March 11, 2013

Cost-of-Living Adjustments and Federal Benefits: Understanding the Full Implications of Change

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Capitol Visitor Center
Room SVC 203-02
Southeast Drive
Washington, D.C. 20004

Benefits from Social Security and other federal programs are regularly increased based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  Adopting either of two proposed new CPI measures would have large effects on benefit levels.  Use of the chained CPI would reduce annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).  Use of the CPI-E, designed to reflect the purchases of older Americans, would increase COLAs. What do we know about the groups that will be affected by a change? How will use of the chained CPI or the CPI-E affect Social Security beneficiaries over time? How will a change affect veterans, Americans with disabilities, and people with very low incomes? AARP sponsored a discussion on how the federal government measures the cost of living and how changes being considered will impact a range of government programs that serve tens of millions of Americans. CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker took part in the briefing, along with Stephen Goss, chief actuary at the Social Security Administration; Sita Slavov, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; and Rebecca Vallas, staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia. You can watch the briefing on C-SPAN.

Presentation

March 7, 2013

The Future of Economic Security: Work and Social Insurance

2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Public Welfare Foundation
1200 U Street N.W.
Washington D.C., 20009

CEPR Senior Economist Eileen Appelbaum participated in a discussion on economic security as part of an annual policy briefing hosted by the Working Group on Labor and Community Partnerships of the Neighborhood Funders Group. Other participants included Naomi Walker of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Cathy Albisa, executive director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; and Edward F. Coyle, executive director of the Association of Retired Americans & Social Security Works. For more information, visit the event website.

March 4, 2013

Beyond Deficit Reduction: How Has the Macroeconomic Environment Changed?

1:15 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Hart Senate Office Building
Room 902
200-262 2nd St NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker took part in a panel discussion titled "Beyond Deficit Reduction: How Has the Macroeconomic Environment Changed?" as part of the National WIC Association's 23rd Annual Washington Leadership Conference. Dean was joined on the panel by Robert Greenstein, director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Information can be found on the event's website.

February 25, 2013

Minimum Wage and a Sustainable Economic Future

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
University of Minnesota
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
301 19th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

CEPR Senior Economist John Schmitt participated in a panel discussion on the minimum wage, which also included economists Ann Markusen of the University of Minnesota and Doug Hall of the Economic Policy Institute. The event was hosted by JOBS NOW Coalition and the University of Minnesota Labor Education Service. For more information, visit the event website.

February 20, 2013

The Future of Social Security with Dean Baker

5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
University of Washington - Tacoma
Philip Hall
1918 Pacific Ave.
Tacoma, WA 98402

CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker participated in a talk about the challenges and opportunities facing Social Security. Marilyn Watkins, policy director at the Economic Opportunity Institute, also participated.

February 4, 2013

Remembering Aaron Swartz: A Call for CFAA Reform Now

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Cannon Office Building
Cannon Caucus Room
C Street Southeast
Washington, D.C., 20003

Family and friends of Aaron Swartz joined members of Congress at the Capitol Visitor's Center to honor and celebrate the life, work, and legacy of Aaron Swartz, the accomplished activist and technologist who took his own life on January 11. Aaron’s supporters also discussed possible reforms and other steps that can be taken to honor his memory. CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker was a featured speaker. For more information, visit the event website.

February 4, 2013

Equity and the Future of the American Economy

9:20 a.m. - 10:25 a.m.
Newseum
Knight Conference Center, 7th Floor
555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C., 20001

A growing chorus of advocates, policymakers, and economists believe that the nation’s spiking racial and income inequality puts our economy at risk, and that equity is now an economic imperative in addition to a moral one. The conversation must now shift to policy. This half-day convening, sponsored by PolicyLink and the Service Employees International Union, explored on-the-ground solutions, policy strategies, and movement building needed for an equitable economy. A panel, titled "Equity as an Economic Imperative," featured Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink (moderator), Manuel Pastor of the University of Southern California, Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Jacob Hacker of Yale University. For more information, visit the event website.

January 24, 2013

The Future of Greece and the Euro Zone

6:00 p.m.
Columbia University
Room 104, Jerome Greene Hall
435 West 116th Street
New York, NY 10025

The Workers' Rights Student Coalition at Columbia Law School hosted an INET-sponsored evening with top political leadership from SYRIZA, Greece's dominant opposition party and anticipated next government, to discuss the challenges facing Greece and the euro zone and SYRIZA's plans for reform. The evening featured the head of SYRIZA and Leader of the Greek Opposition, Alexis Tsipras, on SYRIZA's plans for national governance, as well as panels on financial reform and macroeconomic recovery with Rena Dourou, MP and Critic of the Opposition for Foreign Relations and European Issues, George Stathakis, Greek MP and Critic of the Opposition for the Economy, and top SYRIZA Economic Advisor Yiannis Milios. A video of the event is available below or after the jump.

January 23, 2013

Return Assumptions on New Mexico Pension Plans

12:00 p.m.
New Mexico State Capitol
490 Old Santa Fe Trail
Santa Fe, NM 87501

CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker testified before a joint session of the New Mexico State Legislature labor and education committees on public pension funds. Public Employee Retirement Association Executive Director Wayne Propst and Educational Retirement Association Executive Director Jan Goodwin also testified. 

November 30, 2012

A Financial Transaction Tax: Raising Revenue and Restraining High-Speed Trading

3:30 p.m.
Capitol Visitor Center
Room SVC 203-02
Southeast Drive
Washington, D.C. 20004

The fiscal debate has focused attention on the need for new revenue sources. The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation calculates that a very small tax on Wall Street financial transactions would raise more than $350 billion over the next decade. Such a tax can curb the growth of dangerous high-speed trading while imposing no more than a trivial cost on traditional investors. Support for the idea is growing. AFL-CIO, Americans for Financial Reform, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Communications Workers of America and Public Citizen co-hosted a discussion on a financial transaction tax. Presenters included Jared Bernstein – Senior Fellow at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, former Chief Economist for Vice President Joe Biden; David Borris – Small business owner, Hel’s Kitchen Catering, Chicago/North Shore Illinois; Damon Silvers – Director of Policy and Special Counsel, AFL-CIO; and Wallace Turbeville – Senior Fellow at Demos, former Vice President of Goldman Sachs.

A video of the event is available here.