Blog

HR 10 Takes Away Privacy

February 3, 1999
Posted in

Privacy is high on the list of rights Americans cherish. Now, the right to our privacy — like many of those rights we take for granted — is at risk.Federal agencies, led by the Federal Reserve Board, have proposed a “Know Your Customer” regulation that would require banks to monitor their customers’ accounts, presumably for…

Privitizing Social Security a Mistake

February 2, 1999
Posted in

Social Security places government in one of its noblest roles: as an institution that offers a bedrock financial guarantee to all members of society that they need not fear the financial consequences of growing old or disabled. That’s quite the opposite of the U.S. government’s all too familiar role as a provider of corporate welfare,…

Privatizing Social Security a Mistake

January 27, 1999
Posted in

Social Security places government in one of its noblest roles: as an institution that offers a bedrock financial guarantee to all members of society that they need not fear the financial consequences of growing old or disabled. That’s quite the opposite of the U.S. government’s all too familiar role as a provider of corporate welfare,…

Time for Detroit to Plow Through Sweet Deals for Corporations

January 26, 1999
Posted in

Detroit, Mich., fell on hard times recently when the snow started falling on Jan. 2, 1999. Twenty-one inches of snow accumulated over the next two weeks, and city officials still did not plow residential streets. That streets were left unplowed was not an oversight. It was the result of a policy of many years standing…

“Saving Social Security From the Privatization Threat”Conference Statement

January 21, 1999
Posted in

Every discussion of Social Security should begin by recognizing that Social Security is a system of social insurance. It places government in one of its noblest roles: Provision of a bedrock guarantee to all members of society that you do not need to fear the financial consequences of growing old or disabled, for society will…

Detroit’s Snow Policy

January 19, 1999
Posted in

The collapse of community surfaced with a vengeance in Detroit, Michigan recently when the snow started falling on January 2, 1999. Twenty one inches of snow fell over the next two weeks and city officials still had not plowed the residential streets. That is not an oversight. It is a policy of many years standing.…

Al Gore Sells Out

January 12, 1999
Posted in

Few politicians have shrunken as fast, while rising in power, as Vice-President, Al Gore. In terms of standing up for what he believes, Gore is a shadow of his former self as Representative and Senator from Tennessee, though he never came close to the political courage of his father, also a Senator. Gore, senior, for…

Financial Industry “Nickels and Dimes” Consumers

January 5, 1999
Posted in

“Nickel and diming” the consumer is now a big, booming business in the financial arenas of corporate greed and fraud. Bank charges, currently numbering over two hundred varieties, bring in nearly $20 billion a year to the banks. First Union even charges its customers 50 cents for a deposit slip and $2 for each call…

Hulk Hogan

December 29, 1998
Posted in

Last month on the Jay Leno Show, Hulk Hogan thought he would make some news, but he did not. Too bad the media missed his presentation because he seemed very serious about what he was saying. Hogan “announced” his official retirement from professional wrestling, adding that his children were well taken care of by the…

Hartford Stadium Scam

December 21, 1998
Posted in

My home state of Connecticut has been known as “The Constitution State.” This month, Republican Governor John Rowland and Democrats Kevin Sullivan, President of the State Senate, and Tom Ritter, the Speaker of the House, shattered that moniker by ramming through a special session of the legislator a massive taxpayer subsidy to lure the New…