In the Public Interest

Unintentionally, the animal kingdom is striking back at homo sapiens who are not yet developing a “wise” response. Recently the Washington Post listed some of them in an article headlined “Why So Many New Infections are Coming from Animals.” AIDS, SARS, West Nile virus, hantavirus, Influenza, Lyme disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (mad cow disease), and monkeypox are…

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has a problem. It is loaded with corporate money, full of rich fellowships for Washington, D.C. influence peddlers, masquerading as conservatives, who wallow in plush offices figuring out how to assure that big corporations rule the U.S. and the rest of the world. During the past twenty-two years, the AEI,…

Two views of the nation’s capital were on display last week. At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the main event was the ceremony for President Bush’s signing of still another massive tax cut designed primarily for the wealthy. On hand were the usual bevy of reporters and cameras to record the event. There were Republican leaders from…

There is little doubt that the Federal Communications Commission, by a split 3 to 2 vote, will open more doors for the giant media moguls to acquire more radio, television and newspaper properties in cities, towns and rural areas of this country. By the same decision, they will close more doors on ideas, speakers, writers,…

Never try to cut a deal with the lobbyists for the credit and banking industry. Whatever the compromise, they always come back with their hands out for more favors and bigger loopholes to gut protections for consumers and leave them defenseless against both price and privacy exploitation. They’re proving it once again with a massive…

 This is a column of tidbits — to be sure, important tidbits. I think they are part of a mosaic of our times. But I’ll let you decide your favorite theme that runs through them. Here goes. 1. Congress refuses to raise the federal minimum wage to the level of purchasing power that existed in…

Responding to criticism that he and other regulators had gone lightly in fining ten large Wall Street firms $1.4 billion for alleged conflicts of interests, New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer contended that harsher penalties would have done more harm than good for the economy. “We made a decision not to destroy these financial…

As the Enron, Worldcom and related corporate crime scandals of 2001 near their second anniversary, most of the promised reforms are still on the drawing board or awaiting full implementation. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission botched the birth of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board-the centerpiece of the Congressionally-enacted reforms. The first chairman…

For years, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has run a very active enforcement program against major American corporations accused of trading with statutory enemies of the United States. For years, OFAC would call corporate lawyers into their offices, demand that the companies pay to the Treasury Department thousands of dollars to…

A few of the bigger and more outlandish compensation packages for corporate executives may have declined last year in the wake of the Enron-style scandals and a falling stock market, but no one need shed any tears for the CEOs. They are continuing to do avariciously well at the pay window–in most cases much better…