President Obama is making a final effort to get the public to push Congress to pass healthcare reform, bashing the insurance industry for predatory pricing practices. School of Management Professor Stephen Davidson, author of “Still Broken: Understandng the U.S. Healthcare System,” says the facts are on the side of reform, but the White House hasn’t […]
Under a regulatory reform measure being considered in the Senate, the Federal Reserve may yet retain oversight power over the nati0n’s biggest banks, with states and the FDIC watching over smaller banks. Risk-management expert Mark Williams, author of “Uncontrolled Risk” who teaches finance in the School of Management, thinks it’s too soon to be trusting […]
The Turkish government says there’ll be negative diplomatic consequences for the Obama administration if the U.S. Congress approves a committee-passed resolution labeling as “genocide” the World War I-era killing of Armenians by Turks. History Professor Simon Payaslian, chair of Modern Armenian History and Literature who teaches a course on the genocide, says the resolution’s significance goes […]
Greece has announced austerity measures to rein in the country’s debt that threatens the European Union’s euro currency — and in the process triggered public outrage and demonstrations. International Relations Professor William Keylor, an authority on U.S.-European relations, says the Greek government seems to playing a game of chicken with the EU. “By hinting that it might […]
Ukraine’s newly elected president has been unable to muster a coalition in parliament to replace the prime minister whom he defeated for the presidency. The president’s party is trying to change the law to make coalition forming easier, which the ex-PM’s party calls a “constitutional coup d’etat.” Ukraine expert Tammy Lynch from BU’s Institute for […]
According to a confidential GOP fundraising presentation obtained by Politico, the Republican National Committee plans to raise bucks this election cycle by capitalizing on “fear” of President Obama and a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.” Political science Professor Graham Wilson says scare tactics on both sides of the aisle are old […]
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit told a Congressional panel that the bank is “fundamentally different” since it took $45 billion in taxpayer bailout money last year. But Law Professor Cornelius Hurley, director of the Morin Center for Banking and Financial Law, says Congress should be asking why taxpayers were’t given more effective oversight of Citigroup after […]
The Obama administration is considering proposals to ban all foreclosures on home loans unless they first have been examined for possible modification. Professor Jack Aber, chairman of the Department of Finance and Economics in the School of Management, says it could be palatable to lenders if the government eases accounting rules having to do with the […]
U.S. defense and counerterrorism officials say al-Qaida’s terror network is growing in both strength and numbers in North Africa, threatening to destablize the Sahara region. International relations Prof. Charles Stith, a former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania who direct’s BU’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center, says it’s in America’s interest to help development in Africa. “Africa is […]
The White House reportedly is rethinking the nation’s nuclear weapons strategy to aim at permanently reducing the U.S. arsenal while rejecting swear-no-first-use proposals. Attorney Philip O’Neill, author of “Verification in an Age of Insecurity” and who teaches national security law at BU Law, says this nuclear review should be the time and place for a […]
