In the Public Interest

The last few years have witnessed the increasing blurring of corporate and governmental roles in the international sphere — none more worrisome, perhaps, than the United Nations cozying up to big business. With a surge in private-public partnerships among various UN agencies, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is leading the international organization into ever-more intrusive…

Just about the last government function you would want to see privatized is meat inspection. But under recent and proposed regulatory changes, that is the direction in which the U.S. meat inspection program has been moving. The results, documented in “The Jungle 2000: Is America’s Meat Fit to Eat,” a report issued by the Government…

During the post World War II era 53 years ago, a pro-business Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in an effort to slow, if not stop, the growth of the American labor movement. The fondest dreams of its corporate sponsors are being realized today. John L. Lewis, the president of the United Mine Workers, was prophetic…

It is time to expand the rights of citizens to hold government officials accountable for misdeeds or unacceptable behavior. Americans have a right to hold companies and government officials accountable when there are violations of the laws of this country — laws protecting the environment, prohibiting racial discrimination or otherwise effecting the purposes of the…

For decades, the multinational tobacco companies have known that their future rests in the Third World. All of the growth in global tobacco consumption in coming years is expected in the developing countries, with the world’s 1.1 billion smokers expected to rise to 1.64 billion by 2025. The World Health Organization estimates four million people…

Crime rates — street crime rates, that is — have registered 1dramatic drops in the last decade. Politicians clamor for credit. We’ve built more jails, some boast. We’ve made sentences longer, brag others. We’ve cracked down on minor offenses, say others. Perhaps these punitive measures have contributed to the declining crime rates. And there is…

The tragic crash of a Concorde near Paris on a flight to New York City killing all 109 on board and four on the ground has shocked the world and brought public attention to an issue being quietly debated by aviation safety experts and officials: Should old aircraft face mandatory retirement? Airline corporations and the…

More than ever, politics and policy decisions in our Nation’s capital are dominated by big money. Contributions from U.S. and multinational corporations heavily influence the outcome of elections. And lawyers and lobbyists representing wealthy business interests dominate proceedings in Congress, in the courts and before federal agencies. It is time for the Congress to do…

The late, great journalist I.F. Stone used to say that the evidence of government scandals lay in publicly available documents as much as in concealed material. Read what the government actually says, Izzy claimed, and you will find scandals aplenty. That insight holds true today. Consider the recent testimony of the acting director of policy…

It never seems to end this relentless merger of corporate lobbyists and their government buddies. The latest display of cushiness was at the annual summer meeting of the National Governors’ Association (NGA) at Pennsylvania State University. The NGA is a private association on the corporate hospitality take. And, man, do these corporations give to get…