The latest dish from the Think Tank community on Chinese democracy, American plutocracy and our not-so-swell pedagogy.
- Documentary studies. [PDF] In China, political candidates are lobbying, campaigning, vote buying, and throwing personal attacks at their opponents ... just like their primary school students. Today, the Brookings Institution published a paper on the state of the Chinese political process, finding that -- as in the documentary Please Vote for Me --Chinese authorities are engaging "dirty tactics" in intra-Party and People's Congress elections. The idea of elections is penetrating Chinese society, the study concludes, with more political appointments made under a "decision by vote" (piaoju). Unfortunately, negativity shrouds the competitive process. Where else would the children have learned such base democracy? -- CP
- The cream rises to the top. The Institute for Policy Studies elucidates the way in which U.S. tax code loopholes effectively subsidize astronomical incomes for top corporate and financial leaders. The report demonstrates and proposes reforms for five tax and accounting loopholes that result in tax-payers subsidizing $20 billion worth of excessive pay for executives. These excesses exist at a time of spectacular wealth inequality in the United State -- last year, S&P CEOs last year averaged 10.5 million, 344 times the pay of the average American worker. Legislation designed to curb these excesses has been stalled in Congress, and probably will remain so until after the election. What do the candidates think? Barack Obama and John McCain propose greater shareholder say over CEO pay, but they have not spoken clearly about their position on reforming loopholes in tax codes. Obama stands behind one of the five reforms proposed in the study, while McCain supports none of them. -- ZA
- Pedagogy 101. The Department of Education finds that almost half of the nation's school buildings "interfere with the delivery of instruction." On this, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives schools a barely-passing "D." As school maintenance and construction wane and student enrollment rises, school infrastructure crumbles underfoot. Our scholars head back to inadequate facilities this fall, which adversely affects "the health, performance, and attendance of students," according to the DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency. -- CP
- Historically speaking, a recession. Jared Bernstein, of the Economic Policy Institute proposes a second stimulus package directed specifically at job creation, following the Bureau of Labor Statistics's report of a 6.1 percent unemployment rate and 84,000 jobs lost last month. Bernstein claims that, since 1948, such levels of payroll decline coupled with this high of an unemployment rate have always meant an economic recession, and that it will continue further downward before it will ever improve. As July's rates are but the latest installment in a longer saga of economic decline, he is presumably correct in his pessimism. -- SW
- Bad news bears. The Congressional Budget Office released its "The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update" today, detailing the state of, you guessed it, the budget and the economic outlook. Director Peter Orzag's blog contains a good summary, noting that the deficit has increased dramatically from last year to $407 billion, and forecasting anemic 1.5 percent GDP growth this year, and 1.1. percent in 2009. This includes the impact of dropping housing prices, and the CBO advises that the newly-nationalized (or deprivatized, whatever you prefer) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be included in the budget. Check out the housing price change index in the graph below. -- TF
--TAP Staff
