In the Public Interest

Jimmy Carter comes to Washington soon to bring his voters “Why Not The Best” government. This is a tall order — one that needs new ideas and modes of operation. In the spirit of the New Year, here are some modest resolutions which could Help Mr. Carter become a President of the People — for…

In the struggle for leadership of the United Steelworkers Union the issues between the incumbents and challenger Ed Sadlowski become clearer every week. Consider, for example, the reaction of the two camps to the steel industry’s recent uniform price increase. Sadlowski issued a statement that sounded like old time unionism. He condemned these prices as…

Former General Motors President Edward Cole and former General Motors Vice President John De­Lorean are for it. So are many con­sumer groups, the auto insurance industry, Forbes Magazine and three former chiefs of the federal auto safety agency. “It” is the automotive passive re­straint, often referred to in one of its forms — the air…

“Nobody controls Jimmy and nobody ever will,” said Rosalynn Carter just before the election. But – the question facing the new President in January is a reverse one. That is, can he control the powerful corporate forces which lead to inflation, pollution, and consumer abuse? Mr. Carter recently received an early signal along this line…

Historians are fond of writing that Americans have rarely indulged themselves in either ideologi­cal or utopian thinking. While the nation’s past has been etched from time to time by both ideologues and utopians, the overwhelming approach, it is said, has been pragmatic — tending to ordinary problems with hardheaded solutions. But these are not ordinary…

General Motors complains that it pays more for health insurance than for steel. Blue Cross is placing advertise­ments around the country pointing out the costs of surplus hospital beds, unnecessary surgery, facility dupli­cation and other wasteful practices that are sending hospital bills soar­ing. Blue Cross predicts that hospital stays could reach an average price of…

On Oct. 10, 1973, the Food and Drug Administra­tion (FDA) published an official notice warning that progestins — synthetic sex hormones — had never been proven effective in preventing miscar­riages and had been implicated in causing birth de­fects. The labels to physicians carry warnings along such lines at the present time. Yet in 1975, about…

Last January, Jimmy Carter said, “I would like to be known as the foremost protector of consumers.” Well, he now has a Presidential opportunity to defend the health, safety and economic rights of the biggest group in America from the ravages of monopoly, market chicanery, product hazards and the corporate-indentured agencies of government. Based on…

In any analysis of the recent election returns, the burgeoning importance of issues being decided by direct popular vote — the other elections, they might be called — deserves more than passing notice. For these referenda on consum­er, tax, environmental, spending, ener­gy and government disclosure subjects reflect the growing maturity of the citi­zen action movement.…

LONDON — A profile in political courage may be emerging from Britain in the form of Mr. Tony Benn, the United Kingdom’s Minister for Energy. The issue is whether Britain should initiate its commercial fast breeder reactor program or proceed with a national debate over this risk-laden technology with full disclosure of information by the…