Donald Cohen is the co-founder and president of the Center on Policy Initiatives, a San Diego-based research, and policy center. Cohen has over 25 years of experience in campaigns and organizations dedicated to economic justice, healthcare reform, education reform, environmental protection, and international human rights.

He is the former Political Director of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. He is a founding board member of the Partnership for Working Families, a national federation of metropolitan-based research, policy and action centers. He is a founding board member of the Horizon Institute, a progressive Los Angeles-based think tank.

Blog Entries by Donald Cohen

Crying Wolf Again: Big Business Gearing Up for a Fight Against Obama's Environmental Program

Posted May 11, 2009 | 12:03 AM (EST)


In its first 100 days, the Obama administration did more to address global warming and the environmental crisis than the Bush administration did in eight years.

The new president is moving on many fronts. So far, Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider California's request to regulate pollution...

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How to pay for the next war

Posted March 27, 2009 | 12:32 PM (EST)


President Obama announced that we would add 4,000 more troops to the 17,000 he already ordered to Afghanistan.

In his address to Congress, he also announced that he would restore honest and transparent budgeting to pay for our military commitments. "This budget," Obama said, .... for the...

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Why are Health Insurance Companies Afraid of Competition

Posted March 26, 2009 | 12:17 AM (EST)


The Health Insurance industry is already gearing up, once again, to fight Obama's health care plans. This time it's not Harry and Louise, but rather cries of unfair competition with a successful model of government organized health insurance.

Insurance companies, along with other vested health care interests, have successfully...

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Jailing Teenagers and the Poisoning of Public Purpose

Posted February 26, 2009 | 12:25 PM (EST)


Last month, two Pennsylvania judges pled guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to the two private detention centers. One judge secured the contracts for the firms to house the teenagers and the other judge kept the centers filled by sentencing enough teens.

The judges, as...

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Don't Listen to Wall Street, They Are the Ones That Got Us in This Mess

Posted February 25, 2009 | 02:00 PM (EST)


Ben Bernanke speaks to Congress on Monday and declares his opposition to nationalization of banks and the stock market surges 200+ points. The next day, President Obama speaks to the nation and declares that the banks and the wealthy won't be able to prosper without the rest of us and...

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The Obama Honeymoon

Posted November 17, 2008 | 01:05 PM (EST)


Presidential honeymoons are opportunities for bold action. President-Elect Obama -- with the winds of hope behind his back -- has given every indication that he plans to land running to confront the extraordinary challenges we face.

Bill Clinton signed the stalled Family Medical Leave Act on February 5, 1993....

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The Education of Alan Greenspan

Posted October 29, 2008 | 10:06 PM (EST)


Greenspan 1963: Writing in Ayn Rand's Objectivist Newsletter, Greenspan declared as myth the idea that businessmen "would attempt to sell unsafe food and drugs, fraudulent securities, and shoddy buildings. It is in the self-interest of every businessman to have a reputation for honest dealings and a quality product."

Greenspan...

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The Market Made Me Do It: Health Insurance That Disappears When You Need It

Posted November 12, 2007 | 04:16 PM (EST)


Health Net, one of California's largest health insurers, saved $35.5 million in medical expenditures for people that needed life-saving care. They did it the easy way -- they just stopped paying, ejecting the sick from their health plans.

Health Net says that they are just catching fraud. The law allows...

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Why Aren't We Better Prepared for Inevitable Disasters?

Posted October 31, 2007 | 01:00 PM (EST)


Despite a history of regular disasters -- earthquakes, hurricanes, bridge collapses, and fires -- Americans seem unwilling to prepare for the inevitable. This may have something to do with our skepticism about government -- at least when it comes to things that can't be justified as fighting terrorism. But the...

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