Recent Policy Studies

• National Security
  

  Global Deterrence: The Role of the F-22

  By Rebecca Grant, Lexington Institute
  
  Research Study, 02/06/2009
  

  The F-22 is a key ingredient in ensuring the kind of conventional deterrence that leaves the US and its allies with access when they need it. It’s a capability that can make other nations think twice about their antics and ambitions. To cut it short with a truncated fleet unable to cover multiple theaters or sustain its service life would strike a blow to US military power for all joint forces.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  A Sound Investment

  By Ana Carcani Rold, Independent Women's Forum
  
  Policy Papers, 02/06/2009
  

  Any initiative on Microlending and Microfinance for women in the developing world should consider not only ways to broaden women's economic participation, but also these women’s transition from business to politics. While the developed world has enjoyed celebrating the achievement of women this past year, it still has a long way to go before celebrating the achievements of all women.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  A Revealing Window on the U.S. Economy in Depression and War

  By Robert Higgs, Independent Institute
  
  Research Article, 02/06/2009
  

  Many years after the Great Depression and World War II, controversy continues to swirl as scholars, pundits, and ordinary citizens look back at the watershed events of the 1930s and 1940s. Economists and economic historians have assessed the economy’s condition during these momentous years primarily with reference to the usual macroeconomic indicators, especially the real gross domestic product (GDP) and the rate of unemployment (U). For these analysts, the Great Depression is almost defined as the long period when real GDP remained well below its trend high employment capacity and the rate of unemployment stood persistently above its normal range. The war period, in contrast, stands out in the standard statistical series as a time when real GDP appeared to increase phenomenally and the rate of unemployment fell almost to zero. Interpretation of economic events in the light of such conventional measures has been complicated, however, by institutional peculiarities unique to these extraordinary times.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Assessing the Politics of CO2 Regulations

  By Peter J. Nelson, Center of the American Experiment
  
  Policy in Detail, 02/06/2009
  

  Voter sensitivity to high energy prices, the current economic crisis, the difficulty of passing landmark legislation, a preference for cheaper CO2 abatement policies, resistance from states disproportionately harmed by emissions regulations, the history of grandfathering industry conduct, a commitment to energy independence, and a preference to subsidize the coal industry all represent political considerations deeply rooted in the fabric of America that cannot be written off because more Democrats are in power. These political considerations are by no means exhaustive. But, taken together, they represent a far more potent political force than simple party politics, and they point to a future with less costly CO2 regulations than many estimates assume.

  
  
  
• Welfare
  

  Welfare Spendathon: House Stimulus Bill Will Cost Taxpayers $787 Billion in New Welfare Spending

  By Robert E. Rector, Katherine Bradley, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/06/2009
  

  The welfare provisions in the Senate stimulus bill are very similar to those in the House bill. Both bills use the idea of economic stimulus as a Trojan horse to conceal massive, permanent increases in the U.S. welfare system. The goal of the bills is "spreading the wealth," not reviving the economy.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Concerns on Proposed Reduction of U.S. Nuclear Stockpile to 1,000 Weapons

  By Baker Spring, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/06/2009
  

  According to press reports, President Obama has directed the U.S. to seek a future strategic arms control treaty with Russia that will reduce the U.S. nuclear stockpile to 1,000 weapons. Circumstances make it clear that the Administration has chosen this number arbitrarily.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  New Stimulus Tax Deductions Just Another Bailout for Detroit Automakers

  By Curtis S. Dubay, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/06/2009
  

  The Senate recently tacked on two new income tax deductions as part of the stimulus bill in yet another attempt to help the ailing auto industry. This bad tax policy amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for American car buyers and a backdoor bailout for automakers and state and local governments.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Economic Stimulus Package and the Limits of Infrastructure Jobs Creation

  By Ronald D. Utt, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/06/2009
  

  Many in Congress have been arguing the need for more government spending to create new jobs to offset those lost and to jumpstart the economy, but a review of past such efforts reveals that the promise exceeds performance.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The Demise of the U.N. Procurement Task Force Threatens Oversight at the U.N.

  By Brett D. Schaefer, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/06/2009
  

  The first step toward U.N. reform is clearing the way for experts from the Procurement Task Force to be hired by the OIOS.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Latin America and the U.S.: Building a Partnership for the Western Hemisphere

  By Ray Walser, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 02/06/2009
  

  Responding to challenges in the Western Hemisphere is vital to core U.S. interests. Many programs begun under Bush merit continuation. The Obama Administration should propose concrete, achievable programs to fight poverty, create jobs, and improve health and education in Latin America. It must also guard U.S. security against the drug trade, illegal migration, and terrorism.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Crisis and Fix Cycle

  By John H. Makin, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Economic Outlook, 02/05/2009
  

  The global financial and economic crisis that emerged in August 2007 has entered a dismaying fourth phase. The January 17-18, 2009, weekend edition of the Financial Times, which has been a major chronicler of the crisis and its many aspects, laid out a frightening timeline of an accelerating and intensifying oscillatory cycle of crisis and failed policy response that started just fifteen months ago. Each phase begins with a shock and ends with a seemingly decisive policy measure meant to contain or “fix” the crisis. Each phase is shorter than the previous one and culminates in a much larger policy response. Throughout the crisis, the losses of financial institutions have steadily grown at an accelerating pace as the underlying conditions in the financial sector and, since September 2008, in the underlying global economy deteriorate more rapidly. Such a disturbing pattern must be truncated by a large, coordinated global policy response to arrest the accelerating erosion of the market capitalization of multinational banks and insurance companies that has resulted.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  The Fed Makes History

  By John H. Makin, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Economic Outlook, 02/05/2009
  

  The Fed has made history by actively initiating a battle against deflation through quantitative easing. Neither the Fed during the Great Depression of the 1930s nor the Bank of Japan after 2001 – having initiated such a battle – scored a clean, consistent victory over deflation. Let us hope the Fed truly makes history this time with a clear victory over deflation – and that its leaders realize that a period of inflation above the target level will be required for success should deflation gain a hold on the U.S. economy.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Promoting and Using Comparative Research

  By Scott Gottlieb, American Enterprise Institute
  
  Health Policy Outlook, 02/05/2009
  

  Federal efforts to underwrite and promote research comparing different drugs and medical devices continue apace, even in the stimulus plan passed by the House of Representatives. These policies are aimed at furnishing government programs like Medicare with better data on the clinical and cost considerations that inform the agencies’ coverage decisions. At face value, it makes perfect sense that the government should want more information on the “comparative effectiveness” of the medical products it purchases. But like many other seductively simple ideas, enthusiasm for comparative effectiveness research (CER) outpaces its practical promise and obscures the downside of having governments take on these sorts of studies and the clinical considerations that go into them.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Next Economic Shoes to Drop

  By Desmond Lachman, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 02/05/2009
  

  The Obama administration needs to make serious revisions to its fiscal stimulus package with a view to providing the economy with more immediate support. It also needs to offer the country a bold new economic vision that goes beyond Keynesian-style fiscal stimulus and that addresses the serious problems in the financial and housing sectors. Any delay in providing a comprehensive economic plan could quickly dissipate the benefit of the doubt that the markets and the public are giving the new administration, which will only deepen the present economic recession.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Get Out of Jail Free: Why Byrne JAG Grants Should Not Be Part of Economic Stimulus Package

  By David B. Muhlhausen, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  Not only should Congress be concerned about the pretrial services funded by Byrne JAG grants, but these grants will do virtually nothing to stimulate the economy.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Iran’s Satellite Launch Underscores Growing Military Threat

  By James Phillips. Baker Spring, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  Iran’s satellite launch is another wake-up call that underscores the urgency of building effective missile defenses and ratcheting up international pressure to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The Senate’s Flawed 4 Percent Mortgage Refinance Plan

  By Ronald D. Utt, David C. John, J. D. Foster, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  The Senate Republicans’ 4 percent housing stimulus and mortgage relief plan (proposed earlier by Chris Mayer and Glenn Hubbard of Columbia Business School) would be a costly initiative and a massive new government intervention in housing and finance markets that would yield few if any of the promised benefits.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Stimulus Bill: Why the Senate Must Fix the Health Care Provisions

  By Nina Owcharenko, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  Liberals in Congress, under the guise of emergency economic stimulus legislation, are attempting to push forward their radical health care agenda.

  
  
  
• Immigration
  

  Senate Stimulus Bill Would Provide 300,000 Jobs for Illegal Immigrants

  By Robert Rector, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  If the Senate version of the stimulus bill becomes law, a great number of the workers employed in government construction programs will, in fact, be illegal immigrants.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Building a Global Freedom Coalition with a New “Security for Freedom Fund”

  By James Carafano, Henry Brands, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 02/05/2009
  

  A Global Freedom Coalition, a flexible association of free nations whose members have both the will and the means to defeat threats to their security, should be established. The U.S. should establish a Security for Freedom Fund that revamps the entire U.S. foreign military assistance program to face the wide range of security threats in the 21st century.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Stimulus Bill Should Not Bail Out Irresponsible States

  By Brian Riedl, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/05/2009
  

  In response to pleading governors and mayors, the House stimulus bill contains a staggering $200 billion bailout for state and local governments that have spent themselves into deficit. It is a terrible proposal, on several counts.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Gaza Conflict: Deterrence and the Other Missed Points

  By Michael Radu, Foreign Policy Research Institute
  
  02/04/2009
  

  It may appear cynical or brutal to say that in some circumstances—the Gaza conflict now being an obvious one—more violence, if correctly targeted, means fewer real civilian victims and better long-term chances of calm, if not peace. If Israel and those who truly seek calm in the Middle East in the long-term are serious, they should support the total military defeat of Hamas, rather than spill tears over the loss of “civilians.” This is a lesson that can be applied to conflicts far away from the Middle East. However, the prospects of this happening are not good, and the result is likely to be more and more “civilians” such as infants sleeping in their cribs being killed from Kyber to Mullaitivu to Gaza. Lack of clarity and reason truly kills.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Indoctrination U.

  By David Horowitz, Encounter Books
  
  Book, 02/04/2009
  

  In dramatic commentary, Indoctrination U. unveils the intellectual corruption of American universities by faculty activists who have turned America’s classrooms into indoctrination centers for their political causes. It describes how academic radicals with little regard for professional standards or the pluralistic foundations of American society have created an ideological curriculum that it is as odds with the traditional purposes of a democratic education.

  
  
  
• Family, Culture & Community
  

  The Future of Marriage

  By David Blankenhorn, Encounter Books
  
  Book, 02/04/2009
  

  In their current demands, Blankenhorn points out, gay and lesbian leaders are not asking for marriage with an adjective in front of it, but marriage itself. So in that sense, what marriage is and why it matters is ultimately what this debate is all about. What exactly is this institution to which gay and lesbian activists are seeking access? Why do we have it in the first place? Where did it come from? What is it for? How is it changing? These are some of the hard questions The Future of Marriage confronts.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The Corporation: Russia and the KGB in the Age of President Putin

  By Yuri Felshtinsky, Vladimir Pribylovsky, Encounter Books
  
  Book, 02/04/2009
  

  The twentieth century has entered history as an age of tyrants. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Zedong. In The Corporation, Yuri Felshtinsky exposes a new type of tyrant in Vladimir Putin. While dictators of the past have been self-motivated and self-appointed, Putin was handpicked for power by Russia’s newest ruling class, the Federal Security Service (FSB). As in the handover of executive power in any large corporation, it was the desire of the “shareholders” that Vladimir Putin would guarantee their rights in the new corporate republic.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  The Case against Mandated Employer-Provided Employee Health Insurance

  By NFIB Research Foundation, National Federation of Independent Business
  
  02/04/2009
  

  Mandated employer-provided health insurance comes in three principal flavors: a pure mandate, requiring an employer to provide and pay a fixed percentage of an employee’s health insurance premium; a mandate requiring an employer to provide and pay a fixed percentage of payroll for employee health insurance (with some mechanism to transform unequal per capita premium payments into equal per capita policy benefits); and a mandate requiring an employer to provide employee health insurance or pay a tax, the so-called “pay-or-play” option. The three are essentially the same in their effects on employers and employees as are the arguments against them, allowing discussion of only the first as representative of three, given it is the simplest and cleanest.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Small Business Effects of a National Employer Healthcare Mandate

  By Michael J. Chow, Bruce D. Phillips, National Federation of Independent Business
  
  NFIB Small Business Impact Studies, 02/04/2009
  

  During the recent public debate on health care reform, employer mandates have reemerged as a frequently mentioned tool to help finance increased insurance coverage. Proponents of employer mandates argue that such policies will finance higher coverage rates. Opponents, however, caution that any gains in coverage will come at the price of lost employment and output, increased regulation, and additional business costs. Small businesses, which bear a disproportionate share of regulatory costs, would face steep challenges in the form of increased employer contributions and search and administrative costs.

  
  
  
• Elections, Transparency, & Accountability
  

  Google.gov? The Perils of Technology and Government Transparency

  By Daniel R. Ballon, Pacific Research Institute
  
  Tech Policy Transmission, 02/04/2009
  

  The Obama administration has demonstrated a strong commitment to technology and transparency. As one of his first acts in office, Obama released a memorandum declaring that “government should be transparent,” “government should be participatory,” and “government should be collaborative.” Despite these positive goals, the president’s initial strategy creates troubling conflicts that could decrease transparency, and blindly place all government information in the hands of a powerful special interest.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  A Service to the Economy: Removing Barriers to “Invisible Trade”

  By Sallie James, Cato Institute
  
  Trade Policy Analysis, 02/04/2009
  

  It is clear that the United States has much to gain from a liberal world services trade. With much potential for growth of services exports, especially in rapidly growing developing countries, many U.S. firms are well placed to take advantage of the growing demand for services that appears, in some areas at least, to be leveling off at home. But equally there are areas of the U.S. economy that are in need of further liberalization and less government control, regardless of what other countries do to liberalize their markets.

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  Analysis and Solutions of the Midnight Regulations Phenomenon

  By Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Center
  
  Testimony, 02/04/2009
  

  The term “midnight regulations” describes the last minute regulations promulgated at the end of presidential terms, especially during transitions to an administration of the opposite party. Although the problem is perennially highlighted in the press, few satisfactory solutions to the phenomenon have been proposed. We review previously tried solutions to the midnight regulation problem and propose a possible solution.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Lost Trust: The Real Cause of the Financial Meltdown

  By Bruce Yandle, Mercatus Center
  
  Working Paper, 02/04/2009
  

  One distinguishable feature of the current financial crisis from other crises is that global credit markets, including U.S. markets came to a near stop. This problem was not due to bank runs akin to the 1933 great depression or a lack of liquidity, as has been the case in other panics. The current crisis may likely be the only one that resulted from a sudden loss of trust. Although central bankers and governments can work to implement policies to resuscitate credit markets, a more arduous task is rekindling trust. Discussing how trust evolves in the formation of markets, this paper chronicles the elements and events that led to the financial collapse of 2007 - 2009.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Defense Companies Have Many Options in a Downturn

  By Loren B. Thompson, Lexington Institute
  
  Issue Brief, 02/04/2009
  

  When you only have one customer and that customer suddenly finds itself spending a trillion dollars more per year than it is taking in, prudence dictates you should start developing alternatives to your current business plan. That’s the position the U.S. defense industry finds itself in today. Big cuts in weapons spending won’t happen quickly, but at some point the combination of a deep economic recession, receding threats and Democratic Party control of the government is likely to produce a downturn in the defense business. Fortunately, the industry has many options for coping with declining demand.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Comparative Effectiveness in Health Care Reform: Lessons from Abroad

  By Helen Evans, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 02/04/2009
  

  President Obama’s proposed Institute for Comparative Effectiveness would mean more government control of private medical decisions. It is clear from the British experience and other international examples that a comparative effectiveness strategy that relies on central planning and coercion would be counterproductive and would lead to cost constraints that could worsen patients’ medical conditions and damage the quality of their lives.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  Chinese Foreign Investment: Insist on Transparency

  By Derek Scissors, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Backgrounder, 02/04/2009
  

  China holds more than $1 trillion in American bonds. According to the new Heritage Foundation database on recent Chinese foreign non-bond investment, China has invested more than $15 billion in the U.S. in addition to bonds. China’s SAFE is the largest foreign investor in the U.S., but has refused to make its activities more transparent. An American priority should be to enhance transparency in SAFE’s spending.

  
  
  
• Labor
  

  Reform Collective Bargaining to Enable Hard Working Americans to Get Ahead

  By James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  Congress should allow companies to reward achievement and create incentives for successful employees by paying them more than their union contracts provide.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  An Earmark by Any Other Name Is Still an Earmark

  By Karen Campbell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  An analysis of the “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” shows that it fails to deliver on the economic promises of its authors, does not help the economy recover, and – worst of all – decreases investment rather than stimulating reinvestment.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Sustainable Economic Stimulus: Repeal Capital Gains and Dividend Taxes

  By Karen A. Campbell, Guinevere Nell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  Although policymakers are currently discussing an $825 billion economic stimulus package, completely eliminating capital gains and dividend taxes would be a cheaper and more effective means of sparking economic renewal.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  The “American Option” Is Good for Small Business

  By Guinevere Nell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  The “American Option,” introduced by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), avoids the discredited Keynesian consumption-based stimulus and instead follows the tried and true method of cutting taxes on businesses.

  
  
  
• Budget & Taxation
  

  Stimulus Plan Should Include Pro-Growth Tax Relief for Families in Every State

  By Shanea J. Watkins, Guinevere Nell, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  The stimulus plan scheduled for debate in the Senate should include an extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax reductions and a reduction of tax rates for individuals, small businesses, and corporations through 2013.

  
  
  
• International Trade/Finance
  

  The Stealth Nationalization of Britain’s Economy Must Be Reversed

  By Ted R. Bromund, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  As a result of the stealth nationalization of its economy, large portions of Britain are now almost completely dependent upon government spending.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Big Gains for the Automakers from Senator Jim DeMint’s “American Option”

  By William W. Beach, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  Senator Jim DeMint’s economic stimulus plan – known as the “the American Option Act” – proposes to aggressively and immediately lower taxes on businesses and individuals.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Deputy Attorney General Nominee David Ogden: Questions on Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution

  By Steven Groves, The Heritage Foundation
  
  WebMemo, 02/04/2009
  

  The Committee on the Judiciary should not ignore David Ogden’s opinions on the use of foreign laws in American jurisprudence.

  
  
  
• The Constitution/Civil Liberties
  

  Ensuring “Equal Treatment” in the Minnesota Recount: Bush v. Gore Redux

  By Hans A. von Spakovsky, The Heritage Foundation
  
  Legal Memorandum, 02/04/2009
  

  The carelessness of local election officials, the arbitrary and capricious decisions of the Minnesota Canvassing Board, and the strange decisions of the Minnesota Supreme Court likely have caused the state to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the inappropriate departure from the state’s legislative structure may be a violation of the Elections Clause of Article I of the Constitution.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Recent Ohio High Court Rulings Reflect Respect for Legislature’s Role in Making Tort Law

  By Bruce P. Mandel, James N. Kline, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Backgrounder, 02/04/2009
  

  Earlier in this decade, the Ohio Supreme Court was dubbed by one commentator as a “super-legislature on several major public policy issues in Ohio.” One of these major areas was reform of the state’s civil liability system, with the Court consistently overturning the state legislature’s tort reform laws. As two Cleveland attorneys deeply involved with tort issues in Ohio write, recent Supreme Court rulings reflect a new-found respect for the legislature’s authority, to the benefit of the state’s business climate.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Appeals Court Ruling Severely Undermines Speech Rights

  By Arnold I. Friede, Stephen W. Bernstein, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Backgrounder, 02/04/2009
  

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently upheld as constitutional a state law which prohibits the sharing of prescription information with health care companies for the purpose of marketing. The court characterized the law as affecting “conduct”, rather than “speech”, and thus avoided the First Amendment issues advanced by the affected plaintiff. Attorneys Arnold Friede and Stephen Bernstein write that the court’s circumvention of the First Amendment threatens to shield from judicial review scores of government regulations that impact speech.

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  On the 2009 Agenda: Global Regulation of Food Products and Producers

  By Mark Mansour, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Contemporary Legal Note, 02/04/2009
  

  The prospects for a new era of global health and safety regulation have never been more promising than at the beginning of 2009. Food safety scares involving such staples as milk and peanut butter, as well as the emergence of new technologies, will compel governments to act and challenge industries to reevaluate their compliance efforts. Food and drug regulation specialist Mark Mansour surveys the regulatory landscape and urges all parties involved to work together towards a better integrated system of health and safety controls.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  A Perfect Storm in Latin America

  By Jaime Daremblum, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  Latin America has enjoyed a lengthy period of economic and political progress, which should be celebrated. Broadly speaking, the region is in relatively good shape. But there could be turbulent times ahead caused by an array of problems, including increasing drug-related violence in Mexico and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s alliance with Iran. While Obama will probably devote most of his foreign policy attention to the Middle East and Asia, he won’t be able to ignore the many challenges in Latin America.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The New Dynamic Relations in Asia

  By Charles Horner, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  Old international problems remain in the world’s trouble spots. It’s the surrounding world which has changed. The divisions in Asia and Eurasia of the Cold War era are long gone. The new dynamic relations among East Asia, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and West Asia will be the largest single influence on the shape of world politics. The United States will be hard-pressed to retain its influence over those relationships. As new actors from the East become more involved in politics to their West, the United States must adjust its strategic vision and its operational methods.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  International Negotiations: A Tool to Serve our Interests

  By Christopher Ford , Douglas J. Feith, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  “Better to jaw-jaw than to war-war,” Winston Churchill once quipped, showing that not even tough-minded war leaders prefer war to diplomacy in principle. But deciding when to negotiate with foreign adversaries, what to say to them, and when to resort to methods other than talk is not simple. In efforts to resolve international problems, every course of action—including straightforward, non-coercive diplomacy—has its pros and cons.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Transformative Leadership in Arms Control and Nonproliferation

  By Christopher Ford, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  The Obama Administration may face great pressure quickly to adopt all the policy prescriptions of arms control and disarmament community activists who imagine he will be the answer to all their prayers. It should resist this pressure, however and undertake its own bottom-up review of strategic and arms control policy. If taken seriously in light of Obama’s campaign promises, such a review would entail struggling with thorny significant challenges in the arena of disarmament policy. He should not be unwilling to question his most fundamental assumptions in this review.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  Health Care: Don’t Forget Saving Families $2,500

  By Hanns Kuttner, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  President-elect Obama offered a concrete proposal to save the typical family $2,500 on medical expenditures. Measuring progress towards that goal requires statistics the federal government does not currently calculate. In addition to providing new measures, the federal government should help those who have health insurance through employers understand just how much that coverage costs.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  A Strategy for Winning the War of Ideas

  By Herbert I. London, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  The next administration should develop a program that specifically deals with a defense of American principles and Western Civilization. This would involve educational curricula devoted to the founding of America and a National Humanities program devoted to a nationwide conversation on “what we should defend and why.”

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The “Greater” Middle East

  By Hillel Fradkin, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  In Pakistan our clearest objective should be to give as much support as possible to the new government. In Iran, the new administration looks likely to make a renewed effort to negotiate nuclear issues. In the case these negotiations fail— and they probably will—the Obama administration will have to immediately undertake a wide-ranging review of new strategies to deal with a nuclear Iran.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  The War of Ideas: Anti-Americanism, the Continuing Conflict, and the Role of the United States

  By Hassan Mneimneh, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  The United States has already developed and gathered the resources and allies for the role that it ought to assume in the defining War of Ideas that the world is witnessing. What has been lacking so far, often for the absence of a thorough appreciation of the nature and scope of anti-Americanism, is the decisive will to deploy this potential. While fighting the alarmism that has afflicted some of the calls to action in the War of Ideas, it is hoped that the new administration will resist the temptation of complacency that has characterized some calls for the U.S. to abdicate its responsibilities in this conflict.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Pakistan & Afghanistan: Worst-Case Scenarios Are Not Unlikely

  By Laurent Murawiec, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  An implosion of Pakistan, with its 170 million inhabitants and nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, is a real possibility that would have dire consequences not only for Pakistan, but for Afghanistan as well. The United States must chart different possible outcomes emerging from this scenario, including contingency planning and several policy options.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Energy Independence

  By Irwin Stelzer, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  No energy policy can deliver “energy independence.” What a sensible policy can do is reduce reliance on oil from unfriendly sources. This will require a carbon tax, with parallel refunds through the payroll-tax system. In one stroke that will discourage use of climate-damaging fuels, and create a level playing field on which all other fuels and conservation devices can compete. In the near term, even with such a tax, coal and natural gas will be the fuels on which we must rely.

  
  
  
• Monetary Policy/Financial Regulation
  

  Financial Regulatory Policy

  By Irwin Stelzer, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  New regulations to correct the excesses that led to our current financial crisis must rely on getting the incentives right, rather than armies of regulators to enforce “good” behavior. Lenders must retain some of the risk associated with their lending, regulations to control excessive leverage and off-balance sheet lending must be put in place to make markets work better, executive compensation must be related to performance, all without scuttling the American dream of home ownership.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Global Challenges for the Obama Administration

  By Kenneth R. Weinstein, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  A strong U.S. foreign policy strategy that relies upon privileged bilateral relationships is now more important than ever. No more privileged relationship exists for maintaining stability in large tracts of the world, most notably the Asia-Pacific region, than that of the U.S.-Japan bilateral relationship. This significant and enduring alliance cannot afford to be neglected.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Fixing Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications

  By S. Enders Wimbush, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  American public diplomacy and strategic communications have been failing since the end of the Cold War. We are neither promoting American values effectively nor winning the war of ideas. Public diplomacy and strategic communications are perversely under-funded. They will continue to fail until the new administration establishes and delivers funding at a level commensurate with these activities’ strategic importance.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Relations between Intelligence Analysts and Policymakers: The Lessons of Iraq

  By Christopher Ford, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  It is important to return to a sense of balance in the relationship between intelligence analysts and policymaking intelligence consumers. Both parties need to understand the complex parameters of this relationship, finding the right sort of constructive tension at appropriate points while still respecting the special strengths and institutional roles each side brings to the table. This lesson of Iraq will be an important one for President Obama and his national security team to learn if they wish to govern competently and effectively.

  
  
  
• Regulation & Deregulation
  

  Helping Homebuyers and Housing

  By John C. Weicher, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  HUD has just completed a badly needed reform of the rules governing real estate settlements. The changes are consistent with President Obama’s campaign pledge to mandate accurate loan disclosure. He can minimize the risk of a future subprime mortgage mess and stimulate the housing market by letting the new rules stand.

  
  
  
• Transportation/Infrastructure
  

  The Right Way to Spend Billions on Infrastructure

  By Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  It’s difficult to generate short-run economic stimulus through infrastructure spending. In the past infrastructure spending has been guided by politics and influence peddling. If we’re going to spend billions on these projects, we must take a different route. Our priorities should be to repair existing infrastructure, leverage public-private partnerships, and aim for long-run employment and efficiency results, such as toll roads that reduce congestion.

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  Avoiding Hubris in a World of Asymmetric Warfare

  By Seth Cropsey, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  The new administration should look carefully at the shift in U.S. military emphasis that is underway, and satisfy itself that we do not exchange an excess of conventional forces for an excess of irregular warfare capability. Changing the course of an institutional behemoth such as the Department of Defense is extremely difficult, but once accomplished is more likely to result in oversteer than the slight adjustment that was originally intended.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  The Contest of Ideas with Radical Islam: The Centrality of the Idea of Religious Freedom and Tolerance

  By Nina Shea, Hudson Institute
  
  Perspectives for the New Administration, 02/03/2009
  

  In past administrations, there has been a reluctance to acknowledge the importance of religion to the Muslim world and to engage with it on the issue of religion, including religious freedom. Whether in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, or other countries, religious persecution of those who do not follow prevailing orthodoxies has frequently been accepted or overlooked by the top levels of the State Department. Those Muslims who argue for religious freedom within an Islamic framework are often ignored, even excluded from U.S. government events at home. In sum, working to expand religious freedom and tolerance and to protect religious and ideological pluralism in the Muslim world is key in the contest of ideas. It will often be a difficult and delicate task, but it must no longer be deferred. American tools of soft power should be employed for this purpose.

  
  
  
• Transportation/Infrastructure
  

  State’s Mandate to Reduce Driver Mobility Threatens Revenue for Transportation Projects

  By Michael Ennis, Washington Policy Center
  
  Policy Note, 02/03/2009
  

  Implementing a policy that reduces Vehicle Miles Traveled without a full quantitative analysis of these financial impacts will undoubtedly lead to more problems, more unintended consequences and more government intervention into the lives of citizens.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  Wrong Turn on School Reform

  By Frederick M. Hess, Michael J. Petrilli, Hoover Institution
  
  Policy Review, 02/03/2009
  

  The Bush administration’s assault on the racial achievement gap — the huge disparity in test scores between both white and Asian students and their black and Hispanic peers — through the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) earned plaudits from many on the left and right. Over time, however, this approach has alienated suburban parents, who worry that NCLB’s emphasis on low-achievers and low-level skills is harming their children and schools. In this way and others, partnering with the left on education reform has imposed real costs even as it has paid substantive dividends.

  
  
  
• Retirement/Social Security
  

  The Forgotten Entitlements

  By Henry Olsen, Jon Flugstad, Hoover Institution
  
  Policy Review, 02/03/2009
  

  When politicians and policy wonks use the phrase “the looming entitlement crisis,” most listeners know exactly what that means: Social Security and Medicare. Spending on these programs is rampant, nearly $1 trillion in fiscal 2006, and is projected to grow exponentially over the coming decade. By 2082, due to the aging of baby boomers, rises in health-care expenses, and expected lower fertility rates, Social Security and Medicare are projected to cost nearly 18 percent of GDP — roughly what the entire federal government costs today. It is now common, if as yet unacted upon, wisdom in the Beltway that if the price of these programs is not reined in, Americans will have to suffer either substantial tax increases, unsustainable budget cuts, or both.

  
  
  
• Economic and Political Thought
  

  Constitutional Conservatism

  By Peter Berkowitz, Hoover Institution
  
  Policy Review, 02/03/2009
  

  After their dismal performance in election 2008, conservatives are taking stock. As they examine the causes that have driven them into the political wilderness and as they explore paths out, they should also take heart. After all, election 2008 shows that our constitutional order is working as designed. The Constitution presupposes a responsive electorate, and respond the electorate did to the vivid memory of a spendthrift and feckless Republican Congress; a stalwart but frequently ineffectual Republican president; and a Republican presidential candidate who — for all his mastery of foreign affairs, extensive Washington experience, and honorable public service — proved incapable of crafting a coherent and compelling message. Indeed, while sorting out their errors and considering their options, conservatives of all stripes would be well advised to concentrate their attention on the constitutional order and the principles that undergird it, because conserving them should be their paramount political priority.

  
  
  
• Health Care
  

  A Profile of the Health Sector in the United States

  By Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute
  
  Studies, 02/03/2009
  

  The health care sector in the United States is unique among developed countries, and it is necessarily diverse to respond to the very different needs and demands of a country with 300 million people. It is a mix of public and private sector programs. But the health sector in the United States is often criticized, both at home and abroad, for the high number of people without insurance because we do not have a compulsory national system, as all other developed countries do.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Spending Is Not Stimulus: Bigger Government Did Not Work for Bush, and It Will Not Work for Obama

  By Daniel J. Mitchell, Cato Institute
  
  Tax & Budget Bulletin, 02/03/2009
  

  Many factors influence economic performance. Monetary policy, trade policy, taxation, labor markets, property rights, and competitive markets all have some impact on an economy’s performance. But one of the key variables is government spending. Once government expands beyond the level of providing core public goods such as the rule of law, there tends to be an inverse relationship between the size of government and economic growth. This is why reducing the size and scope of government is one of the best ways to improve economic performance. Unfortunately, policy moved in the wrong direction during the Bush years, and proposals for so-called stimulus indicate a continuation of those failed policies during the Obama years.

  
  
  
• Foreign Policy/International Affairs
  

  Troubled Neighbor: Mexico’s Drug Violence Poses a Threat to the United States

  By Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato Institute
  
  Policy Analysis, 02/03/2009
  

  Because of its proximity to the huge U.S. market, Mexico will continue to be a cockpit for that drug-related violence. By its domestic commitment to prohibition, the United States is creating the risk that the drug cartels may become powerful enough to destabilize its southern neighbor. Their impact on Mexico’s government and society has already reached worrisome levels. Worst of all, the carnage associated with the black market trade in drugs does not respect national boundaries. The frightening violence now convulsing Mexico could become a routine feature of life in American communities, as the cartels begin to flex their muscles north of the border.

  
  
  
• Labor
  

  Labor’s Girl: Hilda Solis’s Long Struggle for Unions

  By Philip Klein, Capital Research Center
  
  Labor Watch, 02/03/2009
  

  Who is Hilda Solis, Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next Secretary of Labor? Organized labor is delighted because they know one thing for certain: She’s no Elaine Chao.

  
  
  
• Natural Resources, Energy, Environment, & Science
  

  Ethanol, Please, But Not the Cheap Stuff: Why Americans Pay Too Much for Fuel

  By Joseph D’Agostino, Capital Research Center
  
  Organization Trends, 02/03/2009
  

  Lobby groups representing corn growers and the U.S. ethanol industry want more subsidies for domestically produced ethanol and stiff tariffs against foreign ethanol, moves that hurt consumers, the environment, and the hungry masses of less developed countries. U.S. lawmakers give lip service to the ideal of energy independence and urge Americans to become less dependent on foreign oil, but they listen to powerful groups that aim to keep out cheap Brazilian ethanol. Does anyone care?

  
  
  
• National Security
  

  EarthJustice Legal Defense Fund: How Environmentalism Weakens U.S. National Security

  By Kevin Mooney, Capital Research Center
  
  Foundation Watch, 02/03/2009
  

  After 9/11 you would think that only the most radical environmental groups would dare attack the U.S. military as an enemy of the environment. But that’s exactly what green groups are doing. Defense officials are alarmed that they are using the courts to pursue goals that interfere with what America needs for a strong national defense. Worse, their demands often appear to be mere pretexts for legal mischief to hamstring the military. Green groups are sending out teams of lawyers and waves of demonstrators to block national defense programs. If they succeed, they will stop weapons testing, interfere with naval training exercises, compromise U.S. border security measures, and frustrate the development of a ballistic missile defense.

  
  
  
• Education
  

  “Alternative Breaks”

  By Mary Kate Battle, Capital Research Center
  
  Compassion and Culture, 02/03/2009
  

  This past year thousands of students headed south for spring break – but not to lounge at the beach. Over 11,000 students from campuses across America took a pass on partying to serve others here and abroad. These students were participants in “alternative breaks,” an increasingly popular offering on college campuses.

  
  
  
• Retirement/Social Security
  

  Obama vs. FDR

  By Andrew G. Biggs, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 02/03/2009
  

  When the Social Security Act was passed in 1935, the program embodied new ideas on the role of government and engendered significant opposition. Yet one point remained clear: Social Security was not “relief,” what is today termed “welfare.” This new program, explained President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was to be an earned right by American workers, not a handout. This aspect of the program, the Social Security Administration (SSA) says, is “one of the basic principles of the Social Security program and is largely responsible for its widespread public acceptance and support.” But some in Congress and the new Obama administration wish to make fundamental changes to how Social Security works, shifting it closer to a welfare program.

  
  
  
• Economic Growth
  

  Bank to the Future

  By Alex J. Pollock, American Enterprise Institute
  
  The American, 02/03/2009
  

  What’s the difference between the “Bad Bank” now being so actively discussed as the next stage of political finance and the original description of the TARP plan (call it “TARP I”), namely issuing government debt to buy distressed financial assets? No difference. They both have the same two fundamental problems.

  
  
  
• Crime, Justice & the Law
  

  Privacy and Personal Data Security: The Next Litigation Frontier?

  By Raymond T. Nimmer, Washington Legal Foundation
  
  Legal Opinion Letter, 02/03/2009
  

  Widespread adoption of rules regarding security of personally identifiable information has been paralleled by a surge of class-action litigation against companies whose databases have been breached. They are a potential target beyond modern parallel. This setting potentially offers class action lawyers bountiful fuel. But courts and legislators should take a different path.