In the Public Interest

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND — In contrast to its larger French and German neighbors, this small, neat country is becoming increasingly worried about nuclear power. A majority of the general public and parliament resists the prospect of Holland going nuclear. While Premier Dries van Agt, under heavy pressure from France’s President Giscard d’Estaing, seems to be lean­ing…

White House inflation fighter Alfred Kahn is having a very frustrating time. Instead of declining, inflation is increasing, especially in the four economic sectors that affect consumers most: health, energy, food and housing. As a former Cornell University economics professor, his analysis, like that of most economists, of how best to combat inflation proceeds from…

The appointment of Washington lawyer-lobbyist Lloyd N. Cutler as White House counsel reveals the extent to which Jimmy Carter is inviting corporate power into his inner circle. From a candidate who in 1976 said he hoped to become the leading consumer champion, Carter has turned to Cutler who has long represented the archetype anti-consumer position…

Kenneth Mason and Lee Iacocca both are presidents of major corporations. But the similarity ends there. In the past month both gentlemen have expressed dramatically dissimilar thoughts about corporations, regulations and responsibility. Mason, head of Quaker Oats Co., represents a small band of corporate statesmen in this country. You would understand better what I mean…

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…