Economics & Inequality
Retirement Security
Education
Health Care
Homeland Security
Election Reform
Media & Politics
International Affairs


Taking Note
Health Policy Watch
Health Beat Blog by Maggie Mahar
Equality & Education
The Federal Election Reform Network
Prospects for Peace
Caravan Books
The Social Security Network


Donate to TCF
Join our Listserv
 Taking Note
Home About TCF News Room Join our Listserv

best/worst

In this Taking Note series, TCF fellows and staff look back on how the year of 2008 developed for policy issues. Jeffrey Laurenti writes of 2008's global scene. Richard Kahlenberg looks back on the year in education policy. Greg Anrig discusses the brutal year conservatives faced. Niko Karvounis discusses the health care media myths of 2008. Bernard Wasow discusses why the U.S. is ready for a new government. Patrick Radden Keefe discusses the top Bush Administration books of the year. View the entire series here.
Breaking Down Walls: Overcoming Institutional Barriers to Infrastructure Investment
A political consensus has developed in the U.S. that significantly increased spending on the nation’s aged infrastructure is necessary for America to remain prosperous. President-elect Barack Obama and the new congressional leadership have promised to push for major new investments in the nation’s transportation networks, water systems, broadband capabilities, electrical grid, and other public facilities. While supporting those investments, a new report from TCF makes clear that there are serious institutional barriers to the effective use of those funds that have to be overcome if we are to put the new dollars to use wisely. In this urgent report, the former executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Anthony Shorris, identifies four major issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the nation gets the most bang for the vast infrastructure investments it needs to make. Download the report.
The Long Wait for Progress: Women and Economic and Social Equality
In The Long Wait for Progress: Women and Economic and Social Equality, Century Foundation Senior Fellow Beverly Goldberg analyzes the substantial gap in wages between men and women, and then measures that gap in the context of women’s educational achievements and the continuing discrimination against women in the workplace, with attention to the impact of the issues of health and child care. This analysis of the complex and interrelated problems facing working women reveals both that women are subject to pay discrimination and that the inequities between white women and women of color are as striking as those between women and men. Download the report here. View press release.

The Agenda
A Safety Net for Bubble Buyers: Rescuing Homeowners from Collapsing Home Values

In “A Safety Net for Bubble Buyers,” The Century Foundation's senior fellow, Bernard Wasow states that public measures should support distressed homeowners, introducing ways to reduce the transaction costs of renegotiating mortgages or becoming renters and providing help to meet those costs. This is the fourth brief in The Agenda series. These briefs raise and answer fundamental questions about what is at stake in critical issue areas as we approach the 2008 election. View The Agenda Series archive.
Insurers Expand Primary Care: an Argument for Obama’s Plan
by: Maggie Mahar
1/5/2009
Imagine appointments with your primary care doctor that last 30 minutes—or longer. What if you could e-mail her when you need a prescription refill? If you have a two-minute question, she encourages you to call; she or a nurse practitioner will come to the phone. If they’re busy, they’ll return your call within a few hours.  More...
Improving On No Child Left Behind: Getting Education Reform Back on Track
In Improving On No Child Left Behind: Getting Education Reform Back on Track, a new book from The Century Foundation edited by Senior Fellow Richard D. Kahlenberg, some of the nation’s most respected authorities on education reform examine three central defects of the act: the under-funding of NCLB; the flawed implementation of the standards, testing, and accountability provisions; and major difficulties with the provisions that are designed to allow students to transfer out of failing public schools. The authors detail what needs to be addressed in each of these areas, and propose ways to fix the problems.  More...
Reforming Medicare: Options, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities
Everyone agrees on the need to reform Medicare but not on how to do it. Some argue the program is too comprehensive, others that it is not comprehensive enough. Some suggest it pays too much for health care, others, too little. Meanwhile, the financial stakes continue to mount. Medicare spending exceeded $400 billion in 2007, making it more expensive than the entire health systems of most other nations, as well as the largest national public program other than Social Security and national defense. More...
The Basics: National Health Insurance: Lessons from Abroad
This pamphlet, the eleventh in our series The Basics, seeks to clarify the health care debate by illustrating the different ways that Canada, Germany, France, The United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia have structured their health care plans. National Health Insurance: Lessons from Abroad demonstrates the wide variety of options available to America for creating a dynamic and flexible national health care system. More...
Absolute Power
In Absolute Power, John P. MacKenzie looks at the origins and history of the unitary executive theory, examining its broad claims of presidential power in the light of the founders’ original writings as well as the actions of Presidents Jackson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman, all of whom tested the power of their office against that of Congress and the Supreme Court. More...
New From TCF
Israeli Strikes Continue as Hamas Refuses to Surrender
Michael Wahid Hanna speaks with PBS's Martin Savidge about Egypt’s role in the Hamas-Israel conflict.
An Interview with Richard Kahlenberg: About the New Secretary of Education
Read this interview from Education News.
What Next on Gaza/Israel and Why Americans Should Care
View Daniel Levy's Prospects for Peace Blog post.
Iraq's Troubled Criminal Justice System
Michael Wahid Hanna interviewed on the Council of Foregin Relations' Podcast.
Front Pages
The Platform. By Peter Osnos.
Through the Cracks
Michael Wahid Hanna published in The National.
The Quality of Justice
TCF's Michael Wahid Hanna and Joseph Logan co-authored this report from the Human Rights Watch.
Can Separate Be Equal? The Overlooked Flaw at the Center of No Child Left Behind
In this updated Reality Check, Richard D. Kahlenberg discusses NCLB's failure to recognize the effects of concentrated poverty in American schools.
The Collapse of the Right’s Ponzi Scheme
Greg Anrig blogs for Campaign for America's Future Blog.
The Public Is Optimistic that Government Can Fix the Economy
The Snapshot by Ruy Teixeira.
Why Not to Engage Iran (Yet)
Geneive Abdo is published in Foreign Policy.
The Peter A. A. Berle Environmental Integrity Award
View details and nominate someone for this award here.
TCF Announces New Working Group on Medicare Reform
TCF has assembled a group of prominent physicians and health care experts from around the country to assess the current state of Medicare.
Issues in Depth
Working Group on Medicare Reform
The Century Foundation has assembled a group of prominent physicians and health care experts from around the country to assess the current state of Medicare.
New Media, New Voters
The candidates for the 2008 election and their supporting organizations are taking advantage of a new tool: the Internet.
View All Issues
Media Hits
Michael Wahid Hanna quoted in AP
Richard Kahlenberg quoted in The Courier Journal.
Daniel Levy quoted in McClatchy Newspapers .
Michael Hanna quoted on PBS's Newshour Online.
Richard Kahlenberg quoted in The New York Times
Anthony Shorris' paper featured in U.S. News & World Report.
View All Hits


Copyright 2008 The Century Foundation. Privacy Policy
NY Office: 41 East 70th Street—New York, New York—10021—Phone:212-535-4441—212-879-9197
DC Office: 1333 H Street, NW—10th Floor— Washington, D.C. 20005— Phone: 202-387-0400— Fax: 202-483-9430