National Analysis

THE GUARDIAN 10/05/11 By Michael Shank The huge costs of social deprivation make the US poorer, even as the top 1% gets richer. Fix that and you fix the budget deficit On the heels of the US government’s announcement that personal income of Americans has dropped for the first time […]

THE GUARDIAN 08/06/11 By Michael Shank We have the evidence: the hardpressed US taxpayer is being fleeced by profiteering contractors and corrupt military personnel This past week, as US Congress quacked its way through the debt-ceiling quagmire, a seemingly non-germane offshore issue surfaced vis-a-vis Iraq. The connection between the two […]

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 07/11/11 By Michael Shank Looking to save the world trillions of dollars? How about investing in peace and nonviolence? Australia’s Institute for Economics and Peace recently released its 2011 Global Peace Index, citing a veritable “who’s who” of peaceful countries. It counted up the savings had the […]

THE GUARDIAN 07/02/11 By Michael Shank With Republicans and Democrats alike split, confusion reigns over two crucial issues: war powers and R2P. It’s time for clarity Last week, as the US Senate picked up the Libya debate where the House of Representatives left off, it was apparent that Libya has […]

THE HILL 11/17/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) Late last month, buried beneath the noise of last-minute presidential campaigning, a 2008 report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited rising inequality and poverty among member states. Press-released in Paris, this newsworthy point […]

ROLL CALL 10/28/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) On Nov. 4, America will celebrate the close of the most unprecedented presidential campaign in history. On several accounts past precedent has been handily usurped. Most notable: This was our nation’s most expensive campaign yet, surpassing $1 billion […]

THE HILL 09/10/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-MD) Governors and state legislators are doing it. Mayors are doing it. Universities are doing it. Businesses and individuals are doing it. The greening of America is occurring for a host of environmental, economic, religious, security and humanitarian […]

FINANCIAL TIMES 09/05/08 By Michael Shank Sir, In an apparent editorial about-face (“Crime and the credit crunch”, September 2), you claim that larger police forces and harsher prison sentences are responsible for lower levels of crime and that the link between economic growth and crime is weak. This is hardly […]

RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH 08/30/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D-VA) To drill or not to drill, that is the question. But is it? Offshore oil reserves, once online — a feat that would come long after the new president’s first term — will garner less than three years […]

ROLL CALL 07/22/08 By Michael Shank Last week’s 47th Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, between the Republicans and the Democrats, could not have been more emblematic of the state of American party politics (“GOP Wins Trophy in Nail-Biter,” July 18). That the Republicans won for the […]