January, 27 2010, 09:26pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x115
Statement on The State of the Union Address
WASHINGTON
CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker issued the following statement after President Obama's first State of the Union address:
President Obama made several useful proposals on retirement savings,
student loans and other areas that will benefit working families.
However, this agenda is not bold enough to address the severity of the
problems facing the economy and the country's workers.
The unemployment rate is currently in double-digits. The newest
projections from the Congressional Budget Office show the unemployment
rate staying above 8.0 percent until well into 2012 and not falling
back to normal levels until 2014. This is a crisis for tens of millions
of workers who will face unemployment solely as a result of bad
economic policy and Wall Street greed.
We know the mechanisms through which we can expand the economy and
bring the unemployment rate down: a much larger stimulus, more
expansionary monetary policy from the Fed, and a lower dollar to bring
down the trade deficit.
If it is not possible to expand the economy, we can also keep people
employed through the sort of work-sharing programs
that have kept unemployment from rising in Germany and the Netherlands.
Most people would much prefer to experience the downturn in the form of
shorter workweeks and longer vacations than in the form of double-digit
unemployment.
All of these
policies face serious political obstacles, but it is the President's
responsibility to tell the truth to the country and to press for the
policies necessary to right the economy. President Obama has apparently
chosen not to fight this fight. If it is not possible to get the
policies needed to restore full employment back on the political
agenda, then tens of millions of people will suffer needlessly for
years to come.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.
(202) 293-5380LATEST NEWS
Report Urges Congress to Tackle Venture Capitalists Peddling AI 'Miracle Weapons'
"Neither taxpayers nor the Congress should buy the hype surrounding these new technologies without careful oversight and scrutiny."
Jun 03, 2024
A new report released Monday sounds the alarm on the growing influence of profit-hungry venture capital firms that are promoting weapons systems powered by artificial intelligence, a rapidly emerging technology that experts and watchdogs warn could be an
existential threat to humanity if not strongly and properly regulated.
The
report, published by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, cautions that venture capital (VC) firms and their allies in Washington, D.C. are "determined to move full speed ahead on the development and deployment of weapons based on AI and other technological innovations, despite many unanswered questions about the costs and risks involved."
Michael Brenes and William Hartung, the report's authors, implore Congress to pursue concrete policy actions to regulate the torrent of VC money flowing into the development of AI-powered military technology—so-called "miracle weapons"—as the Pentagon actively courts Silicon Valley startups.
Citing data from PitchBook, The Financial Timesreported last year that "U.S. venture investment in defense startups surged from less than $16 billion in 2019 to $33 billion in 2022."
The Quincy Institute report observes that "the surge in VC investment in emerging arms technology is being spearheaded by a handful of firms and individuals," including "the Founders Fund, started by Peter Thiel, who is also the co-founder of PayPal and the arms technology firm Palantir; and Andreesen Horowitz, whose 'American Dynamism Fund' invests in notable emerging tech firms like Anduril and Shield AI."
"Given the risks of catastrophic malfunction and hair-trigger wars conducted with minimal human input, we need a vigorous national debate before moving full speed ahead on military applications of AI and other emerging technologies," Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute, said in a statement Monday.
Brenes, a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute, said that "hugely consequential decisions" about the role of AI in U.S. military technology and operations "cannot be driven by narrow considerations of corporate profit."
"Neither taxpayers nor the Congress should buy the hype surrounding these new technologies without careful oversight and scrutiny," said Brenes. "Otherwise, we will see yet another round of cost overruns for systems that do not work as advertised."
"With defense startups growing in number, and enticing military and political leaders, it will be exacerbated in an era of 'big tech.'"
The new report comes amid sustained outrage over the U.S. tech giant Google's AI partnership with Israel, which has used artificial intelligence in its devastating military assault on Gaza.
The report also comes months after the Biden administration announced its "Replicator" initiative, a project the Pentagon characterized as an attempt to counter China with an "AI-empowered military."
"Since we need to break through barriers and catalyze change with urgency, we've set a big goal for Replicator: to field attritable autonomous systems at a scale of multiple thousands, in multiple domains, within the next 18 to 24 months," Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said in a speech last year.
Hicks' remarks drew immediate alarm from watchdog organizations, which have criticized the Pentagon's lack of transparency surrounding its AI efforts.
In March, a coalition of groups spearheaded by Public Citizensent a letter to the Pentagon warning that "autonomous weapons are inherently dehumanizing and unethical, no matter whether a human is 'ultimately' responsible for the use of force or not."
"Deploying lethal AI weapons in battlefield conditions necessarily means inserting them into novel conditions for which they have not been programmed, an invitation for disastrous outcomes," the letter reads. "'Swarms' of the sort envisioned by Replicator pose even heightened risks, because of the unpredictability of how autonomous systems will function in a network. And the mere ambiguity of the U.S. position on autonomous weapons risks spurring a catastrophic arms race."
The Quincy Institute report specifically calls on Congress to "establish a revamped Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that could provide oversight of the industry and ensure that Silicon Valley startups do not manufacture promises that cannot be delivered."
The report also urges Congress to shutter the revolving door between the federal government and military contractors, which gives private companies further influence over consequential policy outcomes.
"This is not a new problem," the report acknowledges. "But with defense startups growing in number, and enticing military and political leaders, it will be exacerbated in an era of 'big tech.' Republican Representative Mike Gallagher recently announced that he was joining Peter Thiel's Palantir after resigning from Congress. This is while Gallagher promotes belligerent views on China in mainstream outlets like Foreign Affairs, arguing that the United States is in the throes of a 'New Cold War' with China that must be won by 'rapidly increasing U.S. defense capabilities to achieve unmistakable qualitative advantages over Beijing.'"
"It will be up to interested members of Congress, working with the administration, to craft specific proposals and regulations to manage the role of private money in the development of emerging military technologies," the report states.
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Leftist Climate Scientist Claudia Sheinbaum Wins Mexican Presidency in Landslide
The close ally of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the first woman to win Mexico's presidency.
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Leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of popular outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, won Mexico's presidential election in a landslide on Sunday, with an official tally showing her leading right-wing opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez by nearly 30 percentage points.
Gálvez
called Sheinbaum early Monday to acknowledge the results and concede defeat in what was the largest race in Mexico's history—a contest marred by deadly violence.
Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and the former mayor of Mexico City, is set to become the first woman and the first person of Jewish descent to lead Mexico after Sunday's overwhelming victory, which was a boon to her leftist Morena party. According to official vote tallies, The Washington Postreported, Morena and its allies "appeared close to winning a supermajority in Congress, which would allow them to change the constitution."
"We imagine a plural, diverse, and democratic Mexico," Sheinbaum told cheering supporters on Sunday. "Our duty is and will always be to look after each and every Mexican, without distinction."
David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, called Sheinbaum and Morena's win "epic, whopping, [and] historic."
And here are the numbers for the Mexican legislature. An epic, whopping, historic victory for MORENA and the ‘Fourth Transformation’ 🤯 https://t.co/3pCB1HvefS pic.twitter.com/EA2bKXb2CL
— David Adler (@davidrkadler) June 3, 2024
While Sunday's contest—which involved more than 20,000 government positions—and outcome were unprecedented, some questioned whether the results would be truly transformative for Mexico, where poverty and inequality remain high despite minimum wage hikes and other progress made in recent years under the government of López Obrador, commonly known as AMLO.
"AMLO has done a little better for people than prior governments, and Sheinbaum has pledged to continue his political approach, though with a greater emphasis on sustainability," Tamara Pearson, a Mexican Australian author, journalist, and activist, wrote for The Nation ahead of Sunday's race. "The pension for informal workers has increased to 6,000 pesos ($359) every two months. The health system for informal workers, which includes most Mexicans, is still extremely lacking but has improved."
The outgoing president has also faced backlash for pursuing fossil fuel infrastructure projects that risk damaging Indigenous communities and the planet.
Mongabay's Maxwell Radwin noted last week that Sheinbaum—who contributed to a major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report—"continues to support one of AMLO's most polarizing projects, the Tren Maya, a 1,554-kilometer (966-mile) railroad crossing the Yucatán Peninsula."
"Despite dozens of legal complaints about deforestation, the destruction of cave ecosystems, and the relocation of Indigenous communities," Radwin observed, "she's defended the project and even suggested expanding it to a major port in the town of Progreso, in northwest Yucatán."
With Mexico facing a devastating heatwave and other climate impacts, Sheinbaum has pledged to prioritize clean energy development, vowing to "lead a $13.6 billion program to jumpstart Mexico's renewable energy sector," Politicoreported.
Sheinbaum is set to take office in October.
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Sanders Praises $35 Cap on Inhalers Just Six Months After Probe Into 'Outrageous' Prices
"Americans who have asthma and COPD should not be forced to pay, in many cases, 10 to 70 times more for the same exact inhalers as patients in Europe and other parts of the world," said the independent senator from Vermont.
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Less than six months after launching a probe in the U.S. Senate into "the outrageously high prices" that asthma patients and others across the country pay for inhalers, Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrated the official start of a new program by one of the largest makers in the industry on Saturday to cap out of pocket costs at $35.
Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said Saturday was "the first day of a new program instituted by the major pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, which will allow people with asthma and COPD to purchase brand name inhalers at their local drugstore or pharmacy for only $35 dollars."
With the new cap, the company said in its announcement, eligible patients "who have had difficulty navigating the current healthcare system will now be able to afford the Boehringer inhalers they need."
Explaining its program, Boehringer said "the reduced out-of-pocket cost will be automatically applied at participating retail pharmacies for eligible patients with commercial insurance" and that more than 90 percent of pharmacies in the U.S. have agreed to participate in the program. "There are no forms to fill out or websites to go to—the discount happens electronically with no action required," said the company.
As Common Dreamsreported in March, Combivent Respimat, one of Boehringer's inhaler products, previously carried a list price of around $500 in the U.S.—a number roughly 70 times what the company was charging for the same product in France, where patients could get the inhaler for just $7.
Sanders thanked Beohringer for finally instituting the program, which came after a sustained campaign by patient advocates and the investigation by the HELP committee.
"In my view, Americans who have asthma and COPD should not be forced to pay, in many cases, 10 to 70 times more for the same exact inhalers as patients in Europe and other parts of the world," Sanders said.
The committee's work led by Sanders triggered agreement from other large makers, namely AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, to initiate affordability programs as well.
"We look forward to AstraZeneca moving in the same direction—applying its $35 cap automatically at the pharmacy counter—in the next few weeks, and to GlaxoSmithKline following suit in the coming months," Sanders said Saturday. "We are waiting on word from Teva, the fourth major inhaler manufacturer, as to how they will proceed."
In April, President Joe Biden hosted a gathering at the White House where he credited Sanders and the HELP committee for spearheading the effort that led to the pharmaceutical companies caving under the public scrutiny. "Finally, we beat Big Pharma," Biden said.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), also a member of the HELP committee, championed the findings of the probe in March when the companies began to crack on the sky-high prices.
"We launched an investigation into big drug companies because the prices they were charging for inhalers just didn't add up," Baldwin said at the time. "And looks like we were right."
In his statement on Saturday, Sanders said the HELP committee wouldn't stop with inhalers as it continues "to do everything we can do to make sure that Americans no longer pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs."
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