-
Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which protects the pensions of 44 million workers, announced a $22 billion deficit for fiscal year ending September 2009. Douglas Elliott analyzes the three main reasons for the PBGC’s financial troubles, and cautions that there are serious structural problems within PBGC that cannot be blamed on the financial crisis.
-
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- November 10, 2009, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
On November 10, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings hosted co-authors Kongdan Oh and Ralph Hassig for a discussion of their new book The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom. Drawing on decades of scholarship and experience, the speakers discussed aspects of life in North Korea and the ways in which the outside world can reach everyday North Koreans so that they can make decisions based on truth rather than propaganda.
-
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Voters elect governments to solve social problems and governments design and implement an array of programs to ensure the public good. However, little theoretical attention has been devoted to the final step of the implementation chain: explanations of why the targets of public policies do or do not “comply” with those policies. Kent Weaver focuses on why program “targets” frequently fail to act in the way that program designers intended and wanted, even when it appears to be in their self-interest to do so.
-
Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
In the years since the September 11th attacks, Western policymakers, analysts and academics have debated the best approaches to confronting and ending terrorism. Brookings Fellow Omer Taspinar argues that the global fight against extremist violence must move beyond the "war on terror" to a broader strategy of fighting radicalism with human development - an approach that would address the political, economic and social conditions that foment violent radicalism.
-
Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
We are likely to enter a period of new normality marked by lower household debt, higher personal savings, and less consumption as a share of GDP, writes William Galston. Despite these positive trends, we still need a new era of public restraint, not just private thrift. Once economic growth has become self-sustaining and the private sector’s need for capital returns to more normal levels, Congress and the administration will have to turn their attention to the difficult fiscal questions they have long evaded.
-
Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Ron Haskins discusses personal responsibility and the three areas of personal decision-making in which the nation’s youth and young adults most need to learn and practice personal responsibility: education, sexual behavior and marriage, and work.
-
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Proponents have high hopes for health care reform, but legislation is unlikely to alter personal behavior. What is needed today, writes Darrell West, is serious thinking about how to get Americans to lead healthier lifestyles. If we want health care reform to reduce costs and improve good health, we need a public education campaign emphasizing exercise, balanced diets and healthier living.
-
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Obesity has grown rapidly into a major public health challenge in the United States and worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that as many as one-third of Americans are obese. Ross Hammond explains how techniques from the field of complexity science can inform both scientific study of obesity and effective policies to combat it.
-
Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s deficit tripled over the last six months and could top out at more than $100 billion. According to Douglas Elliott, this accelerated loss is the result of a combination of factors, including the PBGC’s inability—thanks to Congress—to charge premium rates that would cover its risk, and the investment and funding choices made by the companies that sponsor the pension plans insured by the PBGC. Is another massive bailout in store?
-
Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
General Motors has filed for bankruptcy, and one of many questions is what will happen to its pension promises, which are underfunded by $20 billion. Douglas Elliott says GM is very likely to continue to shoulder the full obligations after restructuring, rather than passing them to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and taxpayers—for now.
-
Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As Chrysler and GM face bankruptcy proceedings and restructuring, the Senate held a hearing on whether the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has the capacity to insure the pensions of nearly 44 million Americans who work or have worked at those firms. Douglas Elliott explores the particulars of the PBGC, the precarious situation that the automotive industry finds itself in, and offers 14 possible solutions to the problems that plague the government’s pension program.
-
Tue, 05 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Despite extensive research documenting the benefits of investing in young children, infants and toddlers are underrepresented in the federal budget, researchers from the Brookings and the Urban Institute found. The nation’s 12.5 million children under age 3 are 4.2 percent of the population, but they received just 2.1 percent—$44.1 billion—of federal domestic spending in 2007. Domestic outlays, which exclude defense, homeland security, and international affairs, totaled $2.1 trillion.
-
Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
This perceptive book emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze the current situation, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them.
-
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Michelle Obama stepped into the policy spotlight as first lady on Thursday at President Barack Obama’s signing of the equal-pay bill. How might Mrs. Obama bring her voice to issues of work-life balance? Rebecca Blank comments on what issues Mrs. Obama should elevate.
-
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Americans are bombarded by negative images of life nationally and around the world. But are things really as bad as they seem? Gregg Easterbrook argues that, "even if a recession has begun, occasional cycles of slow or no growth are the price we pay for the much longer cycles of boom" — and that we really are better off than what we're being told to believe.
-
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
To unleash greater local and national prosperity, U.S. metropolitan leaders need to be better equipped to deal with today’s increasingly dynamic economic, social and environmental realities. This summary outlines a new federal-state-metro partnership that provides metropolitan actors the support, capacity, tools and discretion they need to resolve key challenges; grow in more productive, inclusive, and sustainable ways; and, ultimately, to maximize America’s overall prosperity.
-
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Most Americans perceive the nation in a pessimistic state. With the economy in turmoil, gas prices rising dramatically, and the housing market down, Americans are negatively viewing the current state of the nation. However, Gregg Easterbrook argues that we should feel good about our standing and that America is in a better state than before.
-
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
To unleash greater local and national prosperity U.S. metropolitan leaders need to be better equipped to deal with today’s increasingly dynamic economic, social and environmental realities. This report calls for a new federal-state-metro partnership that provides metropolitan actors the support, capacity, tools and discretion they need to resolve key challenges; grow in more productive, inclusive, and sustainable ways; and, ultimately, to maximize America’s overall prosperity.
-
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Some have suggested that optimism has faded because Americans have lost confidence in the country’s ability to steer the country in the right direction. Gregg Easterbrook joins a panel of experts on NewTalk to engage in a running discussion about restoring Americans' sense of optimism.
-
Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT
CSED Director and Economic Studies Senior Fellow Joshua Epstein explains his breakthrough computational modeling work, with a focus on how agent-based modeling can help explain human behavior as well as make strides in the public health field.
-
Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In testimony before the D.C. City Council Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, Alice M. Rivlin presents recommendations for reducing poverty in the District. She gives examples of education and training programs that could be funded in the FY2009 budget and reviews longer-term workforce development strategies.
-
Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Expert Gregg Easterbrook and Harvard Law School's Elizabeth Warren discuss the squeeze on the American middle class.
-
Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Chris Leinberger discusses walkable urbanism, and how the desire for more walkable urban spaces is changing the housing market in America's cities as people seek alternatives to driving.
-
Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT
With Iran's recent move to adopt into law the guidelines to eliminate the national university entrance examinations, Brookings Scholar Djavad Salehi-Isfahani discusses the importance of educational testing and the historical significance of this large exam.
-
Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Chris Leinberger discusses his book about the most walkable urban and metro areas in the United States with Nicole Lapin from CNN.
-
Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT
The Blueprint for American Prosperity is a multi-year initiative to promote an economic agenda for the nation that builds on the assets—and centrality—of America’s metropolitan areas. The Blueprint will put forth an integrated policy agenda and specific federal reforms that give cities, suburbs, and metro areas the tools they need to leverage their economic strengths, grow in environmentally sensitive ways, and create opportunities to build a strong and diverse middle class. The Blueprint is being supported and informed by a network of leaders who strive every day to create the kind of healthy and vibrant communities that form the foundation of the U.S. economy.
-
Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Iran’s large youth population has led to overcrowding in schools, gender imbalance in the marriage market and increased pressure on the nation’s rigid formal labor market. By focusing on three crucial transitions, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Daniel Egel analyze the challenges facing youth in Iran and opportunities for the country to tap into its demographic dividend.
-
Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Marriage, long the centerpiece of Middle Eastern life, is in crisis. The reason: a new generation of young men cannot afford to marry--a fact that's destined to exacerbate many of the region's social and political problems.
-
Fri, 01 Sep 2000 00:00:00 GMT
-
Thu, 01 Jun 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Brookings Review article by Andrew F. Haughwout (Summer 2000)
-
Mon, 28 Sep 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Speech by Wellington Webb, Mayor City of Denver, at the 1998 James Rouse Forum