Dollars & Sense articles from July 1996

Dollars & Sense archives from July 1996

Homeless electorate.
July 1, 1996... Rest In Peace, Pat Buchanan, the latest political figure to strike a political gusher by tapping into our country's deep and spreading pool of populist anger. This Republican infidel charged full tilt at the Holy Walls of the Established Order...

Jobs vs. wages: the phony trade-off. (includes related articles on unemployment)
July 1, 1996... People used to point to Sweden, France, Germany and other European social democracies to show how markets could be organized in a kinder, gentler fashion. We used their lower unemployment rate, universal social benefits and high wages to say that...

The job-eating villain: is it NAFTA or Mexico's currency crisis? (North American Free Trade Agreement)(includes related article on petitions to National Administrative Offices)
July 1, 1996... The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been in effect for more than two years, and the results are in. Trends in U.S.-Mexico trade since 1994 seem to bear out the fearful predictions of NAFTA's opponents. With NAFTA on trial so that...

Sports stadium ripoffs: building neighborhoods or building profits.
July 1, 1996... Within a three minute walk of Tiger Stadium in Cork-town, Detroit's oldest neighborhood, stands the two-story brick home of the Tiger Stadium Fan Club. Inside the Fan Club's poorly heated office are stacks of "Save Tiger Stadium" bumper stickers....

Mischievous myths about money in politics.
July 1, 1996... The key to real campaign finance reform is an accurate perception of the problem. Here are a few of the most common money-in-politics myths that serve to obscure our vision - myths still accepted by many journalists, pundits and even reformers....

Government of, by, and for the wealthy.
July 1, 1996... It's not easy to directly tie campaign contributions from special interests to votes by members of Congress on their behalf. Since buying votes is illegal, there is never a written record showing that a Senator or Representative made their choice...

The buying of the president. (excerpts from 'The Buying of the President')
July 1, 1996... Charles Lewis launched the not-for-profit Center for Public Integrity in 1990, after 11 years in television journalism and a stint as a top producer for CBS's "60 minutes." His goal was to examine Washington's political corruption. His recent...

Soft money, hard choices: a primer on campaign finance reform. (includes related articles on campaign contributions)
July 1, 1996... The semester is ending and the professor is computing final grades. A student approaches her desk, tells her how much he appreciates her teaching, and lays a check for $1000 on top of her grade book. That's bribery, right? But what if the...

Green groups bargain with polluters. (environmentalists)
July 1, 1996... Earth Share is a loose confederation of 43 environmental organizations joined together for the purposes of fundraising. Similar to United Way, Earth Share allows employees to donate to a collection of environmental groups via workplace payroll...

Rocketing stocks: will the market return to earth? (includes related article on the 1987 stock market crash)
July 1, 1996... "Stocks Blast Off!" "Bull Market Rampages On!" "Industrials Rocket to Another Record!" Few sources of hyperbole are as rich as Wall Street. And the stock market's recent performance has given the financial press and pundits plenty to wax...

The War on the Poor: A Defense Manual.
July 1, 1996... When Camelot's own Ted Kennedy sponsors legislation calling for "an end tO the handout [the welfare system] has become for too many," America's 30-year war on poverty looks more and more like a skirmish. But then, Ronald Reagan told us as much....