Republican ideologues are fighting a new cold war. Their enemy is the “corrosive liberal ethos” and the government that it supports. They believe that Ronald Reagan and George Bush failed, because government, or some semblance of it, still exists. This …
With the economy growing and inflation steady, why are so many people disgruntled? One reason may be that economic growth has not improved their standard of living. For example, in 1993, despite the economic recovery, the number of Americans below …
Forty years ago in Dissent, Irving Howe and Lewis Coser wrote: “To will the image of socialism is a constant struggle for definition.” Ever since then one of the distinguishing characteristics of Dissent has been that “struggle for definition.” The …
Bill Clinton campaigned for his current job by reminding America what had happened during twelve years of Republican rule. He pointed out that wealth was transferred from the poor to the wealthy; he described an economy sapped of strength by …
Bill Clinton won the presidency by promising the “most dramatic economic growth program since World War II.” In contrast to Bush, who offered no solutions to economic problems (he barely recognized any), Clinton emphasized the need to create millions of …
It has been a rough few months for George Bush. Last summer the administration believed that the recession was caused by jittery consumers who quit spending because of the Gulf War. But the economic slowdown was not related to the …
As I write (in July) the administration has proclaimed that the recession is over. One should view such a pronouncement with caution. It’s noteworthy, however, that the administration expects no more than a weak recovery, with a growth rate of …
For over thirty years the Hungarian economist Janos Kornai has been a sophisticated analyst of the communist command economies. His writings have been characterized by a mixture, rare among economists, of rigor, skepticism, and sympathy. Until recently Kornai rejected the …
As the cold war winds down questions arise: How much should the defense budget be cut, and what should be done with the money freed? What will be the effect of such cuts on an economy in which the share …
I admired Bob Lekachman long before I met him. It was not only that we shared a political perspective. an interest in the history of economic thought. and a belief that economics is too important to be left to the …
Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980 was in part the result of Jimmy Carter’s failure to respond to high unemployment and inflation. Carter’s austerity program (in 1979, when millions of people were without work, Carter proposed a $25 billion cut in …
Zola once explained how to cope with times like these. One must buy a toad every morning and devour it alive and whole. Only after such a breakfast can one face the newspapers with a tranquil stomach, read and swallow …
Two young, politically engaged film-makers, Julia Reichert and James Klein, with one successful documentary (Union Maids) to their credit; a subject full of human and political complexity; seven years in preparation, including 400 interviews (only about a dozen make it …
Theoretical economics, for understandable reasons, is rarely a topic of public discussion. For economists, it is perhaps just as well; they are spared the task of explaining their highly abstract and often irrelevant models. But times of crisis produce demands for …
Stung by its defeat in 1980, disgraced by its attempt to out-budget-cut the Republicans in 1981, the Democratic party is united in 1982 mainly in its opposition to Reagan. But beneath this tenuous unity there is ideological unease and organizational …
