Research Roundup

In A National Security Strategy to Protect the American Homeland, the Real Central Front, the Center for American Progress highlights that a misguided war in Iraq has undermined critical domestic investments here at home, including support for state and local law enforcement, stronger security for likely terrorist targets such as passenger rail and chemical factories, investments in public health and medical readiness, and a National Guard oriented to homeland defense, not exhausted by tours overseas.

A new policy brief by the Urban Institute finds that there were steady declines between 2001 and 2005 in both adults and children getting health insurance through workplaces. Because Medicaid and SCHIP made up the slack, children did not see a net decline in health care coverage until 2004, when the number of uninsured children began to grow again along with the decline in adult coverage that had been ongoing. The report does a comprehensive analysis of which groups were hardest hit by the decline in job-based coverage.

Even as right-wing ideologues complain about the costs of environmental regulations, business consultant PriceWaterhouseCoopers finds in a survey of corporate executives that most think companies that "go green" will be the ones that thrive in the economic future and will ultimately benefit companies as energy costs continue to rise.