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72. Recent Department of Labor Rules Open the Door for States to Move Forward with Retirement Initiatives
- Author:
- David S. Mitchell and Jeremy Smith
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- On November 18, 2015, the Obama Administration's Department of Labor (DOL) published two important legal opinions that propose to give states new options for expanding retirement coverage for private-sector workers. These opinions open the door for states to move forward along one of two distinct paths: a payroll deduction plan that avoids ERISA, or a more traditional model that would fall under ERISA. This issue brief summarizes these rules and highlights the tradeoffs state policymakers will face when deciding which of these new avenues to pursue. The brief will be updated once the proposals are finalized.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, Labor Issues, Governance, and Social Movement
- Political Geography:
- United States
73. EU Pressure Insufficient to Gain U.S. Visa Waiver for Poles
- Author:
- Marek Wasinski
- Publication Date:
- 04-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Polish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- In a communication of 12 April, the European Commission assessed the potential political and economic consequences of suspending visa exemption for U.S. citizens. Lacking pressure from individual EU Member States, the Commission discouraged such a move and gave the EU Council and European Parliament three months to take an official position. It seems almost certain that the measure of applying pressure on a non-EU country will not be used to help Poland and four other Member States obtain visa-free travel to the United States or other countries with a similar restriction. However, if current trends continue, Poland should join the U.S. Visa Waiver Programme in five years.
- Topic:
- Economics, Politics, European Union, and Citizenship
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
74. The Global Outlook of the Top Five Candidates in the U.S. Presidential Election
- Author:
- Cordella Buchanan Ponczek
- Publication Date:
- 03-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Polish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Traditionally, there is a partisan split on foreign policy in the United States: Republican candidates and voters worry more about terrorism, defense and national security than Democratic candidates and voters, thereby putting more stock in foreign policy issues, which manifests itself in the aggressiveness—of lack thereof—of each party’s foreign policy platform. But the candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election can be categorised by more than just party: a line can also be drawn between conventional candidates—Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Republicans—and unconventional candidates—Donald Trump, a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, a Democrat. Should a conventional candidate be elected president, U.S. foreign policy would be based on predictable adaptation to the changing international environment. An unconventional candidate, however, would be a wild card, whose actions would be difficult to predict.
- Topic:
- Security, Politics, and Elections
- Political Geography:
- United States
75. Resuming Negotiations with North Korea
- Author:
- Elizabeth Philipp
- Publication Date:
- 06-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Arms Control Association
- Abstract:
- The window of opportunity to prevent North Korea from fielding nuclear-armed ballistic missiles is closing. Diplomatic engagement with North Korea has been scant in recent years. In response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests, the United States and other countries, through actions of the United Nations Security Council and independent policies, have adopted an approach of increasing political and economic isolation. Yet, during this time, Pyongyang has improved its nuclear weapons capability quantitatively and qualitatively. The next presidential administration must prioritize reviewing and renewing Washington’s diplomatic approach to North Korea. With each successive nuclear and missile test, North Korea advances its knowledge and consolidates its capability. History has shown that it is far easier to convince North Korea to negotiate away a military capability it does not yet possess. Washington’s stated primary concern is a North Korean nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Pyongyang will achieve this capability if it is not reined in through a diplomatic agreement or understanding. Once Pyongyang achieves this status, the security balance in Asia will be disrupted and U.S. diplomats will be hard-pressed to convince North Korea to abandon the capability.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Diplomacy, Nuclear Weapons, United Nations, Military Affairs, and Nonproliferation
- Political Geography:
- United States and North Korea
76. North Korea’s Nuclear Threat: How to Halt Its Slow but Steady Advance
- Author:
- Greg Thielmann
- Publication Date:
- 02-2016
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Arms Control Association
- Abstract:
- In the first five weeks of 2016, North Korea twice defied UN Security Council resolutions designed to stem its pursuit of nuclear weapons. On January 6, it conducted its fourth underground nuclear test; on February 7, it launched a satellite into space for the second time. These two events provided a vivid reminder that North Korea continues to make progress mastering the technology needed for developing long-range ballistic missiles and arming them with nuclear warheads. U.S. leaders have long sought to formulate and implement policies that would secure a denuclearized Korean peninsula, but these efforts have not been successful. U.S. political commentary on North Korea vacillates between taking at face value the regime’s exaggerated claims of technological prowess and reducing its leadership to cartoonish stereotypes. A clearer understanding of North Korea’s motives and the current status of its nuclear and missile programs can lead to a more realistic strategy for enhancing U.S. security. That strategy would involve using enhanced sanctions as leverage for achieving a halt in North Korea’s nuclear and missile testing and production of fissile material, but this can only happen through negotiations.
- Topic:
- Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Weapons, United Nations, International Security, Military Affairs, and Nonproliferation
- Political Geography:
- United States and North Korea
77. The Future of Work for Low-Income Workers and Families
- Author:
- Vickie Choltz and Maureen Conway
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The Future of Work for Low-Income Workers and Families is a policy brief aimed at state policy advocates and policymakers seeking to help low-income workers and their families secure healthy economic livelihoods as the nature of work evolves in the United States. Published by the Working Poor Families Project in December 2015, the brief was written by Vickie Choitz, associate director of the Economic Opportunities Program, with Maureen Conway, vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of the Economic Opportunities Program. This brief reviews the major forces shaping the future of work, including changes in labor and employment practices, business models, access to income and benefits, worker rights and voice, education and training, and technology. Across these areas, we are seeing disruptive change in our economy and society resulting in increasing risk and challenges for low-income workers, in particular.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, and Employment
- Political Geography:
- United States
78. Reimagining Financial Security: Managing Risk and Building Wealth in an Era of Inequality
- Author:
- Annie Kim
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The 2015 Financial Security Summit, titled Reimagining Financial Security: Managing Risk and Building Wealth in an Era of Inequality, took place July 15–17 in Aspen, Colorado. The Summit agenda built on FSP's core themes of expanding retirement security and children’s savings accounts for low- and moderate-income families, and began to explore a broader vision of how to improve short- and long-term dimensions of financial wellbeing in a rapidly changing economy. Participant contributions helped shape new areas of focus for FSP going forward. This report incorporates those insights and provides an outline for future policy dialogue and directions.
- Topic:
- Security, Economics, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, and Employment
- Political Geography:
- United States
79. Economic Statecraft: American Economic Power and the New Face of Financial Warfare
- Author:
- Elizabeth Rosenberg and Zachary K. Goldman
- Publication Date:
- 06-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
- Abstract:
- The United States has long relied on its economic power to protect and advance its interests abroad. In an increasingly integrated international financial system, the U.S. economy and capital markets remain the largest in the world by almost every measure. This status affords the United States an important global leadership position and the ability to shape foreign policy outcomes with economic tools. The structure of the international trade and financial system, in which many significant banking and energy transactions as well as currency reserves are denominated in U.S. dollars, reinforces the central role of the United States.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Economics, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Power Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States
80. Still Broken: Governments must do more to fix the international corporate tax system
- Author:
- Francis Weyzig
- Publication Date:
- 11-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Abstract:
- The gap between where companies pay tax and where they really do their business is huge, as shown by new research described in this briefing. In 2012, US multinationals alone shifted $500–700bn, mostly to countries where these profits are not taxed, or taxed at very low rates. G20 countries themselves are among the biggest losers. The measures recently announced by the OECD leave the fundamentals of a broken tax system intact and do not stop the race to the bottom in corporate taxation. G20 governments must do more and should strongly support further reforms.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Labor Issues, Governance, Budget, G20, and Income Inequality
- Political Geography:
- United States