In the Public Interest

The Chrysler Corp. has applied to Washington for welfare. With $17 billion in sales last year, Chrysler believes that both its mounting losses ($207 million in the second quarter of 1979) and its bigness leave the government no choice but to give the company the equivalent of $1 billion. In the past few months, Chrysler…

LOS ANGELES, CALIF.–It is a wonder to behold–a technical safety magazine that is critical of corporate practices and run largely by corporate employees. Called “Hazard Prevention,” the bimonthly magazine is published by the Safety System Society (Box A, Newport Beach, Calif. 92663). The officers and members of the board hail from such companies as Northrup…

Did you ever wonder why innovative responses to problems in one city or town spread so slowly (if at all) to other cities or towns that have the same nagging conditions? Notwithstanding an era of rapid communications, the tendency for one community to utilize effective reforms developed in another seems bogged down. So much of…

TORONTO–Some Canadians both in and outside of governmentare reacting to President Carter’s energy address by wondering what now will happen to the acid rain treaty negotiations between the two countries. Acid rain, containing sulfur and nitrogen oxides, is estimated to cause about $600 million in damage annually just to sport and commercial fisheries in the…

The massive multibillion dollar corporate subsidy bills for synthetic fuels (mostly from coal and shale oil) that are roaring through a panic-stricken Congress hide a far more insidious objective than wasting taxpayer money. An all-out attack on citizen rights to challenge these uneconomic and environmentally harmful boondoggles is designed to be part of this package…

The family of Mother Hilda would not consider a nursing home for her when she became house-ridden from rheumatoid arthritis 15 years ago when she was 70 years old. It was out of the question four years ago when, she became partially bedridden. And it also was out of the question when a year and…

Two Americans, one anonymous and one not, have recently initiated two interesting ideas to advance consumer muscle in a corporate-dominated economy. The first idea is contained in a letter which, aided by ubiquitous copying machines, has been spreading rapidly throughout the country. Whoever the writer may be, she or he has struck a chord with…

Suppose you are a senator or representative mulling over what to do about the Big Oil companies. Your constituents are demanding that something be done about gas lines, sky-high gasoline prices, refineries operating well below capacity, gasoline being diverted by U.S. oil companies from their West Indies refineries to Europe, official figures showing crude oil…

A nursing home was out of the question for the family of Mother Hilda when she became houseridden from rheumatoid arthritis 15 years ago when 70 years old. It was out of the question four years ago when she became partially bedridden. And, it also was out of the question when 1 1/2 years ago…

Toby Cagan had a lemon — a Chrysler lemon called an Aspen. This in itself is not unusual, given that company’s horrendous recall record of late. What is unique is that Toby Cagan fought back and won. Right from the start, Ms. Cagan’s 1977 Aspen showed its colors. Stalling, a difficult steering column, sticky windows…