New America in the News: 2008

In the middle of November the bi-partisan nonprofit Committee For a Responsible Budget (CRFB) estimated that the accumulated costs of all the various rescue plans could well tip the 2009 U.S. federal deficit over the $1 trillion line for the first time.

The prior record, set in 2008, has been $455 billion. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the deficit at $750 billion for 2009.

Several outside experts said they expect the National Economic Council, based inside the White House, to become much more of a power center under Summers than it has been in recent decades.

“It’s going to be a very, very strong position,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. LINK

“What do we mean when we say we’re in a crisis now?” asked Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation. “We mean people cannot imagine continuing down a certain path -- we can’t continue to do what we’re going to do,” Nichols said. LINK (subscription required)

Now that President-elect Barack Obama will be joined by his mother-in-law -- Marian Robinson -- in the White House, the New America Foundation’s David Gray, director of its Workforce and Family Program, is ready and able to give the wonky spin on this unique presidential living situation.

"Private loans are a terrible tool for promoting college access," said Stephen Burd, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a group dedicated to fixing challenges for the next generation. ... Outside Article

In California, lower paid illegals have harvested, cooked in restaurants, bussed tables, worked construction and helped remodel homes or landscape. Tomas Jimenez, Ph.D., is an Irvine fellow and a sociology associate professor at Stanford University. He studies immigration trends.

"We have less of an ability to afford these services. Because of that they go back and so at some point the number we will need will find its own level," says Jimenez. LINK to video

LEN NICHOLS, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: When they promised retiree health a long time ago they had a 70 percent market share nationwide. It appeared they were always going to grow. It appeared they were always going to have more workers than they do retirees. Today, there are twice as many retirees in their health care plan as there are workers. That is a fundamental problem. LINK to transcript

"Rising health-care costs are undermining the ability of U.S. firms to compete and threatening good American jobs," said Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation.

"Therefore, we must reform our health system not in spite of our current economic crisis, but rather precisely because of the impact health care has on American workers and businesses." LINK

"What this says is that the employers are desperate," said Len Nichols, an economist who heads the health policy program at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. "They are doing everything they can to reduce premium growth this year. But it's not thinking 10 years down the road." LINK