By Patricia Liever, staff editor The easiest explanation for the housing crisis is to chalk it all up to “bad behavior”. Families took out mortgages on houses they could not afford, banks made predatory and irresponsible loans, and Wall Street packaged worthless securities and knowingly sold them to pension funds and Icelandic banks all in a scheme to make a quick buck. This explanation of how we got here is easy to understand, but ignores the structural mechanisms that allowed it all to happen. The majority of these “bad behaviors” were completely legal – if not encouraged - under the system of laws and regulations that governed the housing finance market prior to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform legislation.
“You do not curse away the darkness of the night; you illuminate your area by holding up a light.” -Terry Sanford
All in Economic Policy
By Ellen Whelan-Wuest, staff editor While the Middle Eastern protests and revolutions dominated the front pages, a democratic movement erupted in the heart of our own country. While recent reports indicate that counter protesters have joined the fray, the majority of the 68,000 people gathered in and around the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin are fighting for the long-standing right of public service employees to collectively bargain for their wages and benefits. Governor Walker and his supporters have denounced the unions organizing the so-called “Cheddar Revolution,” as standing in the way of responsible budget cuts intended to address Wisconsin’s budget deficit. According to state and national Republican leaders, Governor Walker’s budget bill is an “austerity measure” and not a move solely intended to weaken unions, as President Obama and others have speculated. However, there are two important and largely unexamined aspects to the events in Wisconsin that undermine such claims.
By Amanda Valerio, staff editor America’s finances are complicated enough. Decisions made by the nation’s financial policymakers have been debated with increasing fervor—some would argue hysteria—in recent months. However, the decisions made now, at the close of the largest economic downturn since the Great Recession, hold painful implications for the country’s unemployed. These decisions are painful enough without wondering whether the decision-maker was thinking toward the country’s long-term economic future or his or her long-term prospects with Goldman Sachs.
By Maureena Thompson, staff editor The holiday shopping season is upon us, and with it the lingering question of where to find those elusive, perfectly-tailored, and at least reasonably affordable gifts. For those wishing to buy both unique and sustainable gifts here in the Triangle, opportunities abound. As much as I enjoy these progressive shops, their prices can be significantly higher than those of so-called big box stores. While I may be willing to splurge for a one-of-a-kind gift, I sometimes find it hard to justify purchasing similar items for my own daily use. As a member of this community, though, are the social benefits I will share in the long run worth the personal cost I may forfeit up front?
By Amy Kochanowsky, staff editor While cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is nearly ubiquitous in all fields of public policy, we must be cautious about when and where it is applied, because it assumes that all outcomes can be quantified in monetary terms. If asked to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of a school program, would you be able to measure all of the outcomes? Can you put a dollar value on the satisfaction and self confidence of a child? When reducing results like this to a dollar value, you are most certainly losing something in the calculation. This is the cost of CBA.
By Anna Kawar, staff editor The Celtic Tiger has fallen and can’t get up. Unfortunately this one can’t be chalked up to overdoing it on the Guinness – the Irish government has formally applied for a financial rescue package upwards of $100 billion. This comes after months of insisting that it can handle its own finances, going so far as to prepare a four-year plan to reduce its deficit to 3% of GDP, down from 32%.
by Dan Behrend, staff editor Does avoiding potential damage to a school district’s public image outweigh the benefits of bringing national attention to unhealthy school lunches and high rates of childhood obesity? The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) seemed to respond in the affirmative when it recently rejected an offer to become the new focus of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.
By Gillian Grissom, staff editor Even if you’re only an occasional television viewer, I doubt you’ve missed the ubiquitous Domino’s Pizza commercials promoting its new, improved specialty pizza recipes. Perhaps you’ve even noticed the “New Wisconsin 6 Cheese” offering, the newest member of its “Legends” line? What I’m sure you did miss, however, is the fact that a typical serving of this new recipe contains about three-quarters of the maximum recommended daily amount of saturated fat. And two-thirds of the maximum recommended sodium intake.
By Patricia Liever, staff editor The 112th Congress will make difficult decisions every day – and they will do it all in one of the most polarized environments that many of us can remember. Rather than make big cuts with costs that will be broadly felt by all Americans, members of Congress can likely be counted on to make the smallest, most politically safe reductions in federal spending. One of the likely victims of this effort is going to be the cancellation of NASA’s Constellation program and a reduction in funding for the nation’s space program. As someone who has recently lived and worked on Florida’s Space Coast – an area where NASA signs most people’s paychecks – I have seen firsthand the reality of “easy” budget cuts in the lives of the people affected.
By Matt Vigeant, staff editor In a world where a college education has become the norm, the newly enhanced GI Bill benefits will aid in educating those who have answered our nation’s call to service, and make them more productive members of society. As past GI Bills have shown, this isn’t only good for veterans; it is good for the economy and America’s prosperity. But above all, this is a proper way for America to say thank you to people who have sacrificed so much. The Post 9/11 GI Bill is a fitting evolution of a public policy that created the prosperity of the 1950’s, and will create prosperity for the next generation of veterans.
By Gillian Grissom, staff editor A recent New York Times article observes the blossoming friendship between Big Beverage and interest groups opposed to New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed plan to redefine eligible items for purchase under SNAP. While the beverage lobbies initially seem unlikely partners for what the author calls the “[t]raditional, old-line liberals in the shaggy, idealistic, antihunger, antipoverty sector,” the groups have plenty on which to agree regarding this proposed policy modification.While I typically cast myself in the “shaggier” camp, I do think Bloomberg might be on to something here.
By Matt Vigeant, staff editor Since 9/11 and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, policy makers have faced the issue of what programs to enact for returning veterans. Over my next two posts I will describe the evolution of education benefits under the GI Bill and compare what effects this plan has had on veterans and American society in general.
By Patricia J. Liever, staff editor Following last month’s UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there has been increasing coverage of the impending failure of developed countries to reach their lofty goals by 2015. Critics have suggested amending the goals, replacing them with something a bit more realistically achievable. By suggesting this, critics disregard one of the central purposes of the MDGs: uniting those passionate about development under the banner of ending global poverty.
By Aaron Ray References to geoengineering, loosely defined as the use of advanced technology to mitigate or adapt to the effects of climate change, have recently emerged in the popular press and academic literature. Governments, international organizations, and the scientific community are beginning to regard geoengineering seriously as a tool against global climate change. This paper examines the ways in which geoengineering has been defined, evaluates a number of leading proposals, considers some scientific critiques of geoengineering, and highlights some of the ethical, philosophical, and political implications of these proposals.
By Kristy Marynak This article examines child-only cases within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which currently comprise 47 percent of the overall TANF caseload. Child-only cases exclude adults from the benefit calculation, providing aid only to children, and exempt adults from work requirements and time limits. This article reviews the narrow literature on child-only TANF populations, distinguishing between “non-parental” cases involving relative caregivers and “parental” cases involving parents who are ineligible for benefits because of sanctions, alien status, or SSI receipt. The article then discusses the inadequate communication and collaboration between TANF agencies and the child welfare system; describes unproven, though innovative, state efforts to assist child-only populations; and concludes with the recommendation that Congress should expand the 2011 President’s Budget request to include competitive grants for programs that address the child-only population’s needs and sponsor third-party studies to test the programs’ impacts on child outcomes.
By Bengu Aytekin*Published exclusively online
"The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.” Douglas Horton The dream of acquiring an easy mortgage loan has vanished for the moment amid the recent financial crisis. Consumers with weak credit histories might be unable to get mortgage loans from the private market in the near future. Public loan guarantors Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae – which before the crisis represented only about 50% of the securitization market – might stand for some time as the only conduits through which mortgages can be securitized and sold to investors. Making the market work again will require significant effort from those in both the public and private sectors to overcome the weaknesses in the system’s design.