In the Public Interest

If he is anything, Jimmy Carter is one of the foremost political broken-field runners in modern American history. Just when you think his ineptitude has caught his foot in a bear trap, he scampers away a few feet. This is about all that can be said about his most recent corporate “revitalization” program. All it…

HOBART, TASMANIA — Even in this more distant and very beautiful Australian state, the looming issue is becoming (as it is throughout this country) the foreign multinational corporations. The aluminum industry and other companies want cheap hydropower. So they are supporting the damming of rivers in the spectacular wilderness of Southwest Tasmania. Conservationists, led by…

One of those little-publicized strug­gles, weighted with gravity for the safety of millions of Americans on the highway, occurred a few days ago on Capitol Hill. Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt was busy undercutting the valiant attempts of conservative Republi­can Senator John Warner to ensure that life-saving air bags would be available on cars starting…

The state of Maine and the seven large paper companies that own 35 percent of its land took their annual run of the pesticide treadmill last month. As chemical insecticide use has increased, the pesticide treadmill has become a familiar phenomenon in forest and agricultural communities. In Maine the object of the poison is the…

HONOLULU, HAWAII—Do com­parative grocery price surveys help keep food prices down? Here in Hawaii’s largest city where food prices are higher than in any other city in the United States except Anchorage, Alaska, the local newspaper, Honolulu Advertiser, has been printing for several years what a list of staple foods costs consumers at specific super­markets.…

Every once in a while, the federal government comes out with a publica­tion that is so useful you wish people could obtain it free. Well, just off the presses from the White House Office of Consumer Affairs is a 400-page paper-hack, beautifully laid out in print and pictures, called People Power. And it is free…

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The business lobbies can scarcely conceal their gloating, while consumer groups are not bothering to hide their gloom in this city of political ebb and flow. Indeed, both have good reasons for their respective attitudes. The coming Reagan administration very probably will be soft on business crime and fraud. There is no prospect that…

I’ve come across an increasing number of news reports lately which show how deep the gap is between what consumers and citizens are expected to believe and what actually occurs. The theory is that when sellers have more products to sell than consumers are buying, prices should be reduced. The practice is more and more…

Like an 800-pound gorilla who can sleep anywhere he wants, General Motors, led by mean Thomas A. Murphy, believes it can get anything it wants. A few weeks ago, Murphy reneged on GM’s promise to the Department of Transportation that it would install air bags in many of its large 1982-model year cars. This meant…

It is probably the most remarkable annual report ever issued by a utility. The fact that the utility is the Tennessee Valley Authority–a government cor­poration–makes it no less remarkable given the behavior that the TVA until recently has exhibited which is similar to profit-making private utilities. The TVA report for 1979 reflects the belief of…