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    <title>Urban Institute: Press Releases</title>
    <link>http://www.urban.org/Pressroom/releases.cfm</link>
    <description>Urban Institute reports on: Press Releases - The Urban Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.</description>
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    <copyright>Copyright 2012 Urban Institute</copyright>
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Tax Debate: How the Democrats Play, Too, and Often Win]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Republicans typically emphasize lower taxes, while casting Democrats as eager to further burden hard-working families. But Republicans delude themselves when they think that Democrats can't play the tax-cutting game as well.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901474&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[The Economics of Compassion]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[A new year offers new hope, so lets  pause to ask who and what makes this world a better place.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901472&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Teddy Roosevelt Redux?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The debate over the relationship between government and the rich has been part of every presidential contest for more than a century. But myths and misunderstandings pervade attempts to compare 2012 and 1910 with policy prescriptions in mind. Chief among the myths propagated by both political parties is that, for better or worse, larger and more engaged government has come about through taxing the rich.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901468&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Planning for How to Present the Budget in 2013]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The big question is whether markets and the public will allow our elected officials to flounder around until 2013. Even if politicians can't agree on adequate benefit cuts and tax increases, their bigger mistake would be to avoid putting in place a process to make budgeting far more rational than it has been.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901437&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Political Parties Take United Stand Against Their Own Principles]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Most Americans sense the contradictions in Democrats and Republicansor at least understand that no coherent approach to principles, policy goals, or even processes for compromise guide today's political parties. Pollsters tell our elected officials what sound bites trigger our emotions, and that passes for policy.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901429&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Does Constraining Health Cost Growth Require Choosing between Obama and Ryan?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The political debates have quickly centered over whether Obama is heading toward ever-more cumbersome government regulation and price-setting and whether Ryan is opening up unregulated markets that would deprive many of needed health care.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901424&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[The Pointless Debate Over the Social Security Trust Fund]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[What does matter is that Social Security expenses are expected to rise by about 50 percentfrom about 4.3 to 6.3 percentage points of GDPfrom 2008 to 2030, and taxes aren't. As the baby boomers retire, higher expenses and less tax revenue mean that the national deficit will rise year after year.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901417&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[The Sum of All We Are]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[What allows us to live and thrive in a good society? To grow and progress so much that we consider it a failure to have a few years of negative or low growth? To live in peace, at least within our borders? To enjoy almost endless possibility?]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901399&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Are You Paying Your Fair Share for Medicare?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[What do you pay in Medicare taxes? And what Medicare benefits can you expect?  It's no secret that early generations of Social Security beneficiaries got benefits worth more than the taxes they had paid, although the most recent waves of retirees getting Social Security can make a stronger case that they have paid for their benefits.  But let's leave Social Security aside for the moment to consider an even bigger problem of the same stripe. Past and current retirees, and most working-age adults, will never pay for all their Medicare benefits.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901397&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[What Opportunities do Michael Vick, David Robinson, and Ted Leonsis Have in Common?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Footballer Michael Vick, baseballer Alex Rodriguez, and golfer Tiger Woods have been highlighted in
broadcasts lately, having come back to their games after losing "hero" status by harming their families,
friends, teams, fans, and sports. Perhaps the greatest cost of their prior actions was movingly stated by
Frank Deford, when he asked if young fans today had anyone to look up to.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901393&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Our Newly Elected Tax Collectors]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Call it happenstance, but in the gospel proclaimed in many Christian churches on Sunday, October 24about a week before the electionJesus admonishes those "convinced of their own self-righteousness," then makes a tax collector the hero in the parable cited. Actually, tax collectors seem to come out okay in a lot of religious stories; take the Buddhist one about the brahmin Dhananjani, an unscrupulous tax collector who exploited both the king and the public, yet still could at death attain a happier rebirth. Not to downplay these religious themes, but I couldn't help seeing a secular twist: more than in any recent period, our newly elected representatives, many of whom ran on platforms of self-righteousness, are called to be our tax collectors.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901388&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Fixing the Nation's Four-Tranche Universal Health System : Next Steps for Both Republicans and Democrats]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[U.S. citizens soon will be participating in a four-part, nearly universal, health care system. Medicare, Medicaid, employer-provided health, and the new exchange insurance policies all come with different government subsidies. Medicare is tied to age or disability and provides roughly the same amount of insurance to all recipients. Medicaid (and a related children's health insurance program) also provides more or less equal coverage to all who get it, though it pays providers less for that coverage and, cliff-like, often cuts off beneficiaries who cross an earnings line. Subsidies for employer-provided health insurance are largest for those with the highest incomes and the most expensive policies. Meanwhile, the new exchanges created under health care reform would phase out subsidies for households as their income increased.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901386&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901386-fix-the-nation.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="28287" />
		
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    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Can Budget Offices Help Us Address Demographic Pressure?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[As pressures mount on the nation's long-term budget, the Congressional Budget Office now views the aging of the population as the main stressor and health care costs as a close second. Yet, CBO and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have traditionally offered only limited analysis and estimates on addressing these demographic concerns, often leaving them to the Social Security Administration, which focuses only on the Social Security piece of the budget puzzle]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901381&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[The Fight Over Fiscal Rectitude: Politics or Economics?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Decades ago, my parents taught me a simple lesson: when something goes awry and its outcome remains uncertain, do what you can and should do to the best of your capability. The future may not be entirely in your control, but by setting some good things in motion you make tough issues easier to handle.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901363&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901363-the-fight-over-07142010.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="22059" />
		
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	<title><![CDATA[How Social Security Can Costlessly Offset Declines in Private Pension Protection]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901355&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[How Middle-Age Retirement Adds to Recession Woes]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Expressed in various forms, the idea is that baby boomers' retirement isn't really a problem until the economy fully revives, that people in late middle age should quit to make room for younger workers, and that the multi-decade failure to adjust retirement ages for longer lives is a can we can keep kicking down the road.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901352&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Why Economic Growth Isn't Enough]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Failure to understand the causes of today's historic impasse will stymie those budget reformers tempted to believe we can use the traditional pro-growth strategy to get our fiscal house in order.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901349&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 12 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[How the President's Budget Commission Can Increase Its Probability for Success]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Few commissions change the world, and most fail. Yet, too often, blame is heaped solely on circumstances outside the commission's control, as though how well the commission conducted its business didn't matter. Steuerle outlines six ways that the president's budget commissionparticularly its chairscan up the odds that it will succeed.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901347&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 06 May 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901347_presidents-budget-commission.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="35806" />
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Individual Health Mandates and a Silly Court Battle]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[One of the most frustrating aspects of the health reform debate has been the extent to which many legitimate questions about what might work were ignored in favor of fights over ideology. As advocacy triumphed over expertise, those who promised more than they could deliver fought with defenders of an unsustainable status quo. One result is that the new health reform still needs a lot of fancy structural work to stand and extensive plumbing to be usable.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901336&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[And Now Something for Our Most Recession-Weary Workers]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[With economic recovery from the deep recession in view, a double-headed challenge remains. Reducing the deficit requires cutting back government spending, but we still need to promote employment and work, and that won't come free. Given this administration's progressive leanings, its attention to low- and moderate-income workers is surprisingly modest.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901333&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901333_gwd04012010.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="35948" />
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Lessons Unlearned? Who Pays for the Next Financial Collapse?]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[It's an old story. Come a financial collapse, somebody's got to pay to get the nation's financial house back in order. While many on Wall Street made millions losing money for their companies, every young American is now saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of additional government debt. While buyers walked away from homes when they went underwater, others who had mustered large down payments simply absorbed their lossesin some cases, wiping out years of saving. While speculators who borrowed to buy stock or real estate shrugged off debt by declaring personal or corporate bankruptcy, those who invested in their 401(k)s helplessly watched their retirement savings erode.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901313&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Bernanke's Double Bubble Bind]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a speech to the American Economic Association on January 3, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, took on the question of whether easy monetary policy led to the recent bubble in housing prices.  I dont disagree with his broad conclusions about the importance of regulatory policy. But it wasn't until the end of his speech that he dabbled briefly with the far more important question: whether new types of monetary, fiscal, and regulatory actions are required to contain bubbles in all major assets, not just housing.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901312&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[How Democrats and Republicans Unite Behind Unsustainable Medicare Cost Growth : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Should Medicare set prices for what it covers? Should it determine what services it will cover? During the health reform debate, these questions have dogged attempts to reduce unsustainable Medicare cost growth. At the most basic level, the questions are silly. Of course Medicare sets prices. Of course it determines what services it will cover. It just doesn't do it very wellfor reasons ranging from limited administrative power to constant political interference.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901309&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Can the New Health Subsidies Be Administered? : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[An old congressional hand once confided that tax legislation usually looks like sausage making, but, compared to health legislation, it starts to look like French cooking. His main boeuf? The extraordinary amount of hand waving in health bills due to the questionable assumption that administrators can solve problems the legislation can't.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901303&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[When Health Reform Violates Standards of Equal Justice : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Many families with moderate earnings pay 20 percent or more of their income for health insurance. By Congressional Budget Office estimates, a family making $54,000 a year can expect a moderate-cost insurance policy to cost about $14,700 in 2016. True, employers often contribute a big chunk of the total. But most economists believe that the family really pays by accepting lower cash wages.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901297&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[&quot;Sticks&quot; or Mandates to Buy Health Insurance: Is Health Reform Possible Without Them? : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In a letter to top Senate Democrats, President Obama recently stated that he was open to the "principle of shared responsibilitymaking every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the costs." This sounds very much like support for what are sometimes labeled individual and employer "mandates," though in the Presidential campaign he opposed requiring adults to buy insurance, except for their children. Done the right way, "mandates" could increase dramatically the numbers of those insured, while helping drive down the rate of increase in health care costs. Done the wrong way, they can be unenforceable or drive up the number of unemployed. The Senate Finance Committee increasingly has been turning to mandates as part of a package of health reform.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001325&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Why CBO Won't Credit Congress for Reducing Health Costs : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Again and again, health reformers believe they have identified ways to save money through more efficient delivery of care. So why can't we count on those savings to budget the coming expansion of health care for Americans or lower cost growth?]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001324&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[The Psychology of Health Reform : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[If we are to achieve health reformthat is, affordable, sustainable, and constantly improving health care available to allwe need to start looking as much to the psychology of the issue as to the economics and politics.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001323&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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	<title><![CDATA[Transformational? Not Yet. : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Pundits and press alike are declaring President Obama's budget "transformational." ... Administration insiders are more careful with their claims, knowing that the hard work remains to be done.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001330&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
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    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Is a &quot;C&quot; Grade Good Enough for Government? : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA["If you're depressed when Congress fails to get an 'A' on legislation, you should never work for government. Getting from an 'F' to a 'C' must be fulfillment enough." That's the advice I got many years ago at the Treasury Department from Jim Wetzler, who worked for the tax-writing committees of Congress, later became Commissioner of Taxation and Finance for the State of New York, and most recently was on an Obama transition team that reviewed the Treasury Department.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001329&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001329_IsaCGrade22509.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="28925" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Big, Small or Working Government : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In his inaugural speech, President Obama attempted to move beyond the partisan divide over size of government, claiming that his tenure would be mainly devoted to making government work. Some might view this statement simply as a political appeal to moderates in both partiesechoing President Clinton's 1996 election year claim that "the era of big government is over." Others more cynically might view it as a ploy to get around the dilemma that plagues almost every winning candidate when campaign promises for both tax cuts and spending increases face the reality of governing.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001328&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001328_BigSmallorWorking21109.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="50634" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Unwinding the Stimulus Package : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Now that the United States has discovered that it was easier to fall into a recession than to climb out of one, the Obama administration needs to learn an equally urgent lesson. Timeliness is important not just for getting into, but also backing out of, an economic stimulus package.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001327&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001327_UnwindingtheStimulus12809.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="32476" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[&quot;Investment&quot; and Obama's First Budget : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[President-elect Obama's chief in-house economic advisor Larry Summers suggests in a recent Washington Post piece that the new Administration will put a lot of effort into addressing long-term growth challenges, not just short-term policies that generate consumer spending. How? Through "investments." To make sure we get the point, Summers uses that word or some variation 12 times.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001326&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001326_InvestmentandObama1609.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="56991" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Breadth of Brokenness : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The breakdown in the financial markets, our huge budgetary mess, and multiple government scandals have only highlighted the depth of our government's problems.  Recently, I noted that the required governmental reforms are so extensive that President Obama will find it difficult to succeed by taking one-off approaches to each of the nation's problems rather than addressing them in a more unified way. Here I strengthen my case by turning from the depth to the breadth of brokenness of government.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001317&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001317_BreadthofBrokenness121808.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="26830" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Broken Government : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[The Obama Administration faces not one but several dilemmas. First is the huge issue of preventing the current downturn from turning into a very deep and long-lasting worldwide recession. State governors are running to Washington for help with their own budget crises, while Democratic supporters are clamoring for the spending increases and tax cuts they were promised during the campaign. Unfortunately, the long-term federal budget is so unbalanced that even if the nation were experiencing good times, able to avoid more tax cuts or spending increases, and in a position to enact the types of budget reforms that President Clinton did in 1993, it would still be way behind the fiscal eight-ball.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001322&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001322_BrokenGovernment112408.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="23019" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The President's First Step : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[At last the election is over. Yet there is no rest for the weary. Not two hours passed before President-elect Obama was being called upon to act. Many demand that he immediately propose reforms to their favorite programs, especially those he supported during the campaign. Yet the most dangerous thing he can do at this point is to jump into making individual, one-off policy decisions, especially before hes got a full budget picture of how everything adds togethernot just for this year, but for the eight years he hopes to be President.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001321&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001321_PresidentsFirstStep111308.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="21081" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Joe Plumbs Press Predilections : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Poor Joe the Plumber. His fame has been established, but at what cost? Steve Weisman, a former New York Times reporter and colleague of mine, predicted that within an hour of that fateful presidential debate, Joe would find hundreds of press people camped on his lawn.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001320&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001320_JoePlumbsPress103108.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="20576" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Third Fiscal Turning : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[To do what must be done for the nation, and then to finance it. At its core, that's what government fiscal policy is all about. A "fiscal turning" happens when the old ways of doing things obstruct vital government reforms, and new waysa new paradigmmust be found.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001319&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001319_ThirdFiscalTurning10908.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="25296" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Modernizing Social Security : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Certainly one important question raised about Social Security today is how to balance its finances. But it's only one question. Social Security exists-or should exist-to serve people, and lately it's been doing only a so-so job on that front.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=1001318&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001318_ModernizingSocialSec92208.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="33785" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Are Independents Accruing Political Power? : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In the run-up to the presidential election, the number of voters who call themselves independent is swelling. Both Barack Obama and John McCain can trace their primary victories largely to independents. At the same time, millions of Republicans and Democrats crossed over to vote in the other party's primary. Doubtless, the presidential election will swing on these voters.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901188&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901188_gwd_political_power.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="24325" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Dealing with the Original Sin Driving Health Costs : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In budget policy, myths are progress's number one enemy. One silly fiction now making the rounds is that
we don't know how to judge the relative value of different types of health care, so we can't control health care
costs-at least not for now. Like many myths, this one contains an element of truth-there is a lot we don't
know. So what? It's still a myth that we know too little to act.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901183&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901183_gwd_health_cost.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="20241" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Issue of Democracy : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[I know. It's campaign time. Time for our politicians to promise us more and more. Of course, it is always someone else who will pick up the tab. Increasingly it is the young  who are not only asked to pay more for others and get less for themselves, but who are being denied their fundamental democratic rights to share equally in deciding just what type of government we should have.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901181&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901181_gwd019.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="29556" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Empowering the Next President : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[What if President William Howard Taft and his Congress had written laws that specified how all the governments revenues at the beginning of the 21st century were to be spent? Preposterous? Well, the laws on the books today not only dictate how all revenues collected in 2030 and beyond will be spent, they also predetermine most of the next presidents spending. No wonder the campaign promises of the presidential candidates sound hollow.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901158&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901158_empowering_president.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="20673" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Accounting Better for the Federal Budget : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Almost nothing better reflects our federal government priorities than the budget. The arcane rules governing how budget numbers are presented, however, totally obscure what's really happening. Turning out even more lights, every modern president and Congress play an accounting game that makes it seem like they aren't accountable for how spending changes over time.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901152&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901152_accountingbetter.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="23345" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Clinton Versus Obama on Health Mandates : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[When Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spar over health mandates, they're dealing with only one piece of an intriguing policy dilemma: how to achieve meaningful health reform.  A mandate can nudge many Americans to buy a modest insurance package, if we make it as simple, enforceable, and effective as possible. Practical ways of making the mandate work, as well as constraining costs, will be the real challenge confronting the next president.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901151&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901151_health_mandates.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="18638" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Thinking Long Term At the New Year : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[In the policy world, elected officials often consider anything more than one year long term. Charles Rangel (D-NY), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, likes to quip "I don't buy green bananas" when asked to comment on policies for 2010 or beyond. But consider the other end of the spectrum. Orthodox history traces civilization itself back only 5,000 or 6,000 years (e.g., Sumer, Persia, China, Egypt); even 3,000 years ago, few people led what we'd call civilized lives, despite the beginnings of kingships under King David or the Zhou dynasty in China or the advances of the Mayan civilization. From this perspective, most of us alive today will live through 1 percent or more of civilization. And while each year's changes may seem small or marginal, they compound profoundly over a lifetime.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901140&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901140_long_term.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="16275" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Employment and That Magical Year, 2008 : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[Everyone knows that 2008 promises to be a bellwether year, rife with dramatic changes already glimpsed. Some harbingers of change are obvious. A new president will be electedthough campaigns hide as much as reveal what that president will choose or be forced to do. The subprime mortgage market also portends dramatic changes in the financial markets in 2008 and beyond. But perhaps the biggest change of all is a sleeper so farthe first year of a scheduled drop-off in employment growth that will last for some 30 years running. If this decline is left unchecked, the net impact on employment will be far greater and longer lasting than the temporary employment dip during the Great Depression.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901132&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901132_employment.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="16415" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[The Office of the President : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[My advice to presidential campaign staffers this season is simple: stop the pandering. Run first and foremost on the one fundamental issue that matters most to the publicthat you will restore the stature and integrity of the Office of President of the United States. In other words, treat as solemn and serious the oath that the Constitution requires every president to take.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901130&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901130_office_president.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="21375" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[Broader Issues in Taxing Hedge Fund Managers and Private Equity Partners : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[If we're going to have a club whose members pay fairly low individual tax rates, we need to determine who deserves membership on the basis of principles. Few argue that letting hedge fund managers and private equity partners in the club furthers either progressivity or efficiency principles. The one legitimate argument for these club members' special status is simplificationcontinuing to treat all types of income the same among members of partnerships. Hardly convincing at all is the related argument that we shouldn't pick on this particular set of partners when plenty of others (say, individuals who manage their own portfolios) get the same low tax rates.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901124&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901124_taxing_hedge.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="26758" />
		
    </item>


    <item>
	<title><![CDATA[An Ever-More Charitable Society? : The Government We Deserve]]></title>
	<description><![CDATA[As time goes on, more conflicts seem to flair between charities and businesses, but collaboration is also occurring like never before. These new collaborations and conflicts, and consequent legislative attempts to ensure that charities really are "charitable," can be tricky. But before attempting to judge all these attractions and repulsions between the two sectors, let's hold our peace and ask what is fostering these new relationships in the first place.]]></description>
	<link>http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?id=901127&amp;RSSFeed=UI_PressRelease.xml</link>
		<author>paffairs@urban.org (  C. Eugene Steuerle )</author>
        <pubDate>Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		
		<enclosure url="http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/901127_charitable_society.pdf?RSSFeed=PressRelease.xml" type="application/pdf" length="16798" />
		
    </item>

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