Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog

Economic Crisis – February 2012 Update

guarini — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:35:44 +0000

The Great Recession and Bank Lending to Small Businesses (Federal Reserve – Boston); Top Economic Stories of 2011 (Brookings); At Risk: America’s Poor During and After the Great Recession (Indiana University); Beige Book, January 2012 (Federal Reserve); Down and Out: Measuring Long-Term Hardship in the Labor Market (Center for Economic Policy and Research); Financial Sector Regulation for Growth, Equity and Stability (Bank for International Settlements); Economic Recovery: Sustaining U.S. Economic Growth in a Post-Crisis Economy (CRS); Transformative Times: New Opportunities for Business in an Era of Upheaval (Wharton); Unemployment Statistics on Older Americans (Urban Institute); Unemployment Insurance and the Great Recession (Urban Institute); Global Economic Prospects 2012 (World Bank); and World Economic Situation and Prospects (United Nations).

Reshaping the Higher Education Landscape in New Jersey

guarini — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:50:41 +0000

On January 25, 2012, Governor Christie announced his plans to reshape medical education and higher education in New Jersey. This is in response to the UMDNJ Advisory Committee Final Report, released the same day as his speech. Here are some of the key points: UMDNJ will have three of its institutions become more autonomous while the remnants, the medical and dental schools, will be renamed New Jersey Health Sciences University; University Hospital will be managed under the auspices of a public-private partnership, quite possibly with St Barnabas; The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and the UMDNJ School of Public Health would be absorbed by Rutgers-New Brunswick; and Rutgers-Camden and its law and business schools will be merged into Rowan University which is also the home of the new Cooper Medical School. The end results of these shifts are that there will be three major medical centers in the state: north, central, south; and two large public research universities – Rutgers and Rowan. Excellent overview/analysis/background will found at NJ Spotlight which discusses the political machinations involved. News coverage is at: newjerseynewsroom, The Star-Ledger, The Bergen Record, Politicker NJ, Press of Atlantic City, and Cherry Hill Courier Post. The New York Times has a free article archives on UMDNJ dating back to 1981.

News Coverage of the 2012 Presidential Campaign

guarini — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:48:31 +0000

In less than a year, the winner of this year’s contest will have been inaugurated as our new president. Between now and then you need to keep yourself apprised of the ongoing developments, and recourse to news sources is recommended. Among the best are: The New York Times Campaign 2012 (includes free access to articles, videos, numerous polling results, slide shows, and special reports); Washington Post Campaign 2012 (features on the delegate race, campaign financing, campaign ads, along with its Fact Checker, that “examines the truth behind the rhetoric”); Wall Street Journal Election 2012; Infoplease Campaign 2012; C-SPAN Campaign 2012 (extensive video coverage, including the debates); CNN America’s Choice: Election Center (with nice section on campaign issues); and Politico 2012 Live. For an overseas perspective, try BBC U.S. Election. Gallup polls dealing with the election are here. The Pew Research for the People & the Press Center report – Campaign 2012: Too Negative, Too Long, Dull - echoes what many believe, and journalism.org (another Pew Center) has an excellent Campaign 2012 in the Media feature.

New Jersey School Board Elections Can Be Moved to November Elections

guarini — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:56:31 +0000

Senate Bill S3148, recently signed into law by Governor Christie, allows school boards the option of moving school board elections to the general November elections as well as doing away with voter approval of school budgets if the budgets come under the 2% cap. As reported in the news, there are pros and cons to this shift. The Department of Education has produced an FAQ on this matter while the New Jersey School Boards Association, which supported this legislation, has an update and brief overview on this topic as well as stating that 81 school districts have already shifted their elections. Reportage is at: NJ Spotlight, The Star-Ledger, The Press of Atlantic City, The Bergen Record, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords Resigns from Congress

guarini — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:33:37 +0000

This morning, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, greviously wounded last January, submitted her resignation to House Speaker Boehner. Her letter and video of her resignation can both be found at C-SPAN. A brief biography is available. Information on her voting record, stands on issues, public statements, ratings by interest groups, and campaign finances are here.

President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Speech

guarini — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:08:26 +0000

His speech, a transcript of said speech, the Republican counter-speech, and various interviews are all aggregated at this C-SPAN site. Highlights of the speech are available courtesy of CBS News, along with analysis. Additional reportage is at: USA Today (includes a “fact check” of the speech); the Washington Post (with its own well-established “The Fact Checker“); The New York Times (along with “Choice Words” – a tally of selected words used by President Obama in his SOTU speeches and by the Republican presidential candidates in their debates, interviews, and speeches); and The New Yorker. A very informative essay, accompanied by a linked listing of all previous SOTU messages and speeches, can be found at the American Presidency Project. Here is an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor on how the foreign press viewed this speech.

Oral History Collection of the United Nations

guarini — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:45:47 +0000

Dozens of interviews on numerous topics are featured in this collection. Based on over twenty-five years’ worth of interviews, subjects from Kofi Annan to U Thant reflect on the founding of the UN, the Congo question, Cuba, and many other significant international occurrences. Audio downloads and transcripts are available. A great primary resource.

Two Unions Sign Contracts with New Jersey

guarini — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:57:57 +0000

Two smaller unions representing about 5000 state workers have signed contracts with the state. The contracts, which are retroactive to July 1, 2011, call for no raises in the first two years, followed by raises of 1% in the third year and 1.75% in the fourth year. New coverage is at: The Star-Ledger, and Bloomberg (in which Governor Christie says he expects similar concessions from the other unions).

Income Inequality

guarini — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:31:17 +0000

There has been much press of late on income inequality, but many may not realize that the question of income inequality or the distribution of wealth has been a thorny topic for at least 200 years. The following are some recent publications that have a bearing on this problem: Changes in the Distribution of Income Among Tax Filers Between 1996 and 2006: The Role of Labor Income, Capital Income, and Tax Policy (a MUST read, CRS); Growth in the Residential Segregation of Families by Income, 1970-2009 (US 2010 Project); U.S. Neighborhood Income Inequality in the 2005-2009 Period (Census Bureau); Income Distribution (Brookings) ; and Is Income Inequality A Problem in the U.S.? (NPR). For statistics on this topic, please visit the Income, Expenditures, Poverty, and Wealth section of the 2012 Statistical Abstract of the United States. This question is not limited to the United States: Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2011 (Chapter 2 concentrates on income inequality, European Commission); Divided We Stand:Why Inequality Keeps Rising (a substantive examination, OECD); Income Inequality, various reports(World Bank); Inequality and Unsustainable Growth: Two Sides of the Same Coin? (IMF); and World Income Inequality (Conference Board of Canada). And what brought this discussion to the forefront is this CBO report: Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007.

Governor Christie’s 2012 State of the State Address

guarini — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:40:16 +0000

You can watch the video here; the transcript is here. Various reactions are gathered here. Reportage can be found at: The Star-Ledger, The Bergen Record, and statehousesteps.