In the Public Interest

 What do monopolistic practices and antitrust laws have to do with traffic congestion and commuter woes? More than you might imagine. In the late ’30s and ’40s, General Motors, with the help of a few oil and tire companies, purchased electrified mass transit systems in 28 cities. It soon disabled these systems and began to…

Arcata, California — a small town not far from the redwoods and wild rivers of northern California — made news in 1996 when an elected majority of its City Council were members of the Green Party. Three years later, the town is about to find itself in the news again. Arcata is pioneering Measure F (“the…

The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio lost his struggle with cancer on March 8, 1999. The next day newspapers were full of memories by his friends and teammates. As a boyhood fan of DiMaggio back in the forties, I always looked forward to meeting him. That occurred in the Spring of 1990 and I promptly wrote…

Bob Woodward (of Watergate reportorial fame) once called Richard Cohen the Washington Post‘s best regular columnist. But on Jan. 31, Cohen wrote a regular column in the (Sunday) Post Magazine that is noteworthy for other reasons. Cohen fired himself from his Sunday column. Cohen’s explanation for abandoning his Sunday column (he still writes a column…

On February 10, 1999, a little 26 month old boy, Nels Stumo, returned home from the hospital with his parents. “Out,” Nels urged his mother to take him for a walk outside. Returning inside five minutes later, he said “Sit,” and his mother laid him down on the living room couch. “Water,” he asked his…

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that April 15th of each year be designated Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a day when corporations receiving taxpayer subsidies, bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare can express their thanks to the citizens who provide them. Though it may not be evident, quite a few…

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that April 15th of each year be designated Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a day when corporations receiving taxpayer subsidies, bailouts, and other forms of corporate welfare can express their thanks to the citizens who provide them. Though it may not be evident, quite a few…

The Federal Reserve — already one of the most powerful and least accountable entities in the federal government — is about to become even more powerful. It’s all part of a scheme to rewrite the nation’s financial laws and allow banks, securities firms, insurance companies, and, in some cases, industrial firms to merge under common…

The Federal Reserve — already one of the most powerful and least accountable entities in the federal government — is about to become even more powerful. It’s all part of a scheme to rewrite the nation’s financial laws and allow banks, securities firms, insurance companies, and, in some cases, industrial firms to merge under common…

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…