In FED We Trust

“Whatever it takes” That was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s vow as the worst financial panic in more than fifty years gripped the world and he struggled to avoid the once unthinkable: a repeat of the Great Depression.

The Healing of America

Bestselling author T. R. Reid guides a whirlwind tour ofsuccessful health care systems worldwide, revealing possible pathstoward U.S. reform. In The Healing of America, New York Times bestselling author T. R. Reid shows how all the otherindustrialized democracies have achieved something the UnitedStates can’t seem to do: provide health care for everybody at areasonable cost. In his global quest to find a possible prescription,Reid visits wealthy, free market, industrialized democracieslike our own—including France, Germany, Japan, the U.K.,and Canada—where he finds inspiration in example. Reidshares evidence from doctors, government officials, health careexperts, and patients the world over, finding that foreign healthcare systems give everybody quality care at an affordable cost.And that dreaded monster “socialized medicine”turns out to be a myth. Many developed countries provideuniversal coverage with private doctors, private hospitals, andprivate insurance. In addition to long-established systems, Reid alsostudies countries that have carried out major health carereform. The first question facing these countries—and theUnited States, for that matter—is an ethical issue: Is healthcare a human right? Most countries have already answered witha resolute yes, leaving the United States in the murky moralbackwater with nations we typically think of as far less just thanour own. The Healing of America lays bare the moral questionat the heart of our troubled system, dissecting the misleadingrhetoric surrounding the health care debate. Reid sees problemselsewhere, too: He finds poorly paid doctors in Japan, endlesslines in Canada, mistreated patients in Britain, spartan facilitiesin France. Still, all the other rich countries operate at a lowercost, produce better health statistics, and cover everybody.In the end, The Healing of America is a good news book: Itfinds models around the world that Americans can borrow toguarantee health care f

The European Dream

The national bestseller that shows how the American Dream is languishing, surpassed worldwide by a powerful alternative in the lifestyle of the new Europe.

Monitoring Fundamental Rights in the EU

Coherent laws enforced by a central authority are part of the reason why human rights protection works at the national level in Europe. But when it comes to the EU these dimensions are lacking. The present system for protecting fundamental rights emerged on an ad hoc basis, with measures being improvised to respond to particular problems. In the next couple of years, however, this situation is likely to change very significantly. The proposed European Constitution incorporates the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and a specialized EU Fundamental Rights Agency is likely to be established. As a result, the situation of the EU will more closely resemble that of its Member States. Fundamental rights will occupy a central role, and coherent and systematic arrangements will be in place to protect rights, using both judical and non-judicial means. The Fundamental Rights Agency, in particular, has immense potential to ensure effective monitoring of fundamental rights in the EU, and to ensure a unified strategy for their promotion in EU law and policy. This volume is the first to critically examine the proposals put forward by the European Commission in October 2004 on the creation of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. Leading scholars in the field of European and international human rights law analyse the potential significance of this innovative Agency, and seek to locate it in relation to various other human rights mechanisms, both in the EU's constitutional structure and within Member States. They review the tasks which the Agency could be called upon to perform, and make proposals as to how it can function most effectively. The relationship of EU law to the international law of human rights emerging from both the United Nations and the Council of Europe is examined. The authors also address the challenge of ensuring improved coherence between EU law and the other human rights obligations undertaken by the Member States. Taken together, these contributions address urg

Poland and the European Union

This authoritative volume assesses how the recently democratised political system in Poland is adapting to the challenges posed by the country's desire to "rejoin Europe".