Meade Klingensmith

Meade Klingensmith worked as a reporter at Remapping Debate in 2012 to 2013. He graduated from Oberlin College in 2012 with a B.A. with honors in history and a minor in politics.

Stopping tax avoidance without causing “flight”
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Corporations, Taxes
If the U.S. barred companies from deferring taxes on overseas profits, the sky, it turns out, would not fall. And the change would not result in "double taxation," either. More
No vote on gun control? No votes on judicial nominees? Filibuster reform coming?
Original Reporting | By Samantha Cook, By Meade Klingensmith | Legislation, Open government
How have recent developments affected the views of Senators on filibuster reform? Where do they stand now? They certainly have thought about the issue, haven't they? Well, it's really hard to get them to put their cards on the table. More
Can those aged 45 to 64 be saved from misery in retirement? How?
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Aging, Poverty, Social Security
The evidence we have pieced together through additional probing suggests that for those aged 45 to 54, there is a range of policy options — beyond the fatalistic prescription to “just work longer” — that has the potential to materially enhance retirement security, if adopted quickly. For those aged 55 to 64 the outlook is bleaker, though temporary increases in Social Security payments targeted to that group (or its poorest members), or an expansion of anti-poverty programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), could, if enacted, ameliorate the worst of the anticipated impacts on the poorest retirees. Despite the availability of a potential solution for the 45- to 54-year-old group and of an improved safety net for the 55- to 64-year-old group, no one we spoke with suggested that the political will to effect such changes exists today. More
The role of the New Democrats in the explosion of managed care
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Corporate influence, Health care, Insurance
The hawking of market-based prescriptions. Part 2 of our series on how public discussion of quality of medical care came to be supplanted by an almost exclusive focus on cost control. More
Managed cost, mismanaged care
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Corporate influence, Health care, Insurance
The rise of “competitive,” for-profit health insurance from the ’70s to the ’90s. Concerns about quality of care lose out. First in a series. More
What can you buy with the $3.5 trillion?
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Budget deficit, Role of government, Taxes
If all Bush era tax cuts had been allowed to expire and if capital gains and dividend rates had been equalized with that of ordinary income, many “unaffordable” programs could have been paid for — even with the AMT being fixed. More
They won the battle, but will they win the war?
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Elections, State government, Taxes
Though the supporters of Proposition 30 (Prop 30), the California ballot initiative to raise income tax rates on high earners as well as sales taxes across the board, put together a highly successful campaign, some wonder whether the techniques used to sell Prop 30 carry with them the risk of undermining future efforts to bolster government services. More
Selling Prop 30
Original Reporting | By Meade Klingensmith | Elections, State government, Taxes
In ratifying Proposition 30 last month, California voters seem to have signaled that support for a tax increase is not political suicide in all circumstances. But to what extent does the marketing of the measure — a ballot initiative that raises taxes on annual income greater than $250,000 — provide a model for others to be successful in raising revenue for a spectrum of needed government services? More

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