Issues NOW!

Issues-NOW-75.gifIn the days leading up to the America's Future NOW! conference starting June 1, we're hosting an online dialogue featuring conference speakers on the key issues they will be addressing during the conference. Join the conversation by clicking the "Discuss" link at the end of each article or contribute your own post using the "Issues Now!" tag.

afn-calendar-icon.gifRegister today for the America's Future NOW! conference in Washington June 1-3 to interact with these and other progressive leaders.


Jason Rosenbaum2's picture

The Public Health Insurance Option As A Strong Competitor

By Jason Rosenbaum
May 28, 2009

Jacob Hacker at Campaign for America's Future laid out the case for a Medicare-like public health insurance option:

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Joe Paduda's picture

Medicare For All: The Wrong Answer To The Right Question

By Joe Paduda
May 28, 2009

Jacob Hacker's enthusiasm for a 'real' public plan option is laudable. It also dramatically overstates the strengths of Medicare. I'm not entirely convinced that we need a public plan option, and am even less sure that Medicare should be the basis for a public plan option.

That said, there are at least three solid arguments for a public plan option;

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Jacob S. Hacker's picture

Why We Can't Compromise On Public-Plan Choice

By Jacob Hacker
May 27, 2009

Of all the components of the health reform package that will be debated in Congress this year, none inspires greater admiration or ire than the idea of “public plan choice.” Public plan choice means simply that Americans younger than 65 who do not have employment-based health insurance should have the option of enrolling in a new public health insurance plan that provides good coverage on more »

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Steven Capozzola's picture

The United States Needs a Cohesive Industrial Policy

By Steven Capozzola
May 26, 2009

Clyde Prestowitz is absolutely right that the United States needs a cohesive, forward-looking national industrial policy. And furthermore, he is correct in pointing out the “policies of China, Japan, Korea and others to unde more »

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Clyde Prestowitz's picture

An Industrial Renaissance Policy

By Clyde Prestowitz
May 26, 2009

For years Larry Summers and I had a running argument over industrial policy.

As a mainstream economist in good standing, he, of course argued that governments can't pick winners and losers and that even if it could, special interests would inevitably capture the process and distort it. Under no circumstances, he emphasized, should America have an industrial policy.

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Joseph Romm's picture

Political Realists Rejoice, Climate Science Realists Demand More

By Joseph Romm
May 22, 2009

Every journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step — including stopping human-caused global warming at “safe levels,” as close as possible to 2°C. more »

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Kari Fulton's picture

America Needs a 12-Step Program

By Kari Fulton
May 20, 2009

It is a Monday morning in Washington, D.C. and the children of River Terrace Elementary are walking past carry-outs, liquor stores, traffic, and plumes of smoke from the Benning Road Peaking Power Plant dancing in the sky. The dance ends with a sprinkle of pellets of chemical warfare falling onto the community below. more »

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Bill Scher's picture

Without The Grassroots, No Choice But To Deal

By Bill Scher
May 20, 2009

David Roberts laments the political squeeze the Waxman-Markey climate compromise puts on progressives, forced to choose between "what justice and prudence demand and what's possible within the current constraints of power politics" but ends on a hopeful note: "if a small step is all you can take, I guess y more »

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David Roberts's picture

The Waxman-Markey Rorschach blot

By David Roberts
May 19, 2009

The story of climate change, like the progressive story itself, is about the distance between what justice and prudence demand and what's possible within the current constraints of power politics. It just so happens what when it comes to climate, the distance is unusually large.

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Ryan Avent's picture

The Case for Patience

By Ryan Avent
May 14, 2009

In response to Dean’s response, let me begin by clarifying my position on a timeline for regulatory reform.

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