In the Public Interest

The safe drinking water bill is in trouble. Buffeted by the combined efforts of that stolid fraternity — the oil industry and the White House — the bill, H. R. 13002, has moved with glacial slowness through the House Commerce Committee. The Senate has already passed similar legislation. At every opportunity its opponents have hacked…

Residential utility con­sumers are fighting mad about the drastic increase in electric, gas and tele­phone bills. Electricity rates, for example, rose 55.4 percent on the average during the first half of this year for the country’s 50 largest utili­ties. But consumers have no strategy, other than sporad­ic protests and underfunded lawsuits, to try and redress…

Will voluntary programs to fight inflation and save energy work, if given the backing of the White House and the major civic, business and labor groups in the country? Notwithstanding the enthusiasm of President Ford, there are many people who think that not much can come of voluntary efforts at mobilizing the country. Only mandatory…

Washington—Sen. Robert Griffin’s (R-Mich.) critical role in sustaining by one vote the minority filibuster tactic which beat back a majority of 65 senators in favor of the consumer-protection bill (S.707) is a matter of record. But how and why he fought this bill is an inside story which should interest more than the deceived voters…

Sen. Robert Griffin’s (R-Mich.) critical role in sustaining by one vote the minority filibuster tactic which beat back a majority of 65 senators in favor of the consumer protection bill (S.707) is a matter of record. But how and why he fought this bill is an inside story which should interest more than the deceived…

In that address before the Rotary Club of New York City. Seymour was clearly indignant. He com­plained that business crimes receive favored treat­ment in the courts. which give much lighter sentences, frequently suspended, than are given to individuals prosecuted for petty stealing. “Businessmen,” he noted sharply. “too often tend to smile understand­ingly at illegal conduct…

Before it is possible to expect effective anti-inflationary policies to come out of Washington, the Ford administration will have to ask itself if it is willing to oppose some old or proposed pro-inflationary practices. Here is a handy checklist of pro-inflationary directions which many elected and appointed politicians would rather not talk about with citizens…

Why do southern senators vote so consistently against the interests of American consumers and for the objectives of corporate lobbyists? Certainly consumers in the south have the same grievances as consumers in the north or other sections of the country. Southern consumers often buy cars that are lemons, receive worthless merchandise, and suffer from price…

Corporate income tax payments, as a percentage of federal revenue receipts, have been withering away over the last three decades to a level that would shock millions of individual tax­payers who, quite predict­ably, are holding up an in­creasing share of the federal tax burden. In what must be among the least publicized figures in Washington,…

John Z. De Lorean, the former superstar executive at General Motors until he resigned last year, was in Washington a few days ago making some super good sense. In a Senate briefing, sponsored by Senator Vance Hartke (Dem., Ind.), De Lorean said it was ridiculous to consider sacrificing automotive engineering safety because of the auto…