New America Foundation

In late May, some 40 Pakistani journalists received a summons to an unusual press conference held by Baitullah Mehsud, the rarely photographed leader of the Pakistani Taliban, who is accused of orchestrating the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, sending suicide bombers to Spain earlier this year, and dispatching an army of fighters into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and NATO forces in recent months. Surrounded by a posse of heavily armed Taliban guards, Mehsud boasted that he had hundreds of trained suicide bombers ready for martyrdom.

It was… more

The New Saver's Act would introduce a series of new, innovative and low-cost initiatives to increase access to financial services and savings for all Americans.  Specifically, these initiatives would facilitate access to financial services during tax preparation; expand funding for low-income tax clinics; establish national savings performance measures; improve electronic transfer accounts; expand financial education; create children's savings accounts; expand the types of financial products eligible for the Saver's Credit; promote and facilitate access to U.S. Savings Bonds; and improve state qualified tuition programs and 529 plans.

Each year the federal government provides hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives for families to save and build wealth through the tax system. Low-income families, however, are not eligible for most of these tax incentives because they are poor. Low income families, like any other household, need to save to gain economic mobility and financial stability. Research has also shown that despite their low incomes, poor families can and do save when presented with the right incentives and methods… more

Good morning, Chairman Spratt, Congressman Ryan, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify-it is a privilege to appear before this Committee on this important topic of budget process reform.

I am the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Our Co-Chairmen are Bill Frenzel and Leon Panetta and the Board consists of many past Directors of the Office of Management and Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, and past Chairs of the Federal Reserve… more

This paper, written for Furman Center at New York University in May 2008 by New America Foundation's Ellen Seidman and the Center for American Progress' Andrew Jakabovics, discusses asset disposition lessons learned from previous financial crises -- including the activities of the New Deal-era Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation formed in the wake of the savings and loan crisis, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's more recent Asset Control Area program to dispose of foreclosed… more

The presidential election of 2008 has been historic by many measures. The campaign has featured an extended and competitive primary season, which has given way to a general election contest between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. As the campaign has unfolded, economic conditions have worsened along with rising levels of unemployment, personal debt, and mortgage defaults. The erosion of savings and household assets have increased the economic insecurity of many families and heightened interest into each candidate’s prescription… more