In the Public Interest

Ever since the introduc­tion of the farm tractor in the 1920’s, farmers have suffered the economic abuse of the giant oil companies. But, unlike their urban consumer counterparts, they fought back by forming farmer-owned oil cooperatives. Starting with coopera­tively owned filling stations and bulk storage plants, they gradually introduced the cooperative idea into oil-product distribution,…

Question: What is it that would cost the public less than a million dollars a year but is driving multi-billion-dollar banks and cor­porations frantic? Answer: H.R. 7590, a bill to provide for an­nual congressional audit of the giant Federal Reserve System. With the vote by the House of Represen­tatives on this legislation expected within the…

In the escalating veto war between Gerald Ford and the Congress, it is time to ask why the White House is so far ahead in its strategic use of that presidential authority compared to the naive and unimaginative measures pursued by the Congress to override it. Through the use of intricate power plays, White House…

U.S. and foreign fishery firms are harvesting about one fifth of the fish resources available on an annually renewable basis off our shores. This startling fact, contained in a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report, contrasts starkly with the worsening news about world hunger and rising meat prices in this country and abroad. How can…

Question: What is it that would cost the public less than a million dollars a year but is driving multibillion-dollar banks and corporations frantic? Answer: HR7590, a bill to provide for annual congres­sional audit of the giant Federal Reserve System. WITH THE VOTE by the House of Representatives on this legislation expected within the month,…

Earlier this year, a stream of letters from workers at the Dow Chemi­cal plant in Michigan pour­ed into senatorial offices to protest the bill that would require safeguards for toxic chemical substances. Inspired and guided by Dow executives, these workers wrote their sena­tors because management had led them to believe that jobs would be lost…

I’ve come across a General Motors statement that finally makes sense! It has nothing to do with automobiles or the ways they are built. Rather, it describes a vast source of practical energy that grows annually in this country and is left on the farm after harvest —the non-edible parts of plants such as cornstalks…

You would think that, in the midst of the nation’s largest disclosed corporate crime wave, Washington would be replete with focused concern and corrective action. Not so. Look at the scene of indifference: 1. There are no congressional investigations planned on business crime and the need for stronger laws and more enforcement resources and prosecutorial…

How can government and corporate officials become more sensitive to the an­guish, hopes, ideas and strengths of the people? This is one of the cardi­nal, age-old questions of justice and democracy, par­ticularly in a society where huge organizations are headed by remote, often inaccessible rulers with more power than they can responsibly use. It is…

How many times have you wondered how to find the best auto repair shops, plumbers, banks, health insurance, pharmacies, TV or appliance repair outlets, household movers, employ­ment agencies, nursing homes, hospital emergency rooms and other services in your community? Robert M. Krughoff also wondered, and two years ago he resigned his federal job in Washington…