| Welcome |
Ever wonder how well the policies of our country are progressing? Do they have a positive or negative effect on our lives, our society, and our future?
Project America is a non-partisan organization devoted to providing an online resource to help people understand the state of issues facing this country. Learn more.
Pennsylvania Mayors Push Gun Control
Published Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, lawmakers in Pennsylvania are creating a grassroots movement to enact tougher gun-control laws, such as those recently passed in New Jersey like a monthly handgun purchase limit. About the same time the Brady Laws were fully established in 1998, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted the General Assembly the exclusive right to regulate firearms; city ordinances are thus null and void. Yet, nearly one hundred mayors across the state — including Philadelphia — have signed on to support legislation in an effort to stem the flow of illegal gun sales. The National Rifle Association has geared up for more court battles with this new push.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 instituted the National Criminal Background Check System; in 1998, it became the National Instant Background Check System, both serving to deny illegal sales. In the first 10 years of the NICS operation, the system processed more than 90 million background checks. With technology, the NICS has increased efficiency of the checks with the growth of the NICS Index and retrieval of final disposition information for all criminal history records. One of the obstacles to the NICS is the slow process of confirming conviction; measures are underway to provide a better flow of information from local, state and federal courts to the system’s examiners.
Tags: Firearms, Firearms Control
Posted in Firearms | No Comments »
Demand and Money Central to Health Debate
Published Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
Last week, the President hosted a town hall meeting with TV network ABC called “Prescription for America” in the East Room of the White House. There were 164 people: doctors, businessmen, patients, Republicans, Democrats, and independents. The President stressed access to health care and talked about a Medicare-like system that would allow patients to choose doctors and hospitals. Second, the President stated that nearly a third of what we spend on Health Care is unnecessary and that we should focus on strengthening primary care and coordination between doctors, specialist and patients. Finally, one of the obstacles is the reform’s costs, already projected to run between $1 and 2 trillion over the next 10 years.
Access for all Americans is an issue not just for the 15.3% of the population who are uninsured as of 2007. Access can also mean the number of hospitals, which as of 2006 came to 5756 in 2006, down from 6965 in 1980. Demand has given to a meteoric rise in consumer expenditures for public and private health care, which as of 2007 reached a combined price tag of $2.32 trillion. Averaged cost per patient per stay has increased to $8,793; even without hospital visits the average American annually spends nearly $3,000 on health care expenditures. The group who visits the ER most is the group 15-44 years old; this group is most likely to be uninsured.
Tags: Consumer Expenditures, Health Care, Insurance Coverage
Posted in Healthcare | No Comments »
Disproportionate Unemployment Filling the Line
Published Friday, June 26th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
The news of unemployment may be all around us right now, but what is not really understood is the makeup of the unemployment percentage. The overall number is just that: a composite of different numbers, averaged together, and displayed as a percentage of the overall unemployed among the labor force. For example, “The Labor Force” is just a way of describing us all, blue collar and white collar. Yet, there are those who can withstand recession woes (who can save for a rainy day) and those who cannot (check to check living). What is missing from that single unemployment percentage number is that the recession does not hit everyone equally.
The pre-recession unemployment was at 5% of the overall labor force. Yet, now we are edging on 9.4% unemployment with 5.7 million jobs lost since the beginning of the recession, as May provided 345,000 new jobless claims. Making up a majority of those in the unemployment line are manufacturing and construction workers who tend to be less educated and/or recent immigrants. For minorities such as the black and Latino groups, the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the rate of unemployment is edging on 20%, leading many to fall instantly into poverty and straining State budgets.
Tags: Budget, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment, Minorities, Poverty, Unemployment
Posted in Budget, Economics, Jobs, Minorities | No Comments »
Metro Crash Worst in 33 Year History
Published Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
On Monday, Washington DC Metro experienced a collision between two above-ground commuter trains, resulting in 7 deaths and 76 people taken to hospitals, including two in critical condition. The crash site is still being treated as a rescue scene because there may still be bodies uncovered. In Metro’s 33 year history, there were 2 other major crashes—one in January 1982 where 3 were killed and a crash in 2004 that left many injured. In a report, issued by the National Transportation Safety Board in 2006, the Washington Transit Authority was warned about some of the cars that were involved in the Monday crash calling for either retrofitting or phasing them out. Recently, two crashes in Boston and Los Angeles occurred because of cell phone use. As a result, Los Angeles banned transit workers’ cell phone use while on duty.
In the last 13 years, the number of commuter rail transit mileage has increased 3 times from 4150 miles to 7000 miles in 2006. With President Obama’s energy plan calling for new construction projects and a greater emphasis on using mass transit as a way to cut greenhouse emissions, that number is expected to increase with the plan’s approval from Congress. Accidents with transit rail, even with the extra mileage, have remained relatively constant at about 3,000 separate incidents annually, ranging from minor to major, since 1985. The rate of accidents for rail continues to be the second safest mode of transport behind commuter air travel.
Tags: Accidents, Transit Rail, Transportation
Posted in Transportation | No Comments »
Obama Orders Benefit Extention to Federal Same-Sex Partners
Published Friday, June 19th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
In a move, “the first step” that partially confirmed a campaign promise, President Obama directed administrative agencies to extend family sick-leave policies such as visitation or dependent-care rights to same-sex partners, but not health benefits. The new policy now allows for federal employees to use sick leave to care for same-sex partners and their children, plus partners can be added to a government insurance program that pays for long-term care. The Administration has pledged to work for a law that would extend full health benefits to same-sex partners and children. The President explained that to act unilaterally will not cement lasting change in benefits. He hopes to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and replace it with a law enacted by Congress that would fulfill his promise and make it lasting.
The percentage of workers who have access to benefits never equals 100%; in fact the Unions are the only group to achieve 92% covered by any kind of medical plan. Unions also have high percentages for drug care coverage at 87% and vision coverage at 57%. Non-union workers fared worse, with 68% covered by medical, 61% with drug care, and 26% with visual. Between white collar and blue collar workers, there is only 1-3 percentage points difference in coverage.
Tags: Benefits, Health Care, Health Care Coverage, Minorities, Obama Administration, Unions, Workers' Benefits
Posted in Healthcare, Jobs, Minorities | No Comments »
Police Force Ratio Holds Steady
Published Thursday, June 18th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
Population security is impacted by the ratio of police proportional to the size of the population being protected or controlled, a concept called population-driven force ratios. For populations such as ones in the US, the proportion of police officers required for day-to-day law enforcement duties among generally peaceful populations comes to a force ratio ranging from one to four police officers per 1000 residents. With greater emphasis on life saving equipment and new training techniques that result in fewer shootouts, plus specialized squads to defuse threatening situations, less of both populations are killed per year than 20 years ago.
Currently on average the ratio of police to population in the US comes to about 2.3 officers per thousand residents; larger cities have higher ratios. That force ratio has remained steady for nearly three decades at around 2.21-2.34 police officers per 1000 civilian population. The number of officers killed in the line of duty has reduced by over three times that of the early 1970s. Presently, the number of fallen has reduced further from 70 in 2001 to 41 in 2008. The 72 deaths that resulted from the events of September 11, 2001 are not included in the totals. So far this year, there have been 20 gun related deaths for the police nationwide.
Tags: Crime, Death and Injury, Firearms, Prevention
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
New Focus at Department of Defense Increases Spending
Published Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
U.S. Defense spending increased for the fiscal year 2010 and is projected to increase slightly again in 2011. This comes despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ cuts to weapons programs. The Obama Administration announced early that spending will focus more on intelligence, cyber security, and unmanned systems — used heavily in Iraq and maritime versions being built for the Navy. Plus, as North Korea stretches its nuclear program, the administration is seeking $7.8 billion for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency in the 2010 budget year, down about $1.2 billion from 2009. For Homeland Security, the House Appropriations Committee approved several high tech improvements for fiscal year 2010, including $692 million for the DHS Border Security, Fencing, Infrastructure and Technology account.
Since 1980, the defense budget went from $32,486 billion to $126,311 billion, spending the most on procurement/purchasing from military contracts. The operations budget, which contains the War supplement, has actually reduced this year to $144 billion, down $50 billion from last year. As for the Department of Homeland Security spending and its mission areas, all categories such as domestic counterterrorism, border security, protecting infrastructure increased in 2007. The only mission that decreased was spending on catastrophic events plus emergency preparedness, which was virtually steady from 2006-2007.
Tags: Budget, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Components of Gas Prices
Published Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
The price of gas in the last 48 days has risen $0.61 or 30.3% on average nationwide to set a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline to $2.669 on Monday. This comes as global events pull crude lower to $70 a barrel. Crude has had a rollercoaster ride with global events such as protests in Iran and sabotage in the Niger Delta; the World’s Reserve Currency and OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) have stated that $75-80 per barrel is a fair level.
From each barrel of crude, a refinery produces 19.15 gallons of gasoline, 9.21 gallons of diesel, and 16.32 gallons of various other products. In 2007, the cost of crude oil only contributed 58% to the price of gas per gallon at the pump; this is 10 percent higher than previous years. The refining cost — up 1% from the previous 7 years — contributed 17% to the average distribution cost of a gallon of regular. Distribution, marketing and retail dealer costs and profits in 2007 were 10% of the gasoline price, which is down from the 2000-2007 average of 12%. The demand for gas in the US, another factor in the price per gallon, is driven by a steady increase in the monthly vehicle mileage. Given slow rise in vehicle fuel efficiency, the US consumption of gasoline has, since 1980, remained about 700 gallons per year or a consumption of 9 million of barrels of crude oil a day.
Tags: Cars, Department of Energy, Energy, Fuel, Transportation
Posted in Energy, Transportation | No Comments »
Congress Acts to Regulate Tobacco Industry
Published Monday, June 15th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
Congress has successfully — after a decade of political wrangling — passed a bill that gives the FDA wide powers to regulate the tobacco industry’s manufacture, marketing and selling of cigarettes. This bill overcame the Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that said that the agency did not have the right to regulate the industry on its own. The bill highlights: bars the use of terms like “lite” and “low tar”, bans all flavorings except menthol, sets new restrictions on advertising, requires larger warning labels, allows the FDA to lower the level of nicotine but not to zero, and bans sponsorship of sporting events or entertainment events. This bill neither raise taxes on cigarettes nor bans them. Also, this year 16 states are considering raising cigarette taxes to cover the near $47.4 billion shortfall that will exist at the end of FY2009.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, smoking attributes to about 400,000 deaths per year in the US; nearly 25% of the US adult population smokes. The number of youth and adult smokers has dropped over the last several decades, yet it has leveled off in recent years. Updated information on the survival rate from cancer has risen slowly yet steadily to top 67.5% for whites and 57.5% for blacks. Studies suggest that reasons for the gap range from biological differences to sociological factors.
Tags: Cancer, Food and Drug Administration, Health Care, House of Representatives, Illnesses and Diseases, Legislation, Minorities, Senate
Posted in Healthcare | No Comments »
GOP Promotes Greater Use of Nuclear Energy
Published Friday, June 12th, 2009 by Lacey Loftin
The House Republicans have planned to introduce an energy bill, called the American Energy Act, as an alternative to the Democratic plan scheduled for vote this month. The proposal seeks to push for 100 nuclear reactor plants to be built over the next 20 years. Also, the bill calls for increased oil and gas production on public and private lands and offshore, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Within the act, there is also no cap on emissions. This comes as the Department of Energy has awarded a $587,000 grant as a part of the DoE’s investment in nuclear energy research and development for the new Nuclear Energy University Program.
The Republican plan is ambitious since there has not been a new nuclear plant in the US since 1978 due to the high cost of construction and difficulty with regulatory approval. Currently there are 104 commercial nuclear reactors generating 100,000 megawatts of electricity, which makes the US the largest supplier. The overall percentage of the total US net generation of electricity produced by nuclear energy, which increased rapidly from 1974 to 1988 and afterwards remained at 20% present.
Tags: Department of Energy, Energy, Non-Renewable Sources, Nuclear Energy
Posted in Energy | No Comments »
Entries (RSS), Comments (RSS), and Archive: