In the Public Interest

Sellers like loyal customers. But some corporations are not returning the compliment by telling their customers regularly how they can get a better deal. Take these examples as illustrations: Airlines don’t search their computer to get you the cheapest fare after you tell them where you want to go and how long you are staying.…

A combination of Bill Clinton’s fictions and dissembling about his past extramarital affairs and the ferocious competition between the commercial press to be first with any snippet has produced not a media frenzy but a full-scale media riot. Article and column after article and column in the reputable press kept referring to “allegations” about the…

Technology has revolutionized the banking business. Today, transactions that only a few years ago took days and even weeks are completed instantly around the world via high-speed computer networks. But, when it comes to the little guy who just wants to deposit a pay check and pay a few bills, the world of banking suddenly…

Its the Green Bay Packers vs. the New England Patriots in the Superbowl down in New Orleans on January 26, 1997. To most fans, mention Green Bay and some think of coach Vince Lombardi’s champions of the late sixties. Others think of the frigid weather swirling around Lambeau Field where the packers have won 27…

Ronald Reagan’s proposal to give big raises to top government officials, including a $12,100 increase to members of Congress, is now in the hands of an uncomfortable Congress. If these lawmakers refuse to vote for thirty calendar days, their raises become law by February 4, under a little amendment sneaked through without any hearings in…

It is not enough for the food industry to get away with their burgeoning manipulation of the food supply — chemical additives, excessive pesticides and herbicides, irradiation, genetic engineering, non-labeling, and more. Now they want to shut up Americans who criticize or express an opinion about specific foodstuffs that these corporations believe to be false.…

Although Newt Gingrich was narrowly re-elected as Speaker of the House, he will soon face the judgment of his peers. The question is whether he will have to face the consequences of his actions, or whether he will get off the hook with an apology and a false excuse. In September, 1994, Ben Jones, who…

The Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger announcement further signals that Big Business believes the antitrust laws in the United States are defunct. It is incumbent upon the Clinton Administration to demonstrate by its actions that this view is mistaken. The Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger would join the only two competitors in the U.S. commercial jet market. It would…

Millions of Americans reach into their pockets every year to support charities. But many are left with a nagging worry that much of their generosity is siphoned away by high overhead costs of fundraisers and never reaches the truly needy for whom it is intended. On the other side of the charity table are hundreds…

An assortment of products from carpets to toys to ceramics, to clothing, to soccer balls on sale at some of the major chain retailers and fancy department stores come from the hands of brutalized child labor in dungeon-like workplaces in the Third World. Some 250 million child laborers work full time or part time, according…