In the Public Interest

The New York Times captured the headline — “Jubilant Democrats Assume Control on Capitol Hill.” Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to become Speaker of the House, overshadowed her co-leader, Senator Harry Reid, the new majority leader of the Senate, though both of their speeches were remarkably similar. Now that the Democrats, after twelve long years,…

SAN FRANCISCO — It was a packed house at the historic old Roxie Theatre in this city’s Mission District. A diverse group of citizens gathered here between Christmas and the New Year to listen and discuss the prospects of progressive politics following the Democrats’ victory in Congress and the election of a Green Party candidate…

As we settle-in to cheer on our favorite college football teams this bowl season, it’s important to remember that an undisputed consolidation of power and money — the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) — controls which schools play in the major bowl games and National Championship game. The BCS operates independently from, and without accountability to,…

When I was growing up in New England during the 1940’s, the symbol for reliability, punctuality, and efficiency was the United States Post Office. Indeed, people could almost tell the time of day by the postman’s twice a day delivery rounds. Unfortunately, ever since President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed a commission to reorganize the Post…

After moving the formerly progressive state of Michigan along the road to corporate serfdom, former Governor John Engler moved seamlessly to the much higher paying position as President of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in Washington, D.C. The internal tensions of large trade associations are rarely the subject of reporters’ attentions. For if they…

It is clear, in the midst of a seven year corporate financial crime wave, that the business moguls and their academic apologists, who make up the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (CCMG) have no sense of irony. It is not enough that the CCMG’s new report is recommending less law enforcement and accountability after years…

The torrid pace of risks and valuations reached a new level in the business known as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Required by federal law to pass on most of their earnings to their shareholders, REIT shares have been going up and up for eight straight years, with this year clocking an unexpected 30% rise…

Bush’s Brain, Karl Rove, outsmarted himself and lost a chance to keep control of the Senate in Republican hands. It started and ended in the Connecticut Senate race with Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman as his “fatal attraction.” When “pendulum” Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary in August to upstart multimillionaire Ned Lamont, Rove phoned…

Unlike competing sports teams, adversaries on the corporate and consumer or environment sides rarely square off in public to provide much needed drama and media. They each testify, litigate, petition and conduct press conferences on their own track. Only very rarely do they debate each other. It is not that the drama is absent. Take…

The baying pack of belligerent draft dodgers — Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Limbaugh — were out in verbal force this week against John Kerry. The Senator miscued a joke about Bush by reading without the “us” in the line, “You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.” The…