Reality Check

Reality Check is a series that separates the facts from the political rhetoric about the important policy issues of our time.

Reality Check – All Content

• Report: Charter Schools that Work: Economically Integrated Schools with Teacher Voice
  Oct 22, 2010
  With so much emphasis being placed on the potential of charter schools, it is important to have an accurate assessment of their performance. How well are charter schools working? And how might they be restructured to work better? This new addition from the Reality Check Series answers these questions.
• Report: Deficit Disorder: Sense and Nonsense about the Federal Debt
  Oct 13, 2010
  This Century Foundation Reality Check focuses on correcting commonly repeated but misleading claims related to federal deficits, aided by straightforward figures and tables that anyone can understand.
• Publication: Legions Stretched Thin: The U.S. Army's Manpower Crisis
  Sep 30, 2008
  The U.S. military is facing the most pressing demands on its resources in a generation. Can it keep up?
• Publication: Why It's Good to Be Rich and Getting Better All the Time
  Sep 30, 2008
  By greatly reducing taxes on wealth, the recent tax law significantly benefited only a small number of high-income Americans, in ways that are unlikely to do the rest of the country any good.
• Report: Scare Tactics: Why Social Security Is Not in Crisis
  Jul 9, 2008
  The "crisis" in Social Security is actually quite manageable, despite the alarmism voiced by those who favor replacing all or part of the program with private investment accounts.
• Publication: The New American Economy: A Rising Tide that Lifts Only Yachts
  Jul 9, 2008
  Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the fruits of economic growth are flowing to a small percentage of the population.
• Publication: Poor Excuses: How Neglecting Poverty Costs All Americans
  May 27, 2008
  After strong economic growth in the 1990s, poverty in America has been on the rise since 2000.
• Publication: Going Nowhere: Workers' Wages Since the Mid-1970s
  May 27, 2008
  In marked contrast to the postwar period—when wages for almost all workers were rising steadily and faster than the inflation rate—average wages today are only slighty higher than they were in the mid-1970s.
• Book: Over A Barrel? Myths and Facts about U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil
  Oct 17, 2004
  The facts about American oil consumption—where it comes from and what we can do to ensure the need for oil doesn't jeopardize security.
• Press Release: Legions Stretched Thin: The U.S. Army’s Manpower Crisis
  Oct 5, 2004
  A new report in the Reality Check series finds mounting evidence that the armed forces lack the manpower to meet demands.
• Book: Life and Debt: Why American Families are Borrowing to the Hilt
  Jul 28, 2004
  American families are borrowing more than ever just to make ends meet, buy a house, or educate their children.
• Publication: America's Achilles Heel: Job-Based Health Coverage and the Uninsured
  Jun 20, 2004
  America’s system of employment-based health insurance has many disadvantages.
• Publication: The "Red" States: How Governors Ended Up with Huge Deficits
  Jun 13, 2004
  Unfunded mandates and reduced income from federal tax policies are the real culprits behind states' budget shortfalls in 2004.
• Book: Can Separate Be Equal? The Overlooked Flaw at the Center of No Child Left Behind
  Apr 22, 2004
  NCLB's failure to recognize the effects of concentrated poverty in American schools.
• Book: Rags to Riches: The American Dream is Less Common in the United States than Elsewhere
  Mar 18, 2004
  How easy is it for the children of poor parents to become prosperous? Recent evidence shows that there is much less mobility in the United States than most people assume.
• Book: Turning Gold into Straw: How Huge Federal Surpluses Quickly became Equally Massive Deficits
  Feb 11, 2004
  Just two and a half years ago, the budget outlook was as good as it had been in a half century. Now, the federal budget is poised to run its biggest deficit since the end of World War II.