New America Policy Papers: 2004

Papers and other formal publications from our policy programs are available below. To jump to another year in the archives, please use the links at right.

Tax Time -- The Right Time

  • By
  • Anne Stuhldreher,
  • New America Foundation
December 21, 2004

Last tax season the IRS sent refund checks averaging $2,057 to 100 million tax filers. These cash infusions are often the best chance people have to save some money in any given year. This is particularly true for lower income families. Over 20 million lower income families—one in six taxpayers—received an average $1,700 boost to their refund from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable tax credit designed to reward work.

Programs:

The Way We Work

  • By
  • Shelley Waters Boots,
  • New America Foundation
December 15, 2004

In recent years, researchers, the media, and policymakers have struggled to examine the shifting dynamics of work and family and to better understand the implications of these changes for American life. Most experts can agree that American families have changed. We no longer fit the June and Ward Cleaver model. In 1960, 70 percent of American families with children had at least one parent home full-time. By 2000, this trend has been completely reversed. Today, nearly 70 percent of families are headed by either two working parents or a single working parent.

Programs:

Helping America's Working Parents

  • By Janet Gornick, Marcia Meyers
November 16, 2004

Across the industrialized countries, nearly five decades of steady growth in female employment has radically changed life for many parents and children. One of the most striking changes in Europe, Canada, and the United States has been the increase in employment among mothers with very young children. Nearly 85 percent of American mothers employed before childbearing now return to work before their child's first birthday. Rising women's employment -- among both single and coupled women -- is an encouraging trend from the perspective of women’s economic independence.

Programs:

A New Solution for Our Struggling Health System

October 15, 2004

THE COST OF HEALTH INSURANCE IS SPIRALING OUT OF REACH

The average health insurance premium for a family of four is almost $10,000, which marks the fourth consecutive year of double-digit premium increases. This is roughly equivalent to the amount that a full-time, minimum wage worker would earn over the course of a year.

Programs:

Key Questions the Media Should Ask the Presidential Candidates

  • By
  • Maya MacGuineas,
  • New America Foundation
August 26, 2004
CRFB's suggested questions on the deficit, federal debt, allocation of resources, Social Security, Medicare and the overall size of government. For the full list, please see the attached PDF file.
Programs:

America's Promise in A New Century

  • By
  • Karen Kornbluh,
  • New America Foundation
August 6, 2004


FROM: Karen Kornbluh
SUBJECT: America's Promise in A New Century
DATE: August 6, 2004

Americans are concerned as they have not been since 1992 about the future of their way of life in a global economy. They sense that their kids may be part of the first generation that does worse than its parents and they don't understand how this can be so when they are "working hard and playing by the rules."

Programs:

America's Fragmented Health Care System

  • By
  • Cindy Zeldin,
  • Laurie Rubiner,
  • New America Foundation
July 31, 2004

The American health system is rapidly approaching crisis. For those fortunate enough to have health insurance, health care costs are escalating — health insurance premiums rose almost 14 percent in 2003, the biggest increase in over a decade. For the 43 million people who went without health insurance last year, the system has already collapsed.

Programs:

The Economic Case for Dedicated Unlicensed Spectrum Below 3GHz

  • By William Lehr, Associate Director, Research Program on Internet & Telecoms Convergence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
July 1, 2004

There is general agreement that traditional mechanisms for managing radio frequency (RF) spectrum are inefficient and in need of significant reform. Many, if not most, of the economists who have considered the issue appear to concur with the view that increased reliance on market forces would enhance efficiency, and support assigning spectrum via transferable, flexible licenses, especially when spectrum is perceived to be scarce.

Programs:

Why Dad Can't 'Have it All'

  • By
  • Karen Kornbluh,
  • Shelley Waters Boots,
  • New America Foundation
June 20, 2004

Father’s Day holds few surprises. A gift from the kids-usually a bad tie-and dinner with the family. Fatherhood itself, however, has undergone dramatic changes over the past few decades as Dads have taken on far more responsibility at home and, in many ways, changed the very definition of Father. The rest of the world has yet to catch up with the new Dad. As a result, even in 2004, too many fathers must still choose between being good breadwinners and good parents -- when they’d like to be both.

Programs:

It's The Family Budget... And Values, Stupid

  • By
  • Karen Kornbluh,
  • New America Foundation
June 16, 2004

Today, Senator John Kerry announced new after-school and child care tax credit initiatives. His speech is part of a renewed focus on easing the "middle class squeeze." Yesterday, Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill guaranteeing employees paid time off for their own or a family member's illness.

Programs:
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