Third World America (35 page)

9
As the Fix Congress First! founders put it
: Fix Congress First!,
www.fixcongressfirst.org
.

10
In March 2010, on his seventy-first birthday
: Ted Kaufman, “The Rule of Law and Wall Street,” 15 Mar. 2010,
www.kaufman.senate.gov
.

11
“Sunlight,” Justice Louis Brandeis famously said
: Louis D. Brandeis,
Other People’s Money—and How Bankers Use It
(New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1914), 92.

12
A great early iteration of this
: John Brewer, “Sunlight on Health Care Summit,” 25 Feb. 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

13
He describes Government 2.0 as
: Tim O’Reilly, “Gov 2.0: It’s All About the Platform,” 4 Sep. 2009,
techcrunch.com
.

14
Many of the most interesting experiments
: Betsy Kraat, “Mayor Cory Booker Serves as Keynote Speaker for Social Media Conference,” 31 Mar. 2010,
www.njand.com
.

15
We are reminded on a daily basis
: Tim O’ Reilly, “Gov 2.0: The Promise of Innovation,” 10 Aug. 2009,
www.forbes.com
.

16
Teacher effectiveness is the single most
: William L. Sanders and June C. Rivers, “Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Future Student Academic Achievement,” University of Tennessee Value-Added Research and Assessment Center, Nov. 1996,
www.mccsc.edu
.

17
And cash-strapped states inevitably
: Pauline Vu, “Do State Tests Make the Grade?” 17 Jan. 2008,
www.stateline.org
.

18
In January 2010, during his State of the Union
: Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, 27 Jan. 2010,
www.whitehouse.gov
.

19
But we need to move beyond the lofty rhetoric
: Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization,” Table A-15, 7 May 2010,
www.bls.gov
.

20
Since August 2008, more than 150,000 state and local jobs
: “How Not to Write a Jobs Bill,” 11 Feb. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

21
states’ combined budget gap for fiscal 2010
: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “An Update on State Budget Cuts,” 19 Apr. 2010,
www.cbpp.org
.

22
which would, in turn, lead to the loss of another 900,000 jobs next year
: Ibid.

23
This is why the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
: Economic Policy Institute, “American Jobs Plan: A Five-Point Plan to Stem the U.S. Jobs Crisis,” Dec. 2009,
www.epi.org
.

24
“The federal government could provide jobs by …”
: Paul Krugman, “The Jobs Imperative,” 29 Nov. 2009,
www.nytimes.com
.

25
In fact, the EPI estimates that one million jobs
: Economic Policy Institute, “American Jobs Plan: A Five-Point Plan to Stem the U.S. Jobs Crisis,” Dec. 2009,
www.epi.org
.

26
This approach is also favored by Princeton’s Alan Blinder
: Alan Blinder, “How Washington Can Create Jobs,” 15 Nov. 2009,
www.wsj.com
.

27
One way to finance the massive rebuilding
: Josh Voorhees, “White House Budget Seeks $4B for Transportation Infrastructure Bank,” 1 Feb. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

28
Modeled after the European Investment Bank
: “About the EIB,” European Investment Bank,
www.eib.org
.

29
An investment of $25 billion in government funds
: Testimony of Rosa L. DeLauro on the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act, Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, 13 May 2010,
www.waysandmeans.house.gov
.

30
That won’t cover the $2.2 trillion needed
: American Society of Civil Engineers,
2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
,
www.infrastructurereportcard.org
.

31
Washington needs to get its act together
: United States Senate, 110th Cong., 1st Sess., S. 1926, introduced 1 Aug. 2007,
www.gpo.gov
.

32
To take just one example, as the rest of the economy
: John Collins Rudolf, “Renewables Industry Promotes Its Potential,” 10 Feb. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

33
The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates
: Solar Energy Industries Association, “New Study: Solar Industry Poised to Create 200,000 Jobs with Key Tax Policies,” 19 May 2010,
www.seia.org
.

34
Another way of promoting the green economy
: John D. Podesta and Karen Kornbluh, “The Green Bank: Financing the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy Requires Targeted Financing to Encourage Private-Sector Participation,” 21 May 2009,
www.americanprogress.org
.

35
Reed Hundt, the Federal Communications Commission chair
: Reed Hundt, in conversation with the author, 20 Mar. 2010.

36
According to Hundt, a green bank would create
: Reed Hundt,
www.coalitionforgreencapital.com
.

37
According to a May 2010 report by the Congressional Oversight Panel
: Congressional Oversight Panel, “May Oversight Report: The Small Business Credit Crunch and the Impact of the TARP,” 13 May 2010,
www.cop.senate.gov
.

38
Even more important than helping small businesses
: Barbara Kiviat, “The Workforce: Where Will the New Jobs Come From?” 19 Mar. 2010,
www.time.com
.

39
Right now, the United States has an immigration limit
: Jonathan Ortmans, “In the National Interest: High-Skill Immigration Reform,” 31 Aug. 2009,
www.entrepreneurship.org
.

40
The people behind
StartupVisa.com
: Douglas MacMillan, “Visas for Foreign Entrepreneurs,” 11 Mar. 2010,
www.businessweek.com
.

41
Our current law allows foreign investors to get a visa
: Brad Feld, “StartUp Visa Act Introduced by Senators Kerry and Lugar,” 24 Feb. 2010,
www.businessinsider.com
.

42
The proposal, the StartUp Visa Act of 2010
: John Kerry and Dick Lugar, “Visa for Start-ups Will Keep Innovation and Jobs in the U.S,” 18 Mar. 2010,
www.mercurynews.com
.

43
As Kerry put it, “This bill is a small …”
: Douglas MacMillan, “Visas for Foreign Entrepreneurs,” 11 Mar. 2010,
www.businessweek.com
.

44
But they never seem to have the same reaction
: Office of Management and Budget, Updated Summary Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2010, May 2009,
www.whitehouse.gov
.

45
when it’s time to sign the next check
: Anne Gearan and Anne Flaherty, “War Cost: Obama Wants $33 Billion More for Afghanistan, Iraq,” 12 Jan. 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

46
A perfect example of this came
: Stephen Ohlemacher and Andrew Taylor, “Senate OKs War Funding; House to Cut Spending Bill,” Associated Press, 28 May 2010.

47
For example, we are planning
: Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Program Acquisition Costs by Weapons System, 1 Feb. 2010,
http://comptroller.defense.gov
.

48
For the same amount
: National Priorities Project, “Federal Budget Trade-Offs,”
www.nationalpriorities.org
.

49
Representative Barney Frank suggests a good place
: Barney Frank, in conversation with the author, 21 Feb. 2010.

50
Targeting Defense Department waste
: Sam Stein, “Obama Deficit Commission Member Calls for Pentagon Audit,” 26 May 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

51
Not exactly the description you want to hear
: Office of Management and Budget, Updated Summary Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2010, May 2009,
www.whitehouse.gov
.

52
Even after cutting billions, defense spending
: Lawrence J. Korb, “Ten Myths About the Defense Budget,” 2 Apr. 2001,
www.inthesetimes.com
.

53
America cannot survive as “a muscle-bound …”
: Robert Gates, speech at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas, 8 May 2010,
www.defense.gov
.

54
Cramdown legislation, facing intense opposition
: Arthur Delaney, “Durbin Considers Cramdown-Related Amendment as Part of Wall Street Reform,” 17 May 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

55
Some, including Bank of America and Citigroup
: Shahien Nasiripour, “Bank of America Now Supports Cramdown, Giving Judges Authority to Modify Home Mortgages,” 13 Apr. 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

56
We should also make it mandatory that homeowners and lenders
: Arlen Specter, “Nation’s Economic Repairs Must Include Homeowners,” 24 Oct. 2008,
www.philly.com/inquirer
.

57
Currently, many homeowners don’t even talk
: Margo Irvin, “Homeowners Seeking ‘Making Home Afforable’ Loan Modifications Frustrated by Inefficiency,” 22 Jun. 2009,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

58
“I’ve been to the City Hall courtroom where the mediation …”
: Bob Casey, in conversation with the author, 16 Feb. 2009.

59
Judge Annette Rizzo, who has been working hard
: Dan Geringer, “The Miracle of Courtroom 676: Saving Lives, One Address at a Time,” 28 Jan. 2009,
www.philly.com/dailynews
.

60
The foreclosure prevention program has worked
: Ibid.

61
Until we do, we’ll need to rely on officials
: Michael Powell, “A ‘Little Judge’ Who Rejects Foreclosures, Brooklyn Style,” 30 Aug. 2009,
www.nytimes.com
.

62
For example, the new law still allows promotional teaser
: Max Alexander, “Credit Card Tricks and Traps,” Mar. 2010,
www.readersdigest.com
.

63
As Elizabeth Warren sees it: “That’s exactly …”
: “Elizabeth Warren on Credit Card ‘Tricks and Traps,’ ”
NOW
, 2 Jan. 2009,
www.pbs.org
.

64
According to the new law, the credit card issuer
: Max Alexander, “Credit Card Tricks and Traps,” Mar. 2010,
www.readersdigest.com
.

65
Because fees account for 39 percent
: Ibid.

66
And the new law doesn’t prevent
: Ibid.

67
Senator Bernie Sanders, whose attempts at capping
: Jeff Plungis, “Senate Nears Completing Credit Card Bill, Blocks 15% Rate Cap,” 14 May 2009,
www.bloomberg.com
.

68
Aristotle called usury the “sordid love of gain”
: Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics
(Minneapolis: Filiquarian, 2007), 87.

69
Thomas Aquinas said it was “contrary to justice”
: St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologica
, trans. by Fathers of the English Dominican Province (London: R. T. Washburne, Ltd., 1918), 330.

70
In
The Divine Comedy,
Dante assigned
: Dante Alighieri,
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Hell, Purgatory, Paradise
, trans. by Henry F. Cary (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14), 49.

71
Right after President Obama’s election, Rahm Emanuel famously declared
: Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Weighs Quick Undoing of Bush Policy,” 9 Nov. 2010,
www.nytimes.com
.

72
Even Alan Greenspan, the oracle of free markets
: Council on Foreign Relations, “Peter McColough Series on International Economics: The Global Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences,” transcript, 15 Oct. 2009,
www.cfr.org
.

73
Discussing the economic crisis, Michael Lynton
: Michael Lynton, in conversation with the author, 31 Jan. 2009.

74
The answer was no. Likewise: PBS NewsHour
, “Greenspan Admits ‘Flaw’ to Congress, Predicts More Economic Problems,” 23 Oct. 2008,
www.pbs.org
.

75
In 1967, speaking at
: Robert F. Kennedy, campaign speech at University of Kansas, 18 Mar. 1967,
www.jfklibrary.org
.

76
As Justice Potter Stewart wrote of the Pentagon Papers: New York Times Co. v. United States
, Supreme Court of the United States, No. 1873, Stewart, J., Concurring Opinion (1971).

77
The media is also addicted: Peal Time with Bill Maher
, HBO, 7 Mar. 2008,
www.hbo.com
.

78
What if we could repurpose some of that concern
: The National Center on Family Homelessness, “America’s Youngest Outcasts: State Report Card on Child Homelessness,” 2009,
www.homelesschildrenamerica.org
.

79
or the 51 percent of homeless children who are under the age of six
: Ibid.

80
How about some attention to the 75 to 100 percent increase
: Erik Eckholm, “Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools,” 5 Sept. 2009,
www.nytimes.com
.

81
Or the 14 million American children living in poverty
: Vanessa R. Wight, Michelle Chau, and Yumiko Aratani, “Who Are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story,” National Center for Children in Poverty, Jan. 2010,
www.nccp.org
.

82
“People work for justice …”
: Paul Loeb, “ ‘Soul of a Citizen’: Stories of Impact Will Push Us to Fix the Oil Spill, Homelessness, and Other Big Problems,” 27 May 2010,
www.huffingtonpost.com
.

83
Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local”
: Tip O’Neill and Gary Hymel,
All Politics Is Local, and Other Rules of the Game
(Holbrook: Bob Adams Inc., 1994), xii.