disaster is it makes us actually read the fine print of ... that nebulous category of nondefense discretionary funding....
I mean, all these things are in that category, and it sounds easy to cut. But when you look at what’s in there, it’s actually stuff that people like and want and need....
... Or highway safety or ... airport security, whatever we may think of it, having some of it is important—drug safety, food inspections, all of that is the very definition of a public good. It’s the very definition of a service that the private market is not going to provide....
7. “San Rafael’s Alcohol Justice, formerly the Marin Institute, still fighting after 24 years” (Marin Independent Journal, August 21, 2011); story citing BRUCE LIVINGSTON (MPP 1989); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18730758?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
By Jessica Bernstein-Wax, Marin Independent Journal
Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director and CEO of Alcohol
Justice, stands outside the organization’s
Seven full-time
employees come to work each day in an innocuous 7,000-square-foot office space
in
It’s a challenge that Alcohol Justice, which changed its name last month from the Marin Institute, has been tackling since 1987 — and one that’s repeatedly brought it both national recognition as well as criticism from alcohol companies that say the nonprofit’s campaigns unfairly target the industry rather than alcohol abuse.
“We are a hard-hitting advocacy organization,” said Bruce Lee Livingston, the nonprofit’s executive director and CEO. “We campaign for policy solutions and mobilize communities to take action for themselves.”
The organization had
been mulling a name change to better describe its mission for more than a
decade, and last October decided the time had come,
“We’re not just based in
Marin — we’re a large national network,”
And while the nonprofit does complete significant research in the form of studies and reports, “we’re not strictly an institute,” he said. “The other half is advocacy and public relations.”
The nonprofit’s board chose Alcohol Justice from three alternatives a branding consultant penned.
The organization, one of the Buck Trust’s three major beneficiaries, focuses on research, education and campaigning through mainstream and social media nationwide.
While not anti-alcohol,
the organization keeps a close eye on the alcohol industry, going after
products or advertising campaigns it believes pose a threat to public safety
and health,
Recent work includes a campaign against “supersized alcopops,” which are fruity beverages with high alcohol content served in 23.5-ounce cans that some believe target underage drinkers; assisting a grassroots campaign in Los Angeles to get alcohol advertising off of city-owned property — the organization has met with success on similar Bay Area initiatives; and supporting a state Assembly bill to bar retailers that sell alcohol from allowing customers to use automated check-out stations.
Another successful campaign culminated in the ban of “alcoholic energy drinks” last year....
8. “Port Authority Toll
Hikes Approved” (The Record (
By Shawn Boburg and John Reitmeyer, Staff Writers
Governor Christie
defended the $4.50 toll hikes on
Christie also rejected
criticism from some motorists and Democrats that the toll increase is a tax on
the commuters and businesses, mostly from
The toll increases will
affect
Under a plan approved by the bistate agency’s commissioners—and lauded by several transportation experts, business groups and labor unions—an initial $1.50 toll hike will go into effect on Sept. 18, and will be followed by 75 cent increases each December from 2012 to 2015....
State Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, also criticized the increases.
“Commuters are still being asked to pay more without the Port Authority being required to find equivalent savings within its own operations,” he said. “If even one of these future hikes could be eliminated through efficiencies, commuters would be better served.” ...
9. “
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (MarketWatch) As prominent economists gather here for the scenic Federal Reserve’s annual summer retreat, many said they don’t expect, or even want, Chairman Ben Bernanke to try to pull a rabbit out of his hat to please the stock market....
Economists said that the recent weakness in the economy stems from structural issues like foreclosed properties and an unskilled pool of unemployed labor that are immune from monetary policy stimulus.
“I hope he talks about
the limitations of monetary policy,” said Mickey
Levy, chief economist at Bank of
Fed policy is very effective at preventing a downturn but once weak demand is in place, monetary policy cannot lift it, Levy said.
“All the targeted counter-cyclical stimulus is not going to address the huge pocket of distressed properties,” Levy said....
In the first round of bond purchases between Dec. 2008 and March 2010, the Fed bought $1.7 trillion of mostly mortgage securities, and in the second round between November and June, the central bank snapped up $600 billion of Treasury bonds.
These purchases did not stimulate demand, Levy noted.
“The slowdown is not the fault of not enough liquidity,” he said.
Levy said he expected Bernanke to say the Fed will do whatever it has to do to avoid recession.
Ultimately, the next step is likely to be take steps to alter the composition of the composition of the Fed’s balance sheet to keep bond yields low, he said.
“That is all the Fed can do,” Levy said.
“More QE would not help. Lower long-term yields on the margin would help,” he added....
10. “California interests line up to shape state’s health exchange” (Sacramento Bee, Aug. 16, 2011); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/16/3840407/california-interests-line-up-to.html#ixzz1VCvmYju0
By Kevin Yamamura
At a suburban
As part of last year’s
federal health care overhaul law, the health exchange is expected to help more
than 2 million state residents obtain health coverage, starting in 2014.
Federal officials awarded
The idea is that the exchange will improve access to health care for low- to middle-income residents through federal subsidies and negotiated leverage with private health plans. A family of four earning up to four times the federal poverty level, currently $89,400, would qualify for subsidies. The exchange also will offer alternatives to small employers....
It remains to be seen how successfully states will control expenses as medical costs outpace inflation. The exchange must attract participants from a broad health spectrum, rather than high-risk patients alone. It must coordinate enrollment and eligibility services with Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, two state programs for lower-income children and disabled residents.
“There will be
challenges to doing everything well and being all things to all people,” said Marian Mulkey,
director of the
11. “Vermont Town Sees Value of Flood Insurance” (Homeland Security Department Documents and Publications, Release Number: 1995-036, August 16, 2011); publication citing KARI DOLAN (MPP 1990).
The town of
“Floods are
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) offers federally backed insurance to property owners and renters in communities that participate in the program, as well as increased state disaster assistance and access to federal mitigation grants that can be used to help prevent future damage.
In exchange, those municipalities agree to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances that set standards for building or repairing structures in the floodplain to reduce the risk of damage from flooding....
“Peacham doesn’t have many structures in the floodplain, but local management of their floodplains using a flood hazard ordinance will help avoid flood damages and recovery costs,” said Kari Dolan, NFIP Coordinator for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation....
12. The State Worker: “Why a six-figure public pensioner wants pensions changed” (Sacramento Bee, August 16, 2011); blog citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/08/why-six-figure-public-pensione.html
--Posted by Jon Ortiz
Capitol Matrix Consulting’s Mike Genest has come under some harsh criticism from public labor unions for receiving a six-figure pension while arguing for public pension roll backs.
His firm made a splash with a report commissioned by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility that concludes public employees’ pay and beneifts packages are generally better than those in the private sector. A third installment of the study issued last week concludes that changing the system—lowering benefits, shifting more of the cost to employees and the like—would potentially save government billions of dollars over time.
Genest, who retired from state service as finance director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, receives an annual pension of about $125,000 per year. In a Monday e-mail to The State Worker, he explained why he advocates remaking a retirement system from which he has benefited. We’re publishing that e-mail here, unedited and with Genest’s permission:
I want to make it clear why I continue to champion pension reform. I first got involved in the issue in 1999-2000 while working for Senator Jim Brulte. Our staff’s first draft analysis of the infamous pension expansion bill that year actually said the bill would have no cost. I made the consultant change that, although I was not familiar enough with pensions at the time insist on a more full-blown analysis. When I went to work for Schwarzenegger’s first budget director, Donna Arduin, we put pension reform in our first budget proposal. I was the lucky guy who volunteered to explain it to 250 union reps in a meeting at DPA. That meeting started with them shouting at me and accusing me of taking away their pensions. By the time it was over several thanked me for my “courage” and forthrightness in explaining the proposal....
13. “S.F. mayor’s race to test new public financing law” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 2011); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/14/MN4J1KME2N.DTL#ixzz1V7pDayy5
--John Coté, Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers
Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Carmen Chu watch lion dancers
perform before a Lee campaign event Thursday outside the
The city is seeing its first mayor’s race with public financing in play, and Mayor Ed Lee threw a major curveball by entering the race after he promised he wouldn’t and then declared he won’t accept public financing, unlike nine other serious contenders.
Lee’s camp also said he won’t be constrained by the $1.475 million spending cap in place for those accepting public money, which leaves him free to raise as much as he can....
Lee maintains he doesn’t want to use public funds for campaigning after already cutting programs and services while closing a $380 million deficit to balance the city budget....
14. “As lawmakers
return, will Brown push pension overhaul?” (
By Jon Ortiz
… [Gov. Jerry] Brown has proposed language for pension measures that Republicans would support, such as ending service credit purchases and forbidding retroactive application of pension benefit increases.
GOP lawmakers rejected his offer to put those reforms and others on a statewide ballot in exchange for a budget compromise on taxes earlier this year. Since then, Brown has tabled pension reform.
“The governor obviously isn’t eager to carry the Republicans’ water on this,” said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a professor emeritus at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management who tracks public employee policy….
On Friday,
The third and final chapter of the study by Sacramento-based Capitol Matrix Consulting, issued Friday, considered how several pension reform plans favored by the California Foundation for Fiscal Reform would affect government costs.
It concluded that shifting workers into hybrid plans and increasing their out-of-pocket contributions to their retirement accounts, among other changes, would save state and local governments billions of dollars.
Mitchell, noting that former state Finance Director Mike Genest was involved with the study, called it “more respectable than some of the hit pieces that are disguised as academic reports.” …
15. “
By Kate Brumback, Associated Press
One provision that was blocked by a judge authorizes police to check the immigration status of suspects who don’t have proper identification and to detain illegal immigrants. The other penalizes people who knowingly and willingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants while committing another crime....
The appeal argues that Federal Judge Thomas Thrash erred in blocking parts of the law because the plaintiffs “do not have a likelihood of prevailing on the merits, have not shown irreparable injury and because harm to the public far outweighs their interest.” ...
Opponents of the law said the state was trying to raise arguments it had already lost.
“We think the judge
issued a thoughtful ruling on this, and we think the
Parts of similar laws in
16. “Blue Cross pulls further ahead; Health insurer adds to marketshare in state” (Crain’s Chicago Business, Pg. 2 Vol. 34, August 15, 2011); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
By Kristen Schorsch and Thomas A. Corfman
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois is tightening its chokehold on the insurance market, writing nearly half of all group health and accident plans in the state.
The Health Care Service
Corp. subsidiary’s share of the $20.7-billion market for health, life, property
and casualty insurance rose to 48.1% in 2010, from 44.3% in 2009, according to
the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, a non-profit group of state
insurance regulators. That is more than five times the share of the state’s No.
2 health insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc. of
Having such a large marketshare gives Blue Cross more leverage to negotiate lower rates from employers, doctors and hospitals. That leaves trailing insurers strategizing how to eat away Blue Cross’ widening lead.
Yet having such market dominance doesn’t always translate into lower premiums for consumers.
“It’s not the case that just because there’s one big gorilla in the marketplace that they will use this sort of commanding negotiating authority and pass that on in terms of lower premiums,” says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care non-profit in Menlo Park, Calif.
Blue Cross premiums are still climbing. Many in the past few months have been single-digit increases, down from double-digit hikes that were common last year, though one broker says a client was socked recently with a 48% increase....
17. “Henn
votes on Lido, despite financial ties” (Daily Pilot (
By Mike Reicher, Daily Pilot
Newport Beach Mayor Mike
Henn has long championed the revitalization of
struggling
He led the city’s
efforts to improve the commercial area’s streetscape, redesign streets and
parking, and bring more shoppers through its stores. When residents or council
members suggested they slow down or focus on other struggling parts of town,
such as Mariner’s Mile, Henn insisted that
Henn’s
council district includes
As a business consultant, Henn is paid more than $100,000 a year by a shop owner [Lilah Stangeland] in one of the village’s distressed retail centers, according to disclosure forms he filed with the state.
Conflict-of-interest experts, however, say Henn should have avoided voting on or discussing the issue on the City Council because improving the retail center could directly benefit his client and indirectly help him....
The law is designed to ensure a “public official is putting the public’s interest first, and not putting personal financial relationships or personal friendships first,” said JoAnne Speers, ethics program director for the Institute for Local Government, a Sacramento-based good-government advocacy group....
18. “Transit Ridership Surges Across Bay Area” (San Jose Mercury News, August 12, 2011); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997).
By Gary Richards
... In a remarkable turnaround for transit agencies that have repeatedly slashed services, raised fares and lost state and federal funding, transit ridership is steadily rising throughout the Bay Area. Caltrain ridership was up almost 12 percent and BART almost 8 percent in weekday use in June compared with the same month a year ago. The Valley Transportation Authority saw an increase of more than 7 percent and the ACE commuter train of more than 14 percent, while SamTrans ridership was up 0.4 percent....
Gas prices that averaged $4.32 a gallon in the region in May are “the largest factor, undoubtedly,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of TransForm, an Oakland-based transportation advocacy group. “There is clearly a change in behavior when you see $4 at the pump and $50 fill-ups for a midsize car.”
But Cohen and others say it’s not just the price of gas. Higher bridge tolls and parking fees have hit drivers in the pocketbook and led some to take the bus or train to save money. Some are cutting back on driving to reduce the cost of maintaining older cars as they worry about keeping their jobs.
Cohen’s group estimates a motorist in the Bay Area can save almost $600 a month by taking public transit to work instead of driving....
19. “Workplace Rights for Domestic Employees May Expand” (The California Report, KQED public radio, August 12, 2011); features interview with LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005); Listen to the program
(Scott Shafer/KQED)
A bill has passed the state Assembly that would extend workplace rights to domestic employees like housekeepers and nannies by regulating overtime and working conditions.... To learn more about the impact of the bill, Host Scott Shafer talks with Laurel Lucia of UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education....
LAUREL LUCIA [UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education]: We specificially analyzed two provisions of the bill: one would extend overtime rights which other workers already have and one that would also extend workers compensation coverage to domestic workers….
We found the benefits of these provisions of the bills would generally outweigh the costs....
Requiring overtime pay for domestic workers would probably result in lowering the use of overtime work. A reduction in overtime work could result in fewer mistakes, higher productivity, and reduced injuries and stress....
... Over the long term it could be beneficial to both employers and workers. We expect to see less turnover and workers would be healthier as a result of having workers compensation coverage, so I think generally it could be beneficial to the relationship....
We looked at research on increases to the minimum wage which were comparable or even greater than required by this bill and those studies found that there was no negative impact on employment as a result of the change....
20. “Paul ad untrue on
Dem budget efforts in ‘80s - Politics - GOP rep misleads that foes produced
only tax hikes” (The Telegraph (
By Maryalice Gill; Staff Writer
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s first television ad hits a popular Republican theme. It says Democrats aren’t serious about balancing the federal budget because they want only tax hikes, not spending cuts....
In this item, we’ll explore Paul’s claim that during the debt ceiling debate in the 1980s, the Democrats “delivered only tax hikes.” ...
We didn’t get a response to multiple calls to Paul’s campaign, but the ad cited a source for the claim: a New York Times story on Sept. 28, 1987.
The story talks about debates over the 1988 federal budget, during which President Reagan and Congress were working on an agreement to reach a deficit of no more than $144 billion or face $23 billion in spending cuts.
“The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings process was bipartisan; it was two Republican senators and a Democratic senator, and it allowed both spending cuts and tax increases,” Stan Collender , widely respected budget analyst and writer for Roll Call’s “Fiscal Fitness” column said, speaking of the 1985 act.
“It didn’t distinguish” between the two approaches, Collender said. “The original version only had deficit targets; it didn’t tell you how to get here from there,” Collender said. “It could’ve been easily used to raise funds or cut spending.”
The 1985 Balanced Budget Act aimed to eliminate the deficit by requiring fixed deficit targets, enforced through sequestration – automatic, across-the-board spending cuts made by the beginning of the fiscal year – if necessary, to keep the estimated deficit within determined limits. Its aim was reaching a balanced budget by FY 1991....
It is not accurate to say the Democrats supported only tax increases with Gramm-Rudman-Hollings and the amended version of the act of 1987, Collender said.
“It wasn’t all tax increases (with Gramm-Rudman-Hollings). That’s just campaign speech hyperbole,” Collender said....
21. “Comm Daily ® Notebook” (Communications Daily, August 11, 2011); column citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
Free Press criticized FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s
endorsement of usage-based pricing. “While the rest of the world is moving away
from this type of price-gouging, it is puzzling why the FCC chairman would
endorse a practice that in the long run will relegate the
The FCC’s December net neutrality order contemplated usage-based pricing, but left it to “markets” to decide how to handle it. Turner said such pricing plans could help low-volume users “in theory. But the industry is not contemplating any such thing, because it runs counter to the fundamental network economics of their industry, and because doing so would not help them achieve their primary goal—continued explosive growth of profits. They’re simply not looking to charge low-volume users less—over time, they want everyone to pay more….
22. “Pawlenty
sees
By Marilyn Werber Serafini; Kaiser Health News
Critics, though, argue
that it’s too early to know whether the
Some of the changes the
Pawlenty
took office in 2003 after vowing not to raise taxes. But
Still, consumer advocates
say, it was a constant battle to maintain the state’s coverage levels. “The
first place Governor Pawlenty looked when there was
budget trouble was cutting people off of health care,” said Liz Doyle, the policy director of the
consumer group TakeAction
As he was positioning himself for a presidential campaign, Pawlenty was the subject of intense criticism in 2009, when he used his line-item veto authority to try to end the state’s General Assistance Medical Care program, which then was serving about 33,000 low-income adults....
Pawlenty wanted to shift participants to MinnesotaCare, another state program for people without insurance. Consumer advocates and Democrats in the legislature fought the change because they feared that administrative requirements would make it more difficult for some people to remain covered. In the end, Pawlenty and the Democratic-controlled legislature agreed to change the program so that the state would give hospitals a set amount of money to care for eligible people in their areas.
But that was unrealistic for thousands of people, Doyle said, because only a handful of hospitals chose to participate, shutting off access for those in other areas....
23. “Study: Early Care and Education Industry Strengthens Entire California Economy” (California Progress Report, August 9, 2011); commentary and research by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005); http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/comment/reply/9240
By Laurel
Lucia – UC
More than 850,000
Every dollar spent on
early care and education yields $2 in economic output for the
Access to early care and education enables parents, especially mothers, to go to work. A reliable child care system also increases worker productivity, reduces absenteeism and decreases staff turnover. Similarly, these services also increase parents’ ability to pursue their own education, resulting in a more educated workforce….
Early care and education
is a critical part of
Laurel Lucia is a Policy Analyst at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, specializing in health care policy.
24. “Rating falls, markets plunge, critics rage. But tea party isn’t blinking” (The Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Gail Russell Chaddock - Staff writer
It was tea party
intransigence in debt ceiling talks that led to the first-ever downgrade of the
But as world financial markets reacted convulsively to the downgrade on Monday, tea party leaders were not blinking….
Tea party-backed
lawmakers, meanwhile, hailed S&P’s call for a
more robust deficit-cutting plan. “S&P’s
downgrade is a warning shot the whole world saw coming,” said Rep. Jim Jordan
(R) of
In a controversial move,
chairman Jordan had lobbied outside business groups in July to pressure
Republican lawmakers to oppose the “grand bargain” being negotiated between
President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R) of
“The tea party had a
shot at a big deal that avoided a downgrade, but rejected it because it
included a tax increase, preferring to roil the markets,” says Stan Collender, a
longtime federal budget analyst and partner at Qorvis
Communications in
“S&P’s
statement signals that the downgrade has nothing to do with
25. “
By Tim Fought and Jonathan J. Cooper: The Associated Press
At best, its sponsors acknowledge, the bridge project is going to take another whack. At worst, the sponsors say, are options they’re not ready to consider, including shelving $130 million worth of plans until the nation’s balance sheet looks better or scaling back the project....
However, hours after the House voted last week for the debt-ceiling bill, Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio, a senior Democrat on the House transportation committee, was angry at Republicans as well as President Obama. And he was pessimistic about the chances for the one-third share of the bridge costs the federal government was expected to bear....
Recently, in an analysis
[Gov.] Kitzhaber requested,
Portland economist Joe Cortright was prominent among critics pointing out flaws in the toll projections. He says the bridge can’t be built as designed, but it’s not evident what sort of fallback plan could satisfy all the interests that have signed on.
“It strikes me as very interesting that nobody has appropriated the first dollar for actual construction,” Cortright said. “At some point, you have to ask: Will there be money to build it?”
26. “Local Issue: Child
Abduction Response Team” (The Record (
By Stephanie Akin, Staff Writer
Three years after
The result is a
patchwork approach to preparation, with some counties, such as
The program, called Child Abduction Response Team—or CART—creates a protocol for specialists who might not normally work together so they can quickly snap into place as soon as a child is reported missing. The idea is to create an ad hoc unit that would work like a SWAT team, using all the available resources in the region to get the child home safely….
In recognition of what he said were possible disparities across the state, Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, said he is in the process of developing legislation that would standardize the approach to CART in every county.
“It seems appropriate to try to establish some minimum standards,” he said….
27. “The Next Big Fight; After the Wrangling over the Debt Ceiling, an Appropriations Battle Looms in Congress” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 7, 2011); analysis citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Daniel Malloy, Post-Gazette
That is when government funding expires for the year, and Congress could face a repeat of the springtime drama that nearly resulted in a federal government shutdown. The stakes are much different from the debt ceiling battle, but the politics are nearly identical….
Former Congressional budget staffer Stan Collender, a partner at Qorvis Communications, predicts, based on the template this year: “a series of threatened government shutdowns—especially because this legislative hostage-taking has been shown to be an effective strategy,” he added….
Democrats who negotiated the deal have argued that the spending caps will make it easier to avoid a shutdown standoff ….
Mr. Collender insisted that is wishful thinking.
“Just because there’s a cap doesn’t mean there’s a floor,” Mr. Collender said.
“Everybody’s talking about hostage taking. You’re a tea party person, one of the freshmen in the House, and you think you can get another $5 billion in cuts, why don’t you go for it? Especially since the administration hasn’t shown a lot of propensity to take its marbles and go home.” …
Depending on the length of the short-term funding extensions, the fight also could coincide with the work of the 12-member Congressional “supercommittee” created in the debt ceiling deal that is tasked with coming up with recommendations to trim at least $1.2 trillion from future deficits. It must release its proposals by Nov. 23 and Congress must vote on them by Dec. 23.
Many observers predict another Democrat-Republican deadlock over the familiar themes of entitlements and taxes, and Mr. Collender said the appropriations process could become a political pawn.
“If [Republicans] don’t like what the administration or the Congressional leaders are saying about the joint select committee, they’ll just use this for leverage: ‘We’re going to shut down the government tomorrow,’” Mr. Collender said….
28. “ChinaSF Honored in National Award from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives” (Marketwire, August 5, 2011); newswire citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008).
“Being acknowledged by the leading association for American Chambers of Commerce is a great honor,” said Ginny Fang, Executive Director, ChinaSF. “We are proud of the results ChinaSF has achieved in just three years’ time. And we look forward to even bigger and better achievements in the years to come towards San Francisco’s current and future economic prosperity.” ...
29. “Opinion: Jews turn on Obama” (Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, August 5, 2011); op-ed by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
By Mitchell Bard
A lot has been written recently about whether President Obama is losing support in the Jewish community. Besides polls, perhaps the best indication of Obama’s standing were the repeated reminders AIPAC sent out implicitly imploring its conference delegates not to boo him....
Obama must have expected
a different reception when he accepted the invitation to speak. When he gave
his speech on the broader
Obama’s State Department
speech, which was far more supportive of
The irony is that Obama’s two speeches showed greater support for Israel than his earlier policies – he made no demand for a settlement freeze and recognized that Israel will keep part of the West Bank, while blasting the Palestinians for refusing to negotiate, uniting with Hamas and their efforts to delegitimize Israel and unilaterally declare a state....
Mitchell Bard is a foreign policy
analyst whose latest book is
The Arab Lobby: The Invisible Alliance That Undermines America’s Interests in
the
30. “Efforts under way to unravel California’s budget” (Sacramento Bee, Aug. 4, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/04/3815718/efforts-under-way-to-unravel-californias.html#ixzz1U4nyHVOv
By Kevin Yamamura
Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget five weeks ago, but the battle over spending cuts and fees rages on outside the state Capitol.
In the latest bid to
unravel the $85.9 billion general fund budget, advocates for doctors, insurers
and low-income patients will ask federal officials in
Medi-Cal
serves nearly 7.7 million low-income children, parents and adults with
disabilities or other needs. As part of the Medicaid program,
Toby Douglas, director of the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal, described the rate cut process almost as a negotiation with federal officials rather than a simple up-or-down approval.
31. “Capitol Journal:
By George Skelton - Capitol Journal
From
There’s a lot of federal
money for
The real state budget includes an additional $79.2 billion in federal largesse, representing 38% of total state spending. This brings the grand total to $208.7 billion.
So the state of
There’s little opportunity for games-playing — and much less than there used to be — although Capitol politicians try their best.
“They’ve done plenty of very creative things to get the benefit out of federal money, like with the stimulus funds,” says Mike Genest, state finance director for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Sometimes the federal government has rules that can be exploited and they don’t mind…
“In the ‘80s and ‘90s, we were among the most creative states in making federal costs go up.” …
And it’s not like
Genest, a longtime numbers cruncher for Republican politicians, says that future federal cuts would have a huge impact on state services, and he adds: “Personally, I say so what?
“We’re going to have to cut these services. It’s not that we can afford everything that people want. I’m a ‘tea party’ guy. I think they should have cut a lot more than they did. We’re spending a lot more than is coming in, and that’s got to stop.” …
32. “Deficit panel faces rough road; Few lawmakers have volunteered for what most predict will be a thankless job, though lobbyists are already gearing up to pounce” (Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2011); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Kathleen Hennessey, Tom Hamburger, Lisa Mascaro
Given the partisan acrimony dominating Congress, and the start of a presidential campaign that will center on the nation’s economic woes, few raised their hands in the wake of this week’s debt ceiling agreement for what most predict will be a thankless job….
“It’s going to be junkyard types,” said budget expert Stan Collender. “Negotiators whose basic word is, ‘No.’ “ …
Perhaps the most important credential is loyalty to party leadership. The committee is essentially usurping the roles of the most powerful committees in Congress.
“They’ll want people who understand they’re not free agents,” Collender said….
33. “Youth appeal fades.
Cities crave work force made of ‘creative class.’
By Dan Chapman; Staff
... [Reynir Hardarson, the co-founder of CCP Games, a virtual gaming company with a major hit in Eve Online], who is from Iceland, chose to remain here, although he is moving the company from a near-dead shopping center in Gwinnett County to a newly renovated bank building in downtown Decatur.
Incentives and tax
breaks from the state of
During the 1990s,
The job-killing
recession and an unemployment rate more than a percentage point higher than the
national average have prompted college grads to increasingly bypass
And a region strangling on traffic with inadequate public transit deters urban-loving youngsters. Cortright recently released a study showing that intown neighborhoods welcomed twice as many of the under-35 educated cohorts as suburban neighborhoods.
Last year Quicken Loans,
an online mortgage lender, moved its headquarters and 1,700 employees from the
suburbs to downtown
“If the city of
34. “Lost Hitchcock film
discovered in
LOS ANGELES -- Alfred Hitchcock is still surprising his fans.
Film preservationists say they’ve found the first half of “The White Shadow,” the earliest surviving feature film on which Hitchcock has a credit.
The first three reels of the six-reel film made in 1923 were discovered by the National Film Preservation Foundation at the New Zealand Film Archive.
“The White Shadow” was directed by Graham Cutts, and Hitchcock is credited as writer, assistant director, editor and art director. Hitchcock’s own directing debut came two years later.
Foundation Director Annette Melville said Wednesday that the reels of
“The White Shadow” were found among films donated to the archive by the family
of
35. “Debt Deal a Bitter Pill - Giffords’ Surprise Return For Vote Marks Rare Sign of Unity in Fiercely Divided House. Default Deadline Drives Yes Votes; Next Up, Senate” (San Jose Mercury News, August 2, 2011); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975).
By Carl Hulse, New York Times
Despite the tension and uncertainty that has surrounded efforts to raise the debt ceiling, the vote of 269-161 was relatively strong in support of the plan, which would cut more than $2.1 trillion in government spending over 10 years while extending the borrowing authority of the Treasury Department. It also would create a powerful new joint congressional committee to recommend broad changes in spending—and possibly in tax policy—to reduce the deficit....
WHAT THEY SAID ...
Doug Henton, chairman and CEO of Collaborative Economics:
“The biggest problem was the uncertainty factor. Getting it resolved is a positive thing and hopefully we can move on. We should be focusing on growth and job creation.”
-- Tracy Seipel, Pete Carey, Josh Richman
36. “Teachers Unsure of Where They’ll Be Assigned” (The California Report, KQED radio news, August 2, 2011); commentary by EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.californiareport.org/
Many students used to
know who their new teacher would be come fall. But
Reporter Ana Tintocalis: … Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, approved last month, gives the districts enough money to maintain the same staff level as the year before…. Not all districts are bringing back educators…. Edgar Cabral is with the State Legislative Analyst’s Office. He says districts are rehiring based on whether they feel confident in the governor’s spending plan.
EDGAR CABRAL, LAO analyst: So they might have different reasons or different rationales for taking their approaches, and it might be very different in many cases….
37. “Fox Special Report with Bret Baier” (Fox News Network, August 2, 2011); program features commentary by SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).
… JAMES ROSEN, FOX NEWS CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once the debt deal was sealed, the Obama White House, while acknowledging flaws, hailed it as a victory for the American people…: But leading budget experts disagree….
SEAN WEST, FINANCIAL ANALYST: There’s a small very minuscule amount of cuts in the initial two years within the package….
It simply changes the ground rules for Congress to make it more likely that they’ll find more cuts going forward with the retirement of the baby boom, the financial crisis, and the economic slowdown. We’ve got much bigger problem than the sort of $3 trillion of big cuts can address….
38. “FCC: Broadband Speeds are Largely as Advertised” (The National Journal, August 2, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
By Josh Smith
Broadband Internet services are usually at least 80 to 90 percent of advertised speeds, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday.
Despite the rosier findings, the report is unlikely to put to rest lingering disputes after a 2009 survey suggested that actual speeds were about half of what Internet service providers advertised….
The report, conducted by an independent company called SamKnows, gave a mixed bag of results. During peak periods, Verizon Fios performed 14 percent better than its advertised speeds, while Cablevision averaged only 54 percent of what it promised.
But the numbers were not good enough for the media reform group Free Press. The group’s research director, Derek Turner, argued that although some providers are delivering on their promises, others are falling short.
“The fact that providers using the same technology turned in very different performances indicates that delivering promised speeds can be done, but some ISPs are simply failing to properly maintain and provision their networks,” he said in a statement. “It’s completely inexcusable that millions upon millions of Americans are paying for something they’re not receiving.” …
39. “The cross-country incidence of the global crisis” (IMF Economic Review, Pg. 77 Vol. 59 No. 1, August 2011); study citing JOHN KOWALSKI (MPP 2008/MA-IAS 2008).
Abstract:
We examine whether the cross-country incidence and severity of the 2008-09 global recession is systematically related to precrisis macroeconomic and financial factors. We find that the precrisis level of development, increases in the ratio of private credit to GDP, current account, deficits, and openness to trade are helpful in understanding the intensity of the crisis. International risk sharing did little to shield domestic demand from the country-specific component of output declines, while those countries with large pre-crisis current account deficits saw domestic demand fall by much more than domestic output during the crisis. [JEL F31, F32]
* Revised version of the
paper prepared for the IMF/BOP/PSE Conference “Economic Linkages, Spillovers and
the Financial Crisis,”
40. “Senate panel to probe state’s computer woes” (Press of Atlantic City, August 1, 2011); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975).
By Bruce Shipkowski - Associated Press
A Senate panel will gather this week to consider ways to improve the state’s aging technology infrastructure.
The session comes in the wake of recent computer crashes that have affected operations … at several state agencies, most noticeably the Motor Vehicle Commission. Crashes that occurred July 11 and 23 kept MVC workers from accessing license, title or registration information, leading to long lines and frustrated patrons at agency offices across the state.
“We need to find out the root cause of these problems and see what we can possibly fix, what upgrades can be done,” said Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Bergen, who called for the Budget Committee hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday in the Lodi municipal building. He said officials from the MVC and other agencies were recently invited to attend the hearing….
“Are these crashes minor incidents, or are they merely symptoms of more fundamental problems? We owe it to residents to find out what needs to be done,” Gordon said.
Gordon said he suspects that several factors -- including budgetary and economic issues—have contributed to the chronic system problems, adding that he didn’t seek Thursday’s hearing as a way to place blame on anyone or any agency.
“I’m not interested in flagellating anyone or pointing fingers. That’s not what the public wants,” he said. “We’re seeing many symptoms here, and I want to know exactly what the disease is so we can properly address it.”
41. “Navajos Laying the Groundwork for a $200 Million Wind Farm” (The Bond Buyer, Pg. 7 Vol. 377 No. 33557, August 1, 2011); story citing LISA SCHROEER (MPP 2005).
By Richard Williamson
The project, expected to have a capacity of 85 megawatts, will diversify the nation’s energy portfolio, which includes oil, gas, and coal. In development since 2007, the project should be completed in 2013....
The nation has two long-term loans outstanding. A $1.2 million loan matures in 2013, and a $60 million senior unsecured general obligationterm loan matures in 2015.
The nation raised its sales tax by 1% and is setting aside 25% of its sales tax revenue for the payment of debt.
“It is our understanding the nation has considered rolling the debt over or converting it into a more traditional long-term GO bond,” Standard & Poor’s analyst Lisa Schroeer wrote in a May report conferring the nation’s first credit rating,which was A with a stable outlook....
42. “Bring Workers Home - NHC and NAR 2011 Regional Forum on Workforce Housing” (States News Service, July 28, 2011); event featuring MAUREEN FRIAR (MPP 1990).
The outstanding lineup of speakers at Bring Workers Home will explore a core set of issues, including:
Keynote: “An Employer Perspective on Workforce Housing”
* Maureen Friar, National Housing Conference …
43. “Bills would pressure charter schools on test scores” (Fresno Bee, July 27, 2011); story citing BRIAN RIVAS (MPP 1992).
By Valerie Gibbons / The
Two new bills in
The proposals also would shift some of the power to shut down failing charters from school districts to the state....
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, and Assembly Member Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, say their bills will help make charters more accountable.
“There are some great charter schools out there – and most perform about as well as the public schools,” Simitian said. “But a significant minority of charter schools are underperforming by every reasonable measurement.”
The bills would set a threshold for achievement on standardized tests, create a state board to decide the fate of poor-performing schools and scrutinize enrollments of English learners, special needs and low-income students....
If a school failed to meet standardized test standards under Simitian’s proposal, it would be unable to apply for a renewal and would need to appeal to the state Department of Education.
The bill has drawn fire from the California School Boards Association.
“We feel it is supplanting the autonomy of the local districts,” said Brian Rivas, a CSBA spokesman....
44. “Researchers: Sharing Risk with Providers Risky” (National Underwriter Life & Health/Financial Services, July 25, 2011); story citing SUZANNE DELBANCO (MPP/MPH 1994/PhD 1999).
By Allison Bell
The government is counting on holding down health care costs by sharing risk with health care providers, but it is not yet clear whether health care providers are ready to share risk.
A team of researchers led by Suzanne Delbanco of Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR), San Francisco, a think tank funded in part by West Coast employers, writes about the possible challenges facing organizers of the new Medicare “accountable care organization” (ACO) program in a report commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund, New York.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently started implementing a section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) that requires Medicare to test whether the ACO concept can help hold down Medicare costs while improving the quality of care.
In an ACO, providers are supposed to join together, either through mergers or alliances, to take financial responsibility for providing and managing care for a whole patient, rather than simply collecting fees for each service rendered.
CMS has proposed setting up a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) that would establish ACOs that require hospitals, doctors and other providers to meet strict, complicated responsibility requirements.
Any private insurers participating in an ACO also would have to meet strict requirements, such as a 25% cap on health insurer representation on an ACO’s governing body....
Delbanco and colleagues say
doing a meaningful study predicting how the MSSP ACOs
might work is difficult because the
45. “The Weather Channel to Air ‘Changing Planet’ Town Hall Meeting July 26th” (US Fed News, July 21, 2011); event featuring CHRIS BUSCH (MPP 1998/MS ARE 2000).
NBC News Chief
Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson moderated the event hosted at
The George Washington University in
“Today’s technology allows us to think about new energy options that impact the planet less and help the economy more,” said Thompson. “It is critical that we have these important discussions about how clean energy and the economy can go hand in hand, in order to bring the best solutions to the spotlight.”
The town hall meeting is the second in a three-part series produced under a partnership between NBC Learn—the educational arm of NBC News, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Discover magazine.
This “Changing Planet” event explored the relationship between clean energy, green jobs and global competition. The event brought together more than 100 students and featured four leading experts from the science and business communities: Chris Busch, director of policy and program at Apollo Alliance in San Francisco; Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, chief executive officer of Green For All in Oakland; Timothy Juliani, director of corporate engagement at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Va. and Ken Zweibel, director at the GW Solar Institute in Washington, D.C. ...
46. “Two Reports Reveal Grim Outlook for Children's Programs in the Federal Budget” (States News Service, July 20, 2011); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
Kids' Share 2011, an Urban Institute-Brookings Institution report, also released at today's Children's Budget Summit, shows that the share of the federal budget spent on children rose temporarily in 2010 as a result of the recession and [the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act], but will decline over the next ten years, falling to 8 percent by the end of the next decade. In fact, if current law remains unchanged, by as early as 2014, the federal government is projected to spend more on interest payments on the federal debt than on programs that benefit children....
"As the temporary boost in spending under ARRA ends, federal spending on children is projected to fall, whether measured as a share of the budget or in real dollars. Only once in the last half-century have outlays on children declined as much as our baseline projections for the next five years. And these projections do not incorporate the spending cuts enacted in spring 2011 nor any of the recent proposals for larger cuts." said Julia Isaacs, co-author of the report and Child and Family Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution....
47. “Northern suburbs could lose affordable housing” (Washington Post, July 19, 2011); story citing ANGINETTA RODGERS (MPP 2003).
By Kafia A. Hosh
Plans to revitalize
Local governments are replanning the adjacent communities of Columbia Pike in
Of the 25,000 rentals in
the revitalization areas, more than 11,500 are low-cost units that are at risk,
according to the report by the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing
In their replanning efforts, the
But according to the report, the three localities lack aggressive strategies for preservation of affordable housing. The study urges them to create incentives—such as tax breaks or small loans used to renovate units—for apartment owners to maintain lower rents.
“We’re talking about private owners who can do whatever they want with their buildings,” said Angie Rodgers, the report’s author. “As these plans ramp up, then its important for these jurisdictions to position themselves on how they want to preserve this affordable housing.” ...
48. “Mayor Lee Welcomes China Sunergy’s North American Headquarters to San Francisco” (States News Service, July 12, 2011); newswire citing GINNY FANG (MPP 2008).
As China Sunergy grows, their future plans potentially include
bringing manufacturing operations to the
“This shows the
effectiveness of ChinaSF with this most recent
attraction taking place in barely a year’s time,” said ChinaSF Executive Director Ginny Fang. “
49. “Civil rights groups file lawsuit challenging Alabama immigration law” (The Colorado Independent, July 10, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
By Nicolas Mendoza
Attorneys from the American
Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the
Karen Tumlin, the managing attorney at the
National Immigration Law Center, told The
American Independent that HB 56, the
The
As befits the unprecedented nature of the law, the lawsuit filed by the civil rights groups was equally broad in its list of challenges. The groups are challenging the law on the basis that it preempts the federal government’s exclusive power to regulate immigration, which has been the basis of all other court challenges to state-level immigration enforcement laws. But it also includes a Fourth Amendment challenge on the basis that the law would subject people to unreasonable search and seizures, a due process challenge, a First Amendment challenge on the basis that the law would restrict peoples access to the courts and a challenge to the laws schooling measures, which Tumlin says, fly in the face of thirty years of Supreme Court precedent saying schools cannot deny or chill access to a public education.
... Tumlin calls the degree to which the law violates constitutional rights fairly stunning....
50. “
By Matthew Artz,
When
But nowadays green is an ethos, and city leaders are touting a long-range development plan that seeks to help at least some city residents make due [sic] without an automobile....
The plan, once certified
by the City Council later this year, will guide development in
The areas slated for
major population growth are the city center, the
Those locations will have building codes that allow for taller structures ranging from six to eight stories, with fewer parking spaces to promote walking to shops and relying on public transit....
Comments also may be
submitted by mail to City of
51. “New Website Answers What Works in Global Health” (States News Service, June 17, 2011); newswire citing ELLIOT MARSEILLE (MPP 1977/PhD 1995).
By Jason Bardi
Think of it as Cliffs Notes for global health. The new website—Global Health Intervention Review (GHIR)—summarizes all of the interventions used to prevent and treat eight infectious diseases and other health conditions: Dengue fever, HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, waterborne diarrhea, maternal hemorrhage, maternal sepsis and unintended pregnancy.
Want to know how effectively insecticides control malaria or Dengue fever? Can’t recall the key antibiotic regimens for tuberculosis? Need to find out which is more effective at reducing water-borne diarrhea: vaccines or clean water efforts? Need to know which forms of birth control work best in avoiding pregnancy?
The website answers those questions and more, said UCSF professor James G. Kahn, MD, MPH, who led the effort to compile the information behind it. Kahn is an expert in policy modeling in health care, cost-effectiveness analysis, and evidence-based medicine used to inform decision-making in public health and medicine....
Based at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and in the Institute for Global Health, both at UCSF, the team included Elliot Marseille, Mohsen Malekinejad and Brian Harris. Together with Kahn, they identified all existing systematic reviews, extracted and synthesized their findings, and checked the work with experts....
52. “Judge delays ruling
on access to
By Linda Deutsch, AP Special Correspondent
LOS ANGELES - Lawyers for Michael Jackson’s doctor and Sony Pictures aired some of their dispute Thursday over release of unused footage from the star’s posthumous concert film, “This Is It.”
But the judge presiding over the involuntary manslaughter case of Dr. Conrad Murray delayed ruling on the issue, citing confusion about exactly what the defense wants to see.
Lawyers for Sony said the defense request had “changed radically” in recent days, and the entertainment company wanted more time to research the matter and file additional legal briefs.
Sony attorney Gary Bostwick said the
subpoena for raw footage has now changed to a request for film from two of
Defense lawyers said
earlier they wanted all raw footage of
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said he was sensitive to whether the request is merely a fishing expedition. He said release of any footage would come with restrictions to prevent it from being disseminated on the Internet and elsewhere.
“If Michael Jackson
materials are just out there, there could be amazing consequences for Sony and
the
Bostwick added, “We will continue to be very concerned that anything shown in court leaks out and goes viral.”
But he acknowledged that once the video becomes a trial exhibit, it will be difficult to keep it secret....
53. “
--Andrew S. Ross
... Making waves: Now, we’re not even hinting at the possibility of dual loyalties here when we note that ChinaSF, the public-private agency that recruits Chinese companies to open branches locally, has been actively involved in China Team’s entry in the 2013 America’s Cup....
“We’ve not only supported the China team, but, with many of the Chinese companies ChinaSF works with, have actively promoted the race,” said ChinaSF executive director Ginny Fang, who was present at China’s official entry in Beijing in March.
Fang said ChinaSF has also been a “local conduit” for the team, hooking it up with local resources and posting job descriptions for local hires.
Business development: Fang and other members of ChinaSF returned last week from their latest business trip
to
ChinaSF
also signed a “memorandum of understanding” to explore a partnership between
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Rick Perry’s secret plan to save blue states from red states. Fiscal secession would actually benefit liberal states, which receive less federal tax benefit than their conservative counterparts” (Christian Science Monitor, August 31, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0831/Rick-Perry-s-secret-plan-to-save-blue-states-from-red-states
By Robert Reich
Of all the nonsense Texas Governor Rick Perry spews about states’ rights and the tenth amendment, his dumbest is the notion that states should go it alone. ...
Perry doesn’t like the Federal Reserve Board. He hates the Internal Revenue Service even more. Presumably if he had his way taxpayers would pay states rather than the federal government for all the services and transfer payments they get.
This might be a good deal for
But it would be a bad deal for most other red
states. On average, citizens of states with strong Republican majorities get
back more from the federal government than they pay in.
On the other hand, fiscal secession would be a
boon to most blue states. The citizens of
2. “President Obama needs a bold jobs plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 28, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/26/INQA1KR0UD.DTL#ixzz1WRYLPXep
--Robert Reich
President Obama, speaking
this month at a Country Corner Farm Market in
The president says he’ll propose a jobs bill shortly after Labor Day. Will it do any good? That depends on how bold it is.
All he’s talked about so far is extending the
payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits (fine, but small potatoes), ratifying
the
Some of the president’s political advisers are pushing these sorts of small-bore initiatives. They think these might have a chance of getting through the Republican “just say no” House. They also figure such policy miniatures won’t give aspiring GOP candidates more ammunition to tar Obama as a big-government liberal.
But the president should reject their advice and come up with a jobs bill that’s large enough to make a difference. Boldness on the jobs front is good policy and good politics....
Besides, Republicans won’t go along with any jobs initiative the president proposes—even a tiny one. Better they reject one that could make a real difference than one that’s pitifully small and symbolic.
If Republicans reject it, Obama can build his 2012 campaign around that fight. Maybe he’ll even call Republicans on their big lie that smaller government leads to more jobs....
© 2011 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
3. “Analysis: Buffett Trades off His Reputation” (New York Times Online [*requires registration], August 26, 2011); analysis citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/08/26/business/business-us-buffett-banks.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Berkeley&st=nyt
By Reuters
Bank of America Corp on Thursday said Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway would invest $5 billion in the bank, the largest by assets
in the
“He’s not doing it out of charitable motive or
even out of a concern for the safety and soundness of the financial system,”
said Robert Reich, who served in
three
“He’s got a lot of shareholders and they depend
upon him to maximize the value of their investments,” said Reich, now a public policy professor at the
Buffett is buying preferred shares and receiving
warrants. The deal guarantees
Financial experts said Buffett at times may almost seem as powerful a player in financial markets as the government or the Federal Reserve.
“
4. War Room Blog: “This Labor Day, we need protests. As corporate profits soar, American workers are experiencing their worst decade in a century” (Salon, August 25, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/25/labor_day_protests
By Robert Reich
In this March 6, 1930 file
photo, groups of unemployed gather in front of the White House before parading
in protest in
Labor Day is traditionally a time for picnics and parades. But this year is no picnic for American workers, and a protest march would be more appropriate than a parade.
Not only are 25 million unemployed or underemployed, but American companies continue to cut wages and benefits. The median wage is still dropping, adjusted for inflation. High unemployment has given employers extra bargaining leverage to wring out wage concessions.
All told, it’s been the worst decade for American workers in a century. According to Commerce Department data, private-sector wage gains over the last decade have even lagged behind wage gains during the decade of the Great Depression (4 percent over the last ten years, adjusted for inflation, versus 5 percent from 1929 to 1939)....
The ratio of corporate profits to wages is now higher than at any time since just before the Great Depression....
Perhaps there would still be something to
celebrate on Labor Day if government was coming to the rescue. But
So let’s bag the picnics and parades this Labor Day. American workers should march in protest. They’re getting the worst deal they’ve had since before Labor Day was invented — and the economy is suffering as a result.
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the
5. “Robert
Reich Welcomes New Students to
By Steven Finacom
ASUC President Vishalli Loomba exhorted her fellow students while the other speakers, including Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard, Mary Catherine Birgeneau, Professor Robert Reich, and Vice Chancellor Harry LeGrande, looked on. (Steven Finacom)
New students at the University of California Berkeley—both incoming freshmen and junior transfers—flocked to the venerable blue and gold balloon festooned Hearst Greek Theatre on the late afternoon of August 22, 2011, to receive an official welcome to the campus in the form of the annual New Student Convocation....
[Vice Chancellor for Student Services Harry] LeGrande introduced the keynote speaker, Professor Robert Reich, with a mention
of the premier quality of the
Reich, who is now the Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy in UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, served as Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, and is a frequent commentator on economic and political issues.
After taking the microphone, the diminutive Reich walked around the podium, which was nearly as tall as him, and spoke to the students from the lip of the stage with a combination of low-key wit, insight, and avuncularity....
“This is the best public university in the world,” he continued to applause. “It’s a public university because we are not only diverse in terms of race and ethnicity and backgrounds, but we are also diverse because of our economic backgrounds. Much more diverse than at every private university.”
“We learn from each other because we respect each other,” he told the students. And “the best way to learn is to find people who disagree with you and talk to them, and get to know them…It is that ferment between you and people who see the world slightly differently…that actually is the essence of the learning experience.” ...
“I first came to
6. “A Tough Job, but Someone’s Gotta Do It. What can the Obama administration do to help the long-term unemployed?” (Slate, August 22, 2011); analysis citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.slate.com/id/2302132/
By Annie Lowrey
...
When Congress comes back from its August recession, the White House will be
waiting with a proposal to tackle the overall economic malaise—and long-term unemployment
in particular. Details are scant, but Laura Meckler of the Wall Street Journal
reports ... that the White House is putting together a package that includes
ambitious infrastructure investment and a renewal of the payroll tax credit. It
may also include retraining programs focused on aiding the long-term
unemployed, but economists are skeptical it will do much for them....
Such programs help some long-term unemployed workers, but they don’t make the macro picture much rosier....
“Training is not going to move the needle,” says Jesse Rothstein, another economist at Berkeley, the former chief economist for the Labor Department, and a former senior economist on the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers. A lack of appropriately skilled workers “is not a major explanation for why unemployment is 9 percent right now. If you want to move the needle, you need to create demand. This doesn’t do that.” In that sense, the infrastructure and tax-cut provisions in the proposal might have a bigger effect on long-term joblessness than any program targeting the long-term jobless.
What would really help? ... Rothstein says the Federal Reserve should announce a 4 percent inflation target and Congress should authorize massive infrastructure investment. At worst, he quips, “Hire a worker to dig a hole, another to put a $100 bill in the bottom of the hole, and then a third worker to put dirt on it.”
7. “The Tarnished State of California’s Golden College System” (Time Magazine, August 22, 2011); story citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2089593,00.html
By Jens Erik Gould,
Students
stage a sit-in at
... As the academic year gets under way ... it
will be the third time in the past four years that the [
How have schools responded? ...
All of this isn’t good for long-term economic
growth. For every dollar the state invests in higher education, it receives a
net return of $3, according to a study by
8. “Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees: Wall Street
Tumbles; Crisis in
...ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: ...We begin tonight with the breaking news, numbers that could mean a lot to your bottom line tomorrow. Asian markets opening lower just hours ago after a brutal day on Wall Street, the Dow industrials losing more than 400 on the day, down more than 3 percent, the Nasdaq and S&P hit even harder....
Here to talk about it chief business correspondent
Ali Velshi, also “The Wall Street Journal”‘s
Stephen Moore. He is also a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute,
and Robert Reich, labor secretary
during the
...Robert, I know you say look at unemployment more than you look at the Dow. But when people’s retirements are tied up in this roller coaster and every day it’s down, hundreds of points, what should people be thinking?
ROBERT
REICH, FORMER
COOPER: And Robert, you want to see taxes on the rich go up?
REICH: Well, ... in terms of dealing with the long-term deficit, the rich have to pay their fair share. But right now, ... I don’t want anybody’s taxes to go up. And ... if I were going to make policy, I would say we want to have government right now with an active jobs plan in the United States, we want the federal reserve board, and the European central bank to be expansionary with regard to monetary policy, and we want fiscal policy to be expansionary around the world to the extent it is possible without igniting inflation....
[On the subject of growing inequality in the
9. “Fear & greed: The real energy challenge”
(Climate Spectator [
--Giles Parkinson
At the end of the PBS documentary Power Surge, there is a poignant moment
when the camera crew visits the solar energy museum in Dezhou,
a former crumbling transport hub that is now known as
One of the more popular displays at the museum is
a solar panel that had been installed by President Jimmy Carter on the roof of
the White House in 1979, just after he promised that the
The fear of cleantech seems to have several origins. Part of it is from the belief that there is no problem to solve in the first place — no climate change, no limit on natural resources. Part of it comes from the belief that, if there is a problem, then it is either too hard or too costly to overcome. Part of it comes simply from the fear of change.
The Power Surge documentary that was broadcast on SBS TV on Tuesday night had an interesting approach to the “too hard, too costly” fear, and how to break down the energy task – to arrest the emissions growth from soaring energy needs....
Dan Kammen, from the University of California, Berkeley, tells the program that the carbon problem is actually easily solvable. “What’s hard is that we need to make a lot of change in a hurry,” he says. “We, more or less, have the coming four decades to recreate a green version of the industrial revolution that’s taken us 150 years.” ...
[Link to the Nova “Power Surge” program at <a href=“http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/power-surge.html“>PBS</a>]
10. Blog: “Austerity is bringing on a global recession” (Salon, August 17, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/great_recession/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/17/austerity_global_recession
By Robert Reich
(iStockphoto/CharlieAJA)
Not
only is the
What’s going on in
Europe depends on exports — especially to Asia,
And as the
But chalk up a big part of
Without an expansionary fiscal policy, low interest rates have little effect. Companies won’t borrow in order to expand and hire more workers unless they have reasonable certainty they’ll have customers for what they produce. And consumers won’t borrow money to spend on goods and services unless they’re reasonably confident they’ll have jobs.
Fiscal austerity is the wrong medicine at the wrong time.
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the
[Professor Reich was also interviewed on BBC World Service (August 17, 2011) and quoted in a story at <a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/Business/obama-rural-jobs-initiative-displace-jobs-metropolitan-areas/story?id=14318099“>ABC Online</a>]
11. “Business Leaders Respond to Starbucks CEO’s Pledge to Boycott Campaign” (ABC News/Money Online, August 16, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://abcnews.go.com/Business/business-leaders-respond-starbucks-ceos-pledge-boycott-campaign/story?id=14315653
By Susanna Kim
It’s far from a stampede of support yet, but a few business leaders are getting behind Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s pledge to stop all campaign contributions to incumbents until they create a long-term debt deal....
Robert
Reich, former Labor Department secretary under Bill Clinton and professor of public policy at
“He should have gone further and asked all other CEOs to end all campaign contributions, period,” Robert Reich, former Labor Department secretary, told ABC News. “They’re corrupting our politics and are not even in the interest of shareholders.”...
12. “
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: ... In 2009 a $787
billion stimulus plan was the largest one-time economic recovery effort in
Joining me now, Robert Reich, the former
KAYE: What would you have advised the president on this one?
ROBERT REICH, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF LABOR REICH: Well, I would have said to the president and I would say to the president right now, even though the Republicans are likely to oppose you, even though they’re going to say no, you’ve got to tell the American people the truth. We are in a terrible economic fix and the only way out is through right now more government spending on infrastructure and more government spending like the WPA and the CCC, and also a government program to mitigate mortgages, to give people the opportunity to declare bankruptcy on their home mortgages so that they have an opportunity to have more bargaining leverage with lenders, with banks.
But, Randi, the problem is a lot of people in the White House are saying the opposite to the president. They’re saying don’t do this because the Republicans will never go along. It will just look like an empty gesture. It’s not going to change anything. We’re getting into the election year.
To me, that is fatalism. That’s resignation. That’s saying there’s no bully pulpit. There’s no possibility of leadership. There’s no possibility of leading the charge on a fight and mobilizing and energizing the country around something that must be done.
[Robert Reich was also interviewed on “Quest Means Business” (CNN News, August 15, 2011).]
13. War Room Blog: “How the Democrats could have saved healthcare. The new law may die in the Supreme Court. If it had included a public option, this all would have been avoided” (Salon, August 15, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/15/healthcare_law_constitutionality/
By Robert Reich
(Wikipedia/Salon)
Two
appellate judges in
The whole idea of the law is to pool heath risks. Only if everyone buys insurance can insurers afford to cover people with preexisting conditions, or pay the costs of catastrophic diseases.
The issue is now headed for the Supreme Court (another appellate court has upheld the law’s constitutionality) where the prognosis isn’t good....
Had the president and the Democrats stuck to their guns during the healthcare debate and insisted on Medicare for all, or at least a public option, they wouldn’t now be facing the possible unraveling of the new healthcare law.
After all, Social Security and Medicare—the nation’s two most popular safety nets—require every working American to “buy” them. The purchase happens automatically in the form of a deduction from everyone’s paychecks.
But because Social Security and Medicare are government programs they don’t feel like mandatory purchases. They’re more like tax payments, which is what they are—payroll taxes....
The Republican strategy should now be clear: Privatize anything that might otherwise be a public program financed by tax dollars. Then argue in the courts that any mandatory purchase of it is unconstitutional because it exceeds the government’s authority. And rally the public against the requirement.
Remember this next time you hear Republican candidates touting Paul Ryan’s plan for turning Medicare into vouchers for seniors to buy private health insurance....
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the
14. “Bottom Line: Jennifer Granholm, ex-Michigan governer, on jobs” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2011); column citing Visiting Lecturers JENNIFER GRANHOLM and DANIEL MULHERN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/13/BUTI1KLRF4.DTL
-- Andrew S. Ross, Chronicle Columnist
Ex-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm says the
Here’s a UC Berkeley graduate course that might be worth signing up for in the fall semester.
It’s called “Governing During Tough Times,” and the lecturer, former two-term Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, will be bringing plenty of real-world experience to the course.
In the words of the course description, Granholm will grapple with “the trade-offs that government(s) must make in balancing budgets and adopting pro-growth job strategies in the face of globalization.”
“What I learned is that what we’re going through
is structural not cyclical, that we need economic strategies that comport with
global realities,” she said in an interview Friday. “The
Non-working theories: A UC Berkeley undergraduate
alumna, the Canadian-born Granholm, 52, grew up in
15. “American Political Science Association Announces 2011 Awards” (PR Newswire, August 12, 2011); award citing SEAN FARHANG.
Book Awards ...
Sean Farhang (
16. “Another bad day for stocks on Wall Street” (KGO TV, August 10, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; video link
Reported by Mark Matthews
“When the debt ceiling was resolved with an
extension, [financial reporters] kept talking about a
Navellier says markets around the globe are feeding off each other’s fears….
Not only investors, so do consumers—fear over the slumping housing market and a slumping jobs market. Consumers are 70 percent of the economy, but they’re not spending money and so the slump continues.
“Vicious cycles, like this, can only be reversed by one thing, and that is the government being the purchaser of last resort,” said UC Berkeley Goldman School Professor Robert Reich.
Reich, who is a former labor secretary, says the last stimulus didn’t work well enough because it wasn’t big enough, and now another seems politically impossible.
“My hope is that, with Congress back home listening to their constituents, they will hear over and over again this is not a debt crisis, this is a jobs and wage and growth crisis,” Reich said, “and you’ve got to take action. We’ve got to have a jobs bill. People have got to be put back to work.” …
17. “War Room Blog: Why the president doesn’t present a bold jobs plan” (Salon, August 10, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/08/10/reich_obama
By Robert Reich
Americans are deeply confused about why the economy is so bad — and their President isn’t telling them. In fact, the White House apparently has decided to join with Republicans and blame it on the long-term budget deficit….
At a time when the nation’s eyes were on him, seeking an answer to what was happening, he chose not to talk about the need for a bold jobs plan but to talk instead about the budget deficit—as if it were responsible for the terrible economy, including Wall Street’s plunge. He spoke of Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the nation’s debt as proof that Washington’s political paralysis over deficit reduction “could do enormous damage to our economy and the world’s,” and said the nation could reduce its deficit and jump-start the economy if there was “political will in Washington.” …
But that process itself will offer enough distraction over coming months to let the White House avoid coming up with a bold jobs plan, even if the nation succumbs to a double dip….
... The magnitude of the current jobs and growth crisis
demands a boldness and urgency that’s utterly lacking. As the president
continues to wallow in the quagmire of long-term debt reduction, Congress is on
summer recess and the rest of
The president should present a bold plan, summon
lawmakers back to
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy
at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor during the
18. “Op-Ed:
--Jennifer M. Granholm, Dan Mulhern
Chinese workers assemble
Ford and Volvo cars at the Chang’an Ford automobile
assembly factory in
Jobs aren’t scarce. And manufacturing jobs aren’t
disappearing. No, really: there are more jobs—even manufacturing jobs—than
ever! The federal government pegs the net job increase at
Soaring profits and tax cuts translate into jobs, right? Yes!
Just not in
Those half-million jobs were created by
multinationals cutting 2.4 million jobs in the
Here is the tragedy: by insisting on a
small-government, tax-cut-only solution to produce jobs, we are living by an
outdated map of the economic world. Indeed, we may be accelerating the job
losses as our competitors take advantage of our passivity. Other countries are
aggressively planning, developing economic clusters, partnering and creating
jobs in new sectors, only too pleased that the
We do need to lower the corporate tax rate and
aggressively close loopholes and credits that aren’t working. But tax cuts
can’t be the only tool in
Granholm was
governor of
19. “Debt deal doles out economic pain unfairly” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 7, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/06/INTD1KIGP8.DTL#ixzz1USjohD2l
--Robert Reich
Big sigh of relief.
But that’s about the only good thing that can be said about the deal hammered out last weekend to raise the debt ceiling. Anyone who characterizes it as a victory for the American people over partisanship doesn’t understand economics. Nor the meaning of shared sacrifice.
The deal reduces the federal budget by $2.2 trillion or $2.5 trillion over the coming decade. Yet it doesn’t raise taxes on America’s wealthy and most fortunate—who are now taking home a larger share of the nation’s total income and wealth than they have since 1928 and whose tax rates are now lower than they have been since 1942.
Of the first trillion dollars of budget cuts, a third will come out of defense spending. The other two-thirds will come out of education, job training, infrastructure, low-income housing, energy assistance, research and development of alternative energy sources and other “discretionary” programs.
These cuts will burden lower-income Americans far
more than the wealthy. They will also make it more difficult for the nation to
“win the future” by improving
© 2011 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
[Another commentary by Professor Reich appeared in the <a href=“http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0808/Double-dip-recession-It-would-be-for-no-good-reason.”>Christian Science Monitor Online</a>. He also participated in an online Q&A at the <a href=“http://live.washingtonpost.com/Was-downgrade-of-the-US-unnecessary-robert-reich/print.html“>Washington Post Online</a>]
20. “Editorial: Congress, White House need to focus on economic recovery” (Contra Costa Times, August 6, 2011); editorial citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_18624480
The debt ceiling “crisis” has been avoided for now with an unsatisfying agreement that allows the federal government to continue borrowing and establishes a path to cut back a bit on the deficit through spending limitations over the next decade....
But the most dismaying aspect of the dysfunctional political drama played out over the debt ceiling during the last couple of months is that Congress and the White House wasted time, energy and public respect focusing on the wrong problem...
The real crisis that deserves to be at the top of everyone’s agenda is the prolonged weak economy with its anemic job growth.
We agree with economist Robert Reich, former
These are the kind of polices that can give a boost to the economy and lay the groundwork for recovery....
21. Political Hotsheet
Blog: “Ex-Obama adviser thinks
By Corbett B. Daly
Robert Reich, seen
here at
A prominent political economist who served briefly as an adviser to President Obama said Friday he thinks the chances are about even the U.S. economy is headed toward another recession.
“I would have said last week or the week before probably not. I think we’re up to about 50/50 in terms of probability,” said [UC Berkeley professor] Robert Reich, a left-leaning political economist who served as Labor Secretary in the 1990s. Reich also served on Mr. Obama’s economic transition advisory board.
“A lot of people thought that once the debt ceiling crisis was over, once there was no problem with regard to defaulting on the nation’s debt that everybody would breathe a sigh of relief, markets would breathe a sigh of relief but actually we have the opposite response,” Reich said on CBS’ “The Early Show.”
“Many people who understand the economy now understand something very fundamental, and that is the new budget deal has tied the hands of the government, making it more difficult for the government to respond to this crisis in aggregate demand, the fact that people are not spending enough, with additional boosts to the economy,” he said....
22. “The Republican’s Double-Dip, and What Must Be Done” (Bay Citizen, August 5, 2011); Citizen Opinion Blog by ROBERT REICH; http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/citizen/republicans-double-dip-and-what-must-be/
By Robert Reich
John
Boehner said Tuesday the Republicans got “90 percent of what we wanted” from
the budget deal. So presumably he and his colleagues are willing to take
responsibility for some 450 points of today’s mammoth 513-point drop in the Dow
Jones Industrial Average.
I’m being a bit facetious – but only a bit. It’s always dangerous to read too much into one day’s move in the stock market.
Yet the stock sell-off – not just today’s, but that of the last days – cannot be easily dismissed. It marks Wall Street’s largest losing streak since 2008....
Wall Street investors aren’t ideologues. They don’t obsess about budget deficits ten years from now, or the size of the government….
Now that we’re slouching toward a double-dip recession, the only hope is voters will tell their members of Congress – who are now on recess back home – to stop obsessing about future budget deficits and get to work on the real crisis of unemployment, falling wages, and no growth….
The jobs bill should be number one on the nation’s agenda. It should have been all along.
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 Bill Clinton. He has written thirteen books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, Supercapitalism, and his most recent book, Aftershock. ...
23. “NewsHour: Raise the Roof: Debt Crisis Averted, But Debate Far from Over” (PBS, August 2, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec11/debt_08-02.html
...Jeffrey Brown: The day’s action in
And we look further at the state of the economy
and the impact of the debt and deficit deal now with Robert Reich, professor of public policy at the
Robert Reich, … [y]ou think this debt and deficit deal is bad for the economy. Is it in both the short and long terms? Explain.
Robert
Reich, former
But it’s not terribly good for the economy overall, because it really does tie the president’s hands in terms of a jobs bill that would stimulate jobs growth and fulfill kind of the mission of the government, when, in fact, consumers and businesses are not able or willing to buy or to sell.
And that’s the case now. The reason, I think, of the sell-off on Wall Street today, the great stock decline, is because a lot of companies now realize that there is just going to be insufficient aggregate demand for all the goods and services that need to be sold....
24. “Real Time Economics Blog: Reactions to the Debt Deal” (Wall Street Journal Online [*requires registration], August 1, 2011); blog citing ROBERT REICH; http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/08/01/reactions-to-the-debt-deal/?mod=google_news_blog
By Justin Lahart
Some people love the debt deal, some people say it goes too far, and some people say it doesn’t do enough. Here’s a roundup of reactions.
... “Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics. The deal does not raise taxes on America’s wealthy and most fortunate — who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years. Yet it puts the nation’s most important safety nets and public investments on the chopping block.” ~Robert Reich, University of Calif.-Berkeley...
Sept. 8 Michael Nacht was a featured panelist of: “9/11 Ten Years Later: How Did the Attack Change America?” – a presentation of The Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service, co-sponsored with the Berkeley College Republicans, Cal Berkeley Democrats and the Undergraduate Political Science Association.
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