Across the political spectrum, there is an absence of serious and persuasive ideas for reviving and rebuilding the U.S. economy. Bill Clinton’s advocacy of extensive federal investment in infrastructure, training, and education is a vast improvement over anything else on …
At the beginning of Gorbachev’s perestroika, a number of economists expressed the idea that so-called “socialist property” essentially belonged to no one—it lacked a subject. But the well-being of those who managed this property in the name of the state …
The headlines of the nation’s newspapers, from New York to Washington to Los Angeles, blare out the same message: “D.C. Foster Care Workers Tell of Horrors,” “Foster Care System Reeling,” “Troubled Children Flood Ill-Prepared Foster Care System.” The nation’s foster-care …
Minutes before President Clinton delivered his major economic address to Congress, the television camera panned to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the gallery. Flanking her were Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and John Sculley, CEO of Apple Computer. The …
The following is an excerpt from Kanan Makiya’s forthcoming book, Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World, which we reprint with the permission of W.W. Norton & Co. The book is a remarkable examination by a dissident …
The American debate about health insurance, Canada’s version (called somewhat confusingly “Medicare” and so referred to in this article) is often cited by supporters and opponents alike. Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford won election in part on his promise to introduce …
At bottom, the euphoria with which the public has welcomed Bill Clinton to Washington—and which, if the polls are right, has substantially survived his rocky first few weeks—is a euphoria at the reinvention of government. Euphoria just that a government …
Toward the end of last summer we went to a Danish island, as we have done for years now, looking to put some space between us and our “troublesome fatherland,” yet mindful of how quickly and completely such small distance, …
This is a story that asks a question. First the story. Once upon a time there was a land so rich in resources that people beyond its borders thought the streets must be paved with gold. But it was so …
Recent history has not been kind to the ideas of “socialism” and “tradition.” The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union— “the only existing socialism” according to some friends and foes alike—seems to make socialism an …
It is clear that President Clinton will submit a health care reform package to Congress. It even seems clear that something labeled health care reform will be enacted. What is not clear is what that something will look like. The …
The direction of Robert Heilbroner’s “An Economy in Deep Trouble (Dissent, Fall 1992) is the need for “transformational growth,” to be achieved by a major public-works program and improved education, including a comprehensive apprenticeship system. The problem he sees is …
It is a strange time, indeed, when a dead man is brought back from the grave to inspire the living. As far as we know, such an act of resurrection costs the dead nothing. It might even be a source …
Bill Clinton is the first Democratic president in modern times to be elected without strong union identification. At no time during the campaign did he even hint at interest in labor-law reform (beyond a perfunctory visit to Caterpillar picket lines …
A familiar scene. Tired mother returns from work. Picks up two-year-old from day-care center. Arrives home to find eight-year-old and ten-year-old locked in mortal combat. Separates them and screams at everyone. Goes in kitchen to start supper. Two-year-old whines. Fight …
