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Expanded Social Security: A Plan to Increase Retirement Security for All Americans
by Michael Lind, Steven Hill, Robert Hiltonsmith, and Joshua Freedman, New America Foundation, April 3, 2013
A new study from the New America Foundation and Demos on making Social Security more stable.
Executive Summary. The conventional wisdom about Social Security is profoundly misguided. According to today’s mistaken consensus, the U.S.…
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President Obama Wants America to Be Like Germany—What Does That Really Mean?
By Steven Hill, The Atlantic.com, February 21 2013
Want a smarter workforce? A stronger manufacturing sector? Germany seems to offer a blueprint for Obama’s middle-out economic agenda — if we take away the right lessons
Americans have experienced a strong case of Germany Envy throughout the recession and slow recovery.…
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Windmills, Tides, and Solar Besides: The European Way of Energy, Transportation, and Low Carbon Emissions
by Steven Hill, Environmental Law Reporter, February 2013
Europe leads and the U.S. lags in one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century — ecological sustainability.
Picture windmills, tidal turbines, and solar panels on rooftops, dotting the picturesque landscape. Imagine large cylindrical “sea snakes” bobbing in the ocean, generating enough electricity from ocean waves to power isolated coastal villages.…
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A More Perfect European Union
By Steven Hill, American Prospect, January 28, 2013
David Cameron’s speech has its fair share of detractors, but it should be embraced as an impetus to take Europe’s governance to the next level.
As President Barack Obama embarks on his second term, he and many other global leaders hoping for economic recovery paid close attention to the recent speech given by British Prime Minister David Cameron about whether he would lead the UK out of the European Union.…
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Why America Can’t Pass Gun Control — Hint: It’s not the NRA or a gun-loving culture
By Steven Hill and Robert Richie, The Atlantic.com, December 20, 2012
The horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., is the latest grisly episode in what has become a muted debate in the United States: what to do about gun violence and well-armed mass murderers. But we will make a prediction: Even in the face of this national tragedy, President Obama will have little success enacting substantive gun control.…
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Don’t Cut Social Security—Double It
By Steven Hill, The Atlantic.com, December 12, 2012
Fiscal cliff chatter about slashing the venerable program ignores its fundamental potential and underlying strength.
As the nation tiptoes closer to the fiscal cliff, a frightening number of leaders on both sides of the political aisle seem ready to push poor, beleaguered Social Security over the edge.…
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Does the E.U. deserve Nobel Peace Prize? Interview with Steven Hill
By Ian Masters, various radio stations, December 11, 2012
Does the European Union deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? I discuss this in my radio interview with Ian Masters on KPFK and other radio stations. I say “yes.” Not only is Europe a remarkably peaceful place after centuries of warfare, but we discuss how in spite of a faltering economy in some of its member states, most Europeans enjoy a higher standard of living and quality of life than their American counterparts whose very limited social safety net is likely to be cut soon in the name of reducing the deficit to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”…
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Is the E.U. falling apart — or falling together?
By Steven Hill, Atlantic/German Times, December 1, 2012
Europe’s choice boils down to: more federalism or lose the euro
A quiet breakthrough occurred recently in Europe, led in part by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who seems to have rediscovered her pro-Europe side. Spurred by the ongoing debt crisis and the Greece standoff, political leaders have dropped the indecisiveness that has plagued them for the past two years, and taken greater strides toward further economic and political union.…
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No Wonder So Many Are Disillusioned by Our Politics — We’ve Got an 18th Century Political System
By Steven Hill, AlterNet, November 26, 2012
(The following is an excerpt from the Introduction to 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy: A More Perfect Union, 2012 Election Edition by Steven Hill)
It’s time for American patriots to roll up our sleeves and get to work to reform our political institutions.…
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A Tale of Two Futures (Excerpt from “10 Steps to Repair American Democracy”)
By Steven Hill, Truthout, November 24, 2012
In 2008, an economic crash of historic proportions shook the world. Without a politics that could rein in the economics, Wall Street honchos turned American banks and the financial system into their personal casinos that had to be bailed out by taxpayers.…
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California electoral reform fails its first test
By Steven Hill, Sacramento Bee, November 16, 2012
The verdict is now in for the two political reforms pushed by former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and passed by voters. Both the top-two primary and independent redistricting commission have failed to live up to their billing.
Both of these reforms were touted as ones that would help elect more moderates, decrease legislative polarization and increase competition and voter choice.…
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U.S. Presidential Election: TV ads carpet bomb swing state voters
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, October 26, 2012
With the debates over and less than two weeks to go before the November 6 election in the United States, the presidential campaigns are shifting into their final phase: persuasion of undecided voters, and mobilization of base voters.
The main tool for persuasion of undecided voters is the barrage of television ads that are invading the living rooms of voters in battleground states.…
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The Blue State Strategy for Progressive Renewal
By Steven Hill, The Nation, October 15, 2012 (printed edition)
It is hard to recall a time when politics at the national level was so utterly paralyzed. Even when the Democratic White House and Senate align their stars, which has been difficult because of the anti-democratic filibuster, the Tea Party–dominated House is gleefully positioned to kill everything.…
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Europe’s Earthquake
By Steven Hill, Social Europe Journal, October 12, 2012
Geologists have demonstrated that an earthquake is the end-product of many minor episodes of seismic slippage along a fault line; each smaller event increases the tension until finally the whole shebang erupts.
History proceeds forward in a similar seismic fashion, and recent events in Europe bear this out.…
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Size does matter – Europe must unite to compete
By Steven Hill, Guardian, October 8, 2012
Europeans may not want federalism, but they have little choice. A divided Europe would suffer in the global market
In light of the recent political and economic proposals in Europe – especially European commission president José Manuel Barroso broaching the “f-word” in his call for a “federation of nation states” – the terms of the debate will shift to addressing the following key questions: why should Europe integrate further?…
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September Blog Posts on U.S. Presidential Election (in German)
By Steven Hill, IP Die Zeitschrift, September 2012
I have been writing a weekly blog about the US presidential election for the German publication IP Die Zeitschrift, which is published by the German Council on Foreign Relations ( Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik).
Mitt ohne Plan
Romneys Wirtschaftspolitik besteht aus leeren Versprechen
19/09/2012 | Steven Hill
Kein Schwung vom Parteitag, haltlose und unüberlegte Äußerungen zum Mord am US-Botschafter in Libyen, die Abqualifizierung fast der Hälfe der US-Bevölkerung: Mitt Romneys Fehltritte scheinen kein Ende zu nehmen.…
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Democracy Deficit: Why Should Europe Integrate Further?
By Steven Hill, Washington Monthly, September 27, 2012
When European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso stood at the podium at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on September 12 to give his annual “State of the Union” address, few in attendance knew of the bombshell he was about to deliver. Europe has been wracked by a sovereign debt crisis – an existential battle over whether wealthier states should bail out debt-ridden states – since 2010.…
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The mad science of the U.S. presidential election
By Steven Hill, Al Jazeera, September 20, 2012
The technology used in campaigns has changed over the years – and not for the better, writes Steven Hill.
The technology used in presidential campaigns has changed enormously in the modern era. The first televised debate in 1960 between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon was a bellwether; listeners tuning in via radio considered the debate a draw or even a slight win for Nixon.…
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China Bashing and the Shaky Architecture of the U.S. Presidential Election System
By Steven Hill, China-US Focus, September 6, 2012
At times, China has been a focal point in the presidential campaign, with Romney accusing Obama of being too soft on China’s alleged economic violations, and Obama firing back with accusations that Romney outsourced jobs to China when he was in the private sector.…
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August Blog Posts on U.S. Presidential Election (in German)
By Steven Hill, IP Die Zeitschrift, August 2012
I have been writing a weekly blog about the US presidential election for the German publication IP Die Zeitschrift, which is published by the German Council on Foreign Relations ( Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik).
Der US-Präsidentschaftswahlkampf nimmt Fahrt auf
31/08/2012 | Steven Hill
Seit dem Kongress der Republikaner am Dienstagabend ist es offiziell: Mitt Romney und sein Vizekandidat Paul Ryan sind die Präsidentschaftsanwärter der „Grand Old Party“.…
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Europeans on the Move—to Germany
By Steven Hill, IP Journal (Berlin), August 21, 2012
What Europe should take from its latest migration trends.
Recent statistics are showing that workers from crisis-stricken countries on Europe’s periphery are making their way in greater numbers to more stable Germany. But the increasing labor migration doesn’t necessarily need to be cause for alarm.
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Obama, get ready: The Romney-Ryan campaign is about to attack
By Steven Hill, Al Jazeera, August 15, 2012
Washington, DC – The ongoing “reality TV” of the US presidential election continues, with the latest episode revealing the selection by Mitt Romney of US Representative Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate. The national punditry in the US seems to be undecided if this was a good pick for Romney, but more important is what the pick reveals about Romney’s campaign strategy: Scorched earth, all the way.…
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Olympics Hangover
By Steven Hill, IP Journal (Berlin), August 14, 2012
What a hypothetical EU medal count tells us about Europe’s current identity
Throughout the London Olympics, surprisingly few analysts asked the question of how the EU would perform at the games under a single team banner. This, despite discussion among Europeans over social media about the combined EU medal count being higher than any other competitor’s, including the US and China’s.…
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Top-two primary hurt competition in the Golden State
By Steven Hill, Sacramento Bee, August 4, 2012
In early June, California held an election featuring the first-time use of the top-two primary and legislative districts redrawn by an independent commission. Both of these reforms have been touted nationwide as ones that could help elect more moderates, decrease legislative polarization and increase competition and voter choice.…
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OKTOBERFEST: A “STAMMTISCH” OF THOUSANDS
By Steven Hill, Montréal Review, July 2012
The German language has a word, “Stammtisch,” that really has no English equivalent. The closest translation is something like “a table reserved for regulars” or “regular get-together.” Literally speaking, Stammtisch means a table in a bar or restaurant which is reserved for the same guests at the same time every day or every week, and no one else is supposed to sit there, even when the regulars aren’t present.…