Dollars & Sense articles from March 1999

Dollars & Sense archives from March 1999

Manifesto destiny: the enduring sexiness of Karl Marx.
March 1, 1999... "The longer I spend on Wall Street, the more convinced I am that Marx was right." - Stockbroker quoted in "The Return of Karl Marx," by John Cassidy, The New Yorker, Oct. 20-27, 1997 In 1999, why should we read the Communist Manifesto?...

The dollar and its rival.
March 1, 1999... For many years, the U.S. dollar has been the currency of economic power and imperialism. As the home currency of the world's largest banks and corporations, as well as the world's foremost military power, the dollar is the currency of choice...

Exxon-Mobil: the grandaddy of mergers.
March 1, 1999... The proposed merger of Exxon and Mobil, currently the first and third largest oil companies, would create the world's largest oil firm - and possibly the largest corporation overall. But the proposal has so far attracted no comment from the...

Welfare to work: pain in Wisconsin.
March 1, 1999... A pilot study on Wisconsin's welfare-to-work program shows that while many former welfare recipients have found jobs, a large fraction have not; those who are working are making sub-poverty level incomes; and large numbers cannot afford food or...

Japan's recession: the 800-pound crisis.
March 1, 1999... Each new day seems to bring more bad news about the Japanese economy. It shrank by an estimated 2% last year, and will shrink even more in 1999. Many of the giants of Japanese industry are in serious trouble. Nissan, Japan's second-largest auto...

Tax reform follies: a preview of coming distractions.
March 1, 1999... "Tax work, not wealth," chant Billionaires for Steve Forbes, a pin-striped team of activists now shadowing the billionaire politician's every move. The guerrilla theater group exhibits "irrational exuberance" for their man's every attempt to...

Sweatshop blues: companies love misery.
March 1, 1999... The National Labor Committee, based in New York City and led by Charles Kernaghan, has been a leader in efforts to spotlight the horrific wages and working conditions at garment factories throughout Central America and the Caribbean. In October...

The continuous threat from trade negotiations.(includes glossary)
March 1, 1999... In 1980, a health scandal erupted in Italy when a synthetic hormone used to promote weight gain and muscle development in cattle was linked to premature breast development and menstruation in young girls. In response the Europeans banned the...

NAFTA takes over the hemisphere? An interview with Carlos Beas Torres on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.
March 1, 1999... At a series of closed-door meetings over the past several years, leaders from 34 countries have been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). This agreement amounts to the expansion of NAFTA (North American Free Trade...

Anarchism faces the '90s.
March 1, 1999... Early in this century, the feminist and anarchist Emma Goldman loved to stroll through Tompkins square Park on New York's Lower East Side, before the U.S. government deported her for her revolutionary politics. Only ten years ago, residents of...

A national disgrace: U.S. leads in human deprivation.
March 1, 1999... Of 17 industrial countries rated by the United Nations using a new poverty index, the United States ranked worst in human deprivation, despite having the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita. The United Nations' Human Development...