Senior Fellow David Westphal currently heads the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting, and recently released a report on the rising demands of healthcare professionals and medicare payouts as the first generation of "baby boomers" turns 65 years old this year. Westphal told the Sacramento Bee that "[a]s citizens we all have work to do in deciding what government can afford to do – and not do – in subsidizing seniors' health care." [additional article can be found at SecondAct]……Continue Reading Westphal – SacBee “Boomers and Medicare”
News
Suro – WaPo “Dream Act”
The Washington Post published an article by Faculty Fellow Roberto Suro about Congress' recent vote against "the Dream Act." The bill, if passed, would allow for children of illegal immigrants with "good character" to attain US citizenship upon their completion of a college education or service in the military. "The immediate task is to clean up the mess caused by inaction," writes Suro "and that is going to require compromises on all sides. Next, we should reexamine the scope of policy proposals. After a decade of sweeping plans that went nowhere, working piecemeal is worth a try at this point."……Continue Reading Suro – WaPo “Dream Act”
Seib in HuffPo – India
"At a conference in New Delhi," writes Faculty Fellow Phil Seib, "Indian diplomats, media executives, business persons, and others examined their country's "Public Diplomacy in the Information Age" and found that their efforts to reach the global public needs more coherence and imagination." Seib attended the conference in December entitled "Public Diplomacy in the Information Age." His findings of the conference can be found in his blog post on the Huffington Post…….Continue Reading Seib in HuffPo – India
Suro – NYT “Immigrant Path”
Faculty Fellow Roberto Suro was cited in a recent New York Times article about the recent influx of immigrant workers to suburban neighborhoods throughout the country, according to the US Census Bureau. Suro noted several years ago that immigrants were migrating to areas with the largest demand for construction workers. "The leveraged asset was the work of the immigrants. The long-term payout was the social requirement to settle them and look after their children."……Continue Reading Suro – NYT “Immigrant Path”
The Game-Changer List
The Associated Press, as usual, released last week its editors' poll of the 10 top stories of the year. No. 1, with 54 first-place votes, was the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The congressional passage of health care reform was second with 30 votes. The list by the men and women who actually edit our news continued: (3) midterm elections; (4) U.S. economy; (5) Haiti earthquake; (6) tea party movement; (7) Chile mine rescue; (8) Iraq; (9) WikiLeaks; (10) Afghanistan. All of those were obviously big stories. But hold the presses! It is not a list I would……Continue Reading The Game-Changer List
Year End Success… Our Government Can Actually Work. Is Nirvana Here?
It is amazing what a deadline can do to focus the hearts and minds of our government. In the final days of the lame-duck session, Congress passed and sent to the president a major piece of tax and economic stimulus legislation, including the extension of unemployment benefits; the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', the nearly 20-year old Pentagon policy; historic food safety legislation; and the landmark START Treaty on nuclear weapons reduction. Most importantly, all were passed with bipartisan support. Maybe one of the lessons of all of this is to shorten the congressional session to one month per……Continue Reading Year End Success… Our Government Can Actually Work. Is Nirvana Here?
Schell’s NYT book review
The New York Times featured a book review written by Senior Fellow Orville Schell on December 12. Schell, an expert on US-China relations asks "but with the West's power and confidence now declining, and China's authoritarian form of capitalism ripsawing its way toward an ever more dominant position in the world, a reader may be forgiven for becoming somewhat impatient. Is Morris ever going to answer the 'burning question'? Who will win the next phase of our East-West horse race, the United States or China?"……Continue Reading Schell’s NYT book review
Seib to speak at PubD conference in New Delhi
Faculty Fellow Phil Seib will be speaking at a conference on public diplomacy organised by the external affairs ministry of New Delhi on Friday, Dec. 10. Also speaking at the conference will be Nicholas Cull, USC Annenberg professor of Communication. An article about the conference and its speakers can be found on Sify News. [follow-up information from Live-PR]……Continue Reading Seib to speak at PubD conference in New Delhi
Public TV stations face challenges on West, East Coasts
All of the PBS TV stations in the state of New Jersey may go off the air entirely early next year. The New Jersey network's governing authority meets on Wednesday to consider how to survive – or sell. Kept alive by a subsidy by state taxpayers that is scheduled to end shortly, one option on the table is a merger with New York City's WNET and/or Philadelphia's WHYY. This news comes as KCET in Los Angeles prepares to drop PBS programming in three weeks in favor of an independent public TV schedule that starts next month…….Continue Reading Public TV stations face challenges on West, East Coasts
Richard Reeves Reads from ‘Portrait of Camelot’ on VF
On Vanity Fair's website, visitors can listen to an excerpt from Portrait of Camelot as read by the author and Senior Fellow, Richard Reeves…….Continue Reading Richard Reeves Reads from ‘Portrait of Camelot’ on VF