In the Public Interest

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…

Imagine the following: The New York Times announced today that it was replacing its columnists, Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman with the two leading bilingual writers from the Beijing Daily. A Times spokesman explained that the move was necessary to meet the global competition. The two prize-winning Chinese newspaper columnists — Li Gangsun and Mao…

Never doubt the importance of language in politics. In labeling as “death taxes” what should properly be understood as an Equality and Fairness Fee or an Anti-Dynasty Tax, corporate-funded think tanks and their Congressional allies have launched a retrograde initiative to repeal the federal inheritance tax. Earlier this month, the House of Representatives succumbed to…

Imagine a well-written book, on an important topic, that you can read online for free. Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat to Your Health, by Jamie Court and Francis Smith (Common Courage Press, Monroe, ME) www.makingakilling.org/— paints a troubling tale of what has become of our health care system. Jamie Court and Francis Smith…

“No sensible democracy would opt for an economic system in which the financial wealth of the top 1 percent of households exceeds the combined wealth of the bottom 95 percent.” That is the commonsense observation with which Jeff Gates begins his provocative new book, Democracy at Risk: Rescuing Main Street from Wall Street. (Perseus Publishing,…