Peter J. Wallison

"Peter Wallison saw Fannie Mae's troubles coming twenty-five years ago." Thus began an unusual column by Wall Street Journal reporter John McKinnon, who described Wallison's long efforts to bring attention to the serious vulnerabilities of the giant government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). When McKinnon asked Wallison how it felt to be proven correct, Wallison said: "Terrible. I would have preferred that Congress had listened when something could have been done." He has addressed the GSEs' troubles in three AEI Press books and several Financial Services Outlooks.

The American magazine, now in its second full year, has been receiving lots of attention. In July, the Washington Examiner newspaper cited an article from the July/August issue by W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm that offered unconventional wisdom about economic well-being and illustrated the resiliency of the U.S. economy. Earlier that month, editor-in-chief Nick Schulz appeared on William Bennett's Morning in America radio show. Bennett said The American is a "cool new magazine, the coolest one I've seen in a long time" and called the Cox and Alm story "really timely."

Robert B. Zoellick

At a July 2 conference on the global food crisis, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) called for Congress to lift the tariff on imported Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, and World Bank president Robert Zoellick said that government stockpiling, subsidies, and quotas are making food unaffordable in many parts of the developing world. Adam Lerrick addressed the food crisis in a July installment of On the Issues.

Senators Tom Coburn and Richard Burr listen to Thomas P. Miller's comments

Senators Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) discussed their Universal Health Care Choice and Access Act at an AEI briefing on Capitol Hill on June 19. They propose the use of market-based tools to solve health care's inherent problems and to provide a much better approach to reform than increased bureaucratic involvement. Joseph Antos and Thomas P. Miller also joined the discussion.

In July, Andrew G. Biggs received a Rockefeller Foundation Innovation Award from the National Academy of Social Insurance for a project to study how reducing the work requirement for Social Security benefit eligibility would impact low-wage earners. He dispelled misconceptions about the Social Security earnings test in a Tax Policy Outlook published that month.

U.S. national security depends on successful partnerships with allies, especially in the war on terrorism. Christopher Griffin and Thomas Donnelly recently authored The Frontline Country Team: A Model for Engagement, a report that calls for improving U.S. security cooperation by devolving authority from Washington to ambassador-led "country teams" in sensitive areas. Griffin and Donnelly presented the report at a July 16 forum.

Karlyn Bowman

As the national nominating conventions drew near, AEI's Election Watch team produced "The Definitive Guide to the Convention Bounce," an overview of polls from 1976 to 2004 that explains exactly how much of a bounce each nominee received. In some cases, candidates thudded rather than bounced; after declaring "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I" in San Francisco in 1984, Walter Mondale lost ground or gained none in three separate polls.

Philip I. Levy

In the shadow of the collapse of the Doha round talks in late July and early August, Philip I. Levy debated Daniel K. Tarullo of Georgetown University about trade issues and the 2008 election on the Wall Street Journal's website. Their discussions touched on China, farm subsidies, NAFTA, income inequality, and, of course, multilateral trade negotiations. Warren Maruyama, general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative, gave a keynote address on the collapse of the Doha talks at an AEI conference on August 6.

In August, President George W. Bush nominated Douglas J. Besharov to serve on the National Board of Education Sciences.

AEI mourns Peter W. Rodman, a friend of the Institute who died of leukemia on August 2. An eminent student of U.S. foreign policy who served with distinction in several administrations, he participated informally for many years in AEI's councils and programs.