Eric Kroh

Eric Kroh was a staff reporter at Remapping Debate. Previously a tax reporter on Capitol Hill for Tax Notes, his work has appeared in publications nationwide on topics as diverse as biofuels policy and issues facing native Alaskans. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he received his masters in journalism from Northwestern University in 2008.

ek@remappingdebate.org
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Labor, Unions
In exchange for agreeing to build a new subcompact car at its Orion, Michigan assembly plant, General Motors got the United Auto Workers to agree to permit 40 percent of plant workers to be paid about half of the standard union wage of $28 an hour. For workers being paid "Tier 2" wages, there will be a dramatic difference in security and standard of living from that of their Tier 1 counterparts. We examine the expected concrete impacts on the lives of lower-paid workers and their families. More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Education, Employment, Health, Income inequality, Politics, State government
Can "benchmarks" and "indicators" be implemented in a way to have a real impact on public policy? A key question: do indicator systems work by attempting to “insulate” them from politics, or by attempting to have them do battle in the political arena by challenging those who don’t accept the importance of the indicators and by promulgating specific policy recommendations? More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Food safety, Health
If the current trend continues, it appears that we are on the threshold of an era in which now-treatable infectious diseases re-emerge as frequent life disrupters, and, ultimately, as major killers. For the U.S. and other developed countries, that means that fundamental expectations about the normal course of life would be exploded, and that the insecurity of the pre- World War II era — where untimely death was much more routine — would return. More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Food safety
Even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization are united in concluding that the use of antibiotics in animals is a risk to public health, the agricultural industry in the United States is actively fighting efforts to restrict the routine, non-medical use of antibiotics in animals, and the FDA has yet to impose a ban. Denmark has demonstrated the viability of a very different path. More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Government services, Role of government
How different are natural disasters from "man-made" disasters according to some conservative state representatives? More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Government services, Role of government
Since the Texas winter wildfire season began in November of last year, some 2.4 million acres have charred. Leading Texas lawmakers now seeking federal aid were among those who have made the most forceful calls for reduced government spending. Faced up-close with the real-world consequences of their budget-cutting ideology, however, it appears that those calls may have applied only insofar as certain of their constituents were not affected. More
Original Reporting | By Eric Kroh | Energy, Taxes
Following large first-quarter earnings announcements from major oil companies, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus announced plans to introduce legislation to end tax incentives for the largest oil and gas companies, and President Obama renewed his call to eliminate those benefits for the entire industry. More