Dollars & Sense articles from July 1999

Dollars & Sense archives from July 1999

Giving small farmers a boost.(community-supported agriculture)
July 1, 1999... About 15 years ago, in the face of mounting pressure from corporate-run agribusiness, family farmers began seeking out customers in nearby towns and cities who wanted locally grown, organic produce. Out of those relationships was born...

Everyone's getting rich! And other common sense.
July 1, 1999... Everyone's Getting Rich! Or so screams the cover of Money magazine's May issue. On which planet, Money doesn't specify. Beneath the headline stands an upper-class white couple wearing blue and red - literally embodying the American...

World Bank bigwig blames economists for bad advice.(includes excerpts from Stiglitz's speech)(Joseph Stiglitz)
July 1, 1999... The World Bank's chief economist took Western economists to task for their blind adherence to the market and blamed them for Russia's economic debacle in a scathing speech at the World Bank's annual development conference in April. The...

Too much of the bubbly on Wall Street?(overvalued US stock market)
July 1, 1999... As the Dow Jones soared to record heights, most of the nation, which still has little or no direct stake in the stock market, watched with a combination of envy and amusement. Both sentiments are understandable. But more careful analysis...

Bye bye IMF? A new blueprint for the global economy.(Rep. Bernie Sanders' Global Sustainable Development Resolution)
July 1, 1999... Just two years ago, the juggernaut of globalization seemed unstoppable. Advocates of labor rights and ecological stability, busy battling the latest corporate-sponsored drives to deregulate global markets, didn't dream of devising their own...

The growth consensus unravels.(Special Section)(economic growth)
July 1, 1999... Economics has been called the dismal science, but beneath its gray exterior is a system of belief worthy of Pollyanna. Yes, economists manage to see a dark cloud in every silver lining. Downturn follows uptick, and inflation rears its ugly...

Between the devil and the deep blue sea: workers in the global environment.(effects of environmental regulations on employment)
July 1, 1999... In 1988, I was recalled to work at General Electric Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, after a four-year layoff. This was not the first long layoff and, as always, getting called back unleashed a complex emotional response. I felt a great...

What an environmentally sustainable economy looks like.
July 1, 1999... Greens and economic progressives are seen as uncertain, uneasy allies - and perhaps not allies at all. Think of those spotted-owl-loving, middle-class activists clashing with blue collar loggers in the Pacific Northwest. Or the clash between...

Creating markets for recycling.
July 1, 1999... When a school child, a parent, or a businessperson comes into the Environmental Protection Agency's New England Research Library where I work to talk about how they can "help" the environment, they usually talk about recycling. Recycling is the...

Wringing out the world.(water supply)
July 1, 1999... Water as an environmental topic is a bit like climate change. Until you reach for your winter coat on a grey August day in New York City, you will not believe things are as bad as they say. Same goes with water. When you turn on the spigot and...

Achieving the good life.(adaptation from 'Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living')
July 1, 1999... The recent enthusiasm for "simple living" in the United States is largely apolitical, with acolytes maintaining that ours is an affluent society, whose central problem is an unenlightened consciousness. An entire self-help literature has...

Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Mega-Profits and the Attack on Democracy.(Review)
July 1, 1999... by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, (Common Courage Press, 1999) John Krumm Ross Perot, the faux populist billionaire, predicted that NAFTA-induced job loss to Mexico would emit a "giant sucking sound." Yet Perot's prominent ears...

Ask Dr. Dollar.(International Monetary Fund and the World Bank)
July 1, 1999... Dear Dr. Dollar: Who are the people really running the IMF and World Bank? How do they get their money? And what's the difference between the two institutions? - Charlie Tesch, Somerville, Mass. The International Monetary Fund...

Ecological footprints.(effect of countries on global natural resources)
July 1, 1999... What is to blame for global warming, depleting fossil fuels, and other environmental problems? Overpopulated Third World countries with lax environmental standards, as the Heritage Foundation and other conservative think tanks assert, or...