Dollars & Sense articles from November 2006

Dollars & Sense archives from November 2006

From the editors.(death of economist Milton Friedman)(Obituary)
November 1, 2006... As this issue goes to press, Milton Friedman, one of the 20th century's most prominent economists, has died at the age of 94. Friedman was, among other things, a libertarian who advocated decriminalizing marijuana and eliminating the draft. A...

Labor rights in China? No way!(labor law reforms)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Alarmed by growing economic inequality and the threat of social unrest, the Chinese government has proposed labor law reforms that would "crack down on sweatshops and protect workers' rights by giving labor unions real power for the first time...

Financial tip: learn to regift.(Money Management International launches new web site www.regiftable.com)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Worried about sticking to your budget this holiday season? Credit counseling company Money Management International (MMI) has the answer: Regift! The company has launched a seasonal website, www.regiftable.com, that offers guidelines on proper...

Need a liver transplant? Head for Bombay!(medical procedure costs in India)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... For thousands of European, Canadian, and U.S. patients, the idea of saving thousands of dollars on a medical procedure, and getting in some vacation time in an exotic locale to boot, seems to be a dream come true. Hence the rapid growth in...

Newsflash: Wal-Mart cuts wages!(the short run)
November 1, 2006... Wal-Mart has announced plans to cap wages and shift more positions from full-time to part-time, the New York Times reported in October. Sources told the Times that Wal-Mart is aiming for a 40% part-time workforce. Company spokespeople deny the...

Boy Scouts enter law enforcement.(Hong Kong's battle against illegal file sharing over Internet)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Media and entertainment companies have a new ally in their battle against illegal file sharing: Hong Kong's Boy Scouts. Following a "successful" pilot program, the Hong Kong government is recruiting and training 200,000 11- to 20-year-olds from...

(No) politics at the Fed.(Federal Reserve Board's Alan Greenspan's political meetings analysis)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The Federal Reserve is supposed to be independent and apolitical, employing only technical expertise to steer the economy on a stable path, right? Newly acquired records of former Fed chair Alan Greenspan's meetings at the White House, the...

Ampersand.(the short run)(Cartoon)
November 1, 2006... STOP THEM BEFORE THEY HELP AGAIN [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] amptoons.com

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... To the editors: Thank you for an interesting and thought-provoking discussion of Solidarity Economics. I believe, as you do, it is important for the left, especially now, to "imagine" (a la Lennon) new ways of doing things. And I think the...

Organizing labor in rural Colombia: a federation of unions struggles to exist in the face of repression and violence.(social movements)
November 1, 2006... Hours into a long and bumpy drive through southern Colombia, Liliany Obando, the international relations director of the country's largest peasant organization, shocked me with the news that our entire route--six hours' driving through open,...

Microcredit and women's poverty: granting this year's Nobel Peace Prize to microcredit guru Muhammad Yunus affirms neoliberalism.(comment)(Column)
November 1, 2006... The key to understanding why Grameen Bank founder and CEO Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize lies in the current fascination with individualistic myths of wealth and poverty. Many policy-makers believe that poverty is "simply" a problem...

In Vieques, Puerto Rico, la lucha continua.(military operations in the island)
November 1, 2006... Last spring, I came across an article in Caribbean Edge magazine on Vieques, a small island seven miles off the coast of Puerto Rico. According to the article, Vieques' "lush green rainforest, pristine beaches, and crystal clear waters" are...

America's growing fringe economy: financial services for the poor and credit-challenged are big business.(fringe economy businesses)(businesses charging more to low-income or heavily indebted consumers)
November 1, 2006... Ron Cook is a department manager at a Wal-Mart store in Atlanta. Maria Guzman is an undocumented worker from Mexico; she lives in Houston with her three children and cleans office buildings at night. Marty Lawson works for a large Minneapolis...

Turning gas into development in Bolivia: in October the major foreign energy companies operating in Bolivia finally agreed to new contract terms under Evo Morales' May 1 "nationalization" decree. Will the new policy bring real change?
November 1, 2006... On May 1 of this year, banners reading "Nationalized: Property of the Bolivian people" were hung over filling station entrances and strung across the gates of refineries and gas and oil fields across Bolivia. From the San Alberto field in...

Coal in our stockings.(Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future)(An Inconvenient Truth)(Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness, Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia )(Book review)(Video recording review)
November 1, 2006... Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future, by Jeff Goodell. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2006. 324 pages. ISBN 0-618-31940-9. An Inconvenient Truth, directed by David Guggenheim. Paramount Home Video (DVD release),...

The opposite of insurance: unless you're rich, healthy, or both, Health Savings Accounts are bad news.(economy in numbers)
November 1, 2006... Congress created Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in 2003 as tax-advantaged savings accounts linked to the purchase of a high-deductible health plan. But the scheme is not a new idea. HSA proponents, including many health economists, have long...