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Vol. 20 No. 8September 2009
Columns
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Integrate Expectations
The Obama administration is pressuring suburbs to end segregated housing but ignoring their history of segregated schools. -
My Model City
To a kid imbued with the idealism of "reform," Dahl's was a bracingly sanguine view of machine politics. -
Opposite Day
Obama decided that if everything Carter and Clinton did turned out wrong, then the opposite would have to be right. -
Bipartisanship in One Party
The Democratic health-reform proposals are built around ideas Republicans used to favor.
Culture
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A Darwin for the Divine
Evolution and religion are compatible if we accept that even our cultural development displays inbuilt direction. -
The Moral Equivalent of Anti-Slavery
Gender equality in developing countries may be the premier human-rights struggle of the 21st century -- but first the rest of the world has to care. -
What to Do About the Court?
Not much. An activist Supreme Court may strike down laws, but it can also give them political legitimacy. -
What's Killing Conservatism?
Self-destruction is inevitable when a rigid ideology of disdain for government fully comes to power. -
Winning With the Economy -- or Without It
Candidates running with the economy against them have a tougher go, but it's possible to win by changing the conversation.
Departments
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Noted
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Up Front
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Evasive Maneuvers
Journalists learn what to do if they're captured in Afghanistan -- or rural Virginia.
Special Report
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Decent Work
How government can get back on the side of promoting good jobs. -
The Good War and the Workers
World War II defense contracts raised labor standards. Government could use the same leverage in peacetime. -
Which Side Is Government On?
Millions of contract workers whose salaries are ultimately paid by government live in poverty. Uncle Sam should demand high standards, not pay as little as possible. -
Good Jobs, Healthy Cities
Eight steps city governments can take to promote good jobs. -
Forgotten Corners of the Economy
As unemployment rises, the illegal treatment of day laborers only worsens. Where's the government? -
Government Paves the Way
A decent work agenda for the Obama administration. -
Stuck on the Low Road
Deregulation turned truck driving from a good job into a bad one. Now, thanks to local organizing and government action, there's a better road. -
Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers
Rebuilding our economy on the back of illegal working conditions is morally untenable -- and it is bad economics. -
Dark and Bitter
Food workers increasingly exist in a legal limbo with no protections for wages, benefits, job security, or life and limb. Why are employers like Hershey off the hook?
Features
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See Jerry Run. Again.
California, still living with the consequences of Jerry Brown's first governorship, is poised to elect him again. -
Refugees of Diversity
One man's journey into the whitest -- and fastest growing -- communities in America. -
How Detroit Went Bottom-Up
Outsourcing has made the automotive industry so co-dependent and fragile that one company's downfall is every company's concern. -
Childbirth at the Global Crossroads
Women in the developing world who are paid to bear other people's children test the emotional limits of the international service economy.
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Vol. 20 No. 7August 2009
Columns
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The Limits of Likeability
The president remains popular even as many of his supporters become uneasy about what he's actually doing. -
States of Distress
A second stimulus could help states avoid layoffs, program cuts, and tax hikes. -
Left Without Labor
A party of professionals and young voters risks becoming a party that overlooks the core economic crisis facing American workers.
Culture
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The Life and Death of Online Communities
How online communities are born -- and what happens when they die. -
In Wal-Mart's Image
The "values" of the largest private-sector employer in the U.S. are shaping our national economy -- and that's a very bad thing. -
Chicken Little Goes to Europe
Western Europe is being transformed by immigrants from the Islamic world. But they are not the enemy within.
Departments
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Up Front
Insurance companies are doing A-OK; Back-to-school CliffsNews; The Search for credible Republicans; and The Question. -
Nativism Versus Security
When police become immigration enforcers, everybody loses. -
Noted
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Insurance Fraud
In the health-care reform debate, the insurance lobby is a wolf in sheep's clothing. -
Countercyclical Capital
Is D.C. the only place in America not affected by the downturn? -
Going to Extremes
There is much to fear in the right's comfort with radicalism, but little to envy.
Special Report
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A National Mission
Britain's national goal of reducing child poverty was a political success. Did it work? -
Putting Poverty in Its Place
Neighborhood-based approaches can succeed, if they're part of a broader urban strategy. -
Can Separate Be Equal?
The classroom is where poor and middle-class kids should meet -- to the benefit of both. -
Race, Wealth, and Intergenerational Poverty
There will never be a post-racial America if the wealth gap persists. -
A New Agenda for Tough Times
After a decade of economic change and fresh thinking, it's time for a new national effort to fight poverty. -
The Poverty of Political Talk
It's still hard for politicians to speak clearly about the poorest Americans. -
A Modern Safety Net
We need to update our social contract for the real lives of working families in a brutal economy. -
Don't Forget the Men
Why has helping the single, childless workers become the darling of poverty policy? -
Recovering Opportunity
Racial barriers continue to hold back millions of Americans -- and our economy. -
Behavioral Theory
Can Mayor Bloomberg pay people to do the right thing? -
Mis-Measuring Poverty
In recent years, there has been a growing effort to revamp our poverty definition.
Features
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Overdue Process
When it comes to terrorist suspects in detention, Obama is finding that Bush set a difficult precedent to break. -
Suburban Ghetto
Segregation, not immigration, is to blame for the growth of Hispanic gangs. -
Suburban Ghetto
Segregation, not immigration, is to blame for the growth of Hispanic gangs. -
Aborting Health Reform
Without reproductive-health coverage, any public insurance plan is doomed to fail. -
Present at the Re-Creation
These seven liberal financial experts are our best hope for truly fixing the economy. -
The Truth About Tuition
The conversation about college costs shouldn't end at student loans. -
There Goes the Neighborhood
Housing speculators are back, and they're hindering efforts at block-by-block revitalization.
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Vol. 20 No. 6June 2009
Columns
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Perils of the Public Plan
A badly designed public plan could turn out to be the opposite of what progressives intend. -
Testing Testing
Beneath the feel-good press releases about national education standards lie unresolved policy differences. -
The Optimist
By asserting that our institutions are capable of actually governing, Obama is, in effect, demanding that they do so. -
Race De-Baiting
As Sotomayor's nomination has made evident, accusations of racism often obscure much deeper and more pressing questions about how our differences matter and how they should not.
Culture
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Our Cherished Paradoxes
American history is a series of clashes between personal freedom and societal order. Politics may be what holds us together. -
Do the Netroots Matter?
The progressive blogs and online networks have changed politics. But did they replace the media or win the 2008 election? -
Cheap Thrills
Is buying more the way to economize? Clearly, this is not your grandmother's downturn. -
The Ultimate Bear Market
The uncouth bankers who brought down Bear Stearns make for an entertaining story. But the real responsibility for the crisis lies elsewhere.
Departments
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Women and the Minimum Wage
The increase in the federal minimum wage helps women -- but not nearly enough. -
The 10 Dumbest Arguments Against Health-Care Reform
The health-care debate has been overwhelmed by grumbling resistance. Too bad the complaints are largely groundless. -
With China, Money Talks
Strategic and economic dialogue? Forget it, Hillary -- it's China. -
A Scheme Out of Gas
Hawks are lobbying hard for a gasoline embargo against Iran. Too bad such a sanction just won't work. -
Up Front
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Noted
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Marion's Moral Compass
The philandering former D.C. mayor leads a crusade against gay marriage. -
Recession Depression
The authors of Womenomics are telling employees to demand work-life balance -- or else! But in a bleak economic climate, most women workers lack real bargaining power.
Special Report
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What Does Financial Capital Owe Society?
Corporate social responsibility is a worthy goal, but it's no substitute for regulation, subsidy, and government sponsorship of social institutions. -
Financial Product Safety
The case for a new agency to put the needs of consumers first -
Reforming Credit
Our financial system needs to work for consumers at all income levels. A guide to the crisis, its causes, and cures. -
When Creditors are Predators
We need to regulate to assure that loans work -- and stop the loans that work people over. -
Regulation as Civic Empowerment
The policing of the financial system can't just be left to bureaucrats. Properly designed, regulation can be a community-organizing strategy. -
Community Reinvestment: The Broader Agenda
CRA has created a cadre of community-friendly bankers. It's time to bring reinvestment policy into the 21st century. -
The Assault on the Black Middle Class
Sub-prime lending was racially targeted and demolished decades of progress made by America's most diligent and striving people of color. How will America make amends? -
Banks as Heroes
Community-development banks show what financial institutions can do when they have the right motivation and the right mission. -
Reversing the Damage
What will it take to resume credit flows to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods? -
A Bridge to Somewhere
How do we build the road from predatory lending to good financial services for all Americans? -
Don't Blame the Community Reinvestment Act
Homeownership rates and CRA enforcement soared in the 1990s, but sub-prime came later. CRA shouldn't be the scapegoat for the housing meltdown.
Features
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The Last Drug Czar
Both Obama and his appointed leader of the war on drugs, Gil Kerlikowske, say they've had it with the military metaphors and are taking a new approach to America's substance abuse problem. -
Hillary's Challenge
Our first feminist secretary of state sets out to prove that foreign policy works best when it makes women a priority. -
Charm Offensive
A long list of liberal groups worked to elect Obama. Now the administration is working overtime to make sure they stay happy. -
Latin America's Legalization Push
South of the border, where drug violence has taken a serious toll, lawmakers are weighing their decriminalization options. -
The Shipping Point
Wal-Mart and other discount retailers are exploiting workers in California warehouses. Can an organizing campaign make a difference?
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Vol. 20 No. 5May 2009
Columns
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Tough Love for Obama
Can Obama's supporters save him from his economic advisers? -
The Mystery of the Right
The right's abrupt decline is one of the most puzzling questions in political history. -
John McCain's Best Idea
Employer-provided health insurance is our single biggest tax break. It's time to give it up. -
Across District Lines
"School choice" does not have to be code speak for privatizing public education.
Culture
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The Pakistan Puzzle
Recent tomes on Pakistan overlook ordinary citizens' conflicting motivations, says our man on the ground. -
I.F. Stone, Journalist -- and Spy?
Was "Pancake" working with the KGB? The evidence is inconclusive. -
A Violent Regeneration
A search for American identity after the Civil War led to a surge of machismo and bloodlust. -
Keeping Secrets
Lawyers and shrinks have privilege; journalists should, too. But it's not that simple. -
Blacks in Space
In the future, we will be able to travel faster than light. And black women will still be secretaries.
Departments
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Can a Speech Change the World?
In his Cairo address, Barack Obama sought to transform the way the United States engages with the Muslim world. -
Noted
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The Peak Shrink
Freaked out about the end of oil? There's a therapist for that. -
Up Front
Battle of the cable news demagogues; modernizing the GOP; a graphic view of swine flu; and The Question.
Features
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The Invisible Workers
For nannies and housekeepers, the home is a workplace, and they're fighting for basic rights. -
Settling for Radicalism
Israel has looked the other way as its military and government have gradually become more radical, and it may be too late to go back. -
A Family-Leave Safety Net
Right now paid time off is a perk available to only privileged families. Here's how we can make it an option for all workers. -
Betting the Fed
The Federal Reserve is a hugely powerful yet unaccountable institution. Will its activism bring a backlash? -
Wealth-Care Reform
Fixing our health-care system will make us more economically secure. It won't make us much healthier. -
Green Peacemaker
Can Lisa Jackson, head of the EPA, meet businesses' needs without alienating the environmental-justice movement? -
The Next Tax Revolt
It's time for progressives to stop pretending that raising taxes on only the very rich will be sufficient to fund an ambitious agenda. -
When Opting Out Isn't an Option
For too long, "working women" has meant professionals with children. It's time we focus on the majority of female workers. -
Pink-Collar Blues
Many male-dominated professions are suffering an epidemic of job loss. But women aren't faring so well in the recession, either. -
Outside the 9-to-5
Some of the fastest-growing professions with nonstandard work hours are dominated by women. -
New Kids on the Hill
To see where the parties are headed, look to the youngest members of Congress.
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Vol. 20 No. 4April 2009
Columns
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Expert Advice
George W. Bush left us with a staggering set of questions for which political answers are elusive at best. -
A Give and Take on Immigration
One year after the largest raid in U.S. history, we rarely hear stories of small towns suffering in the absence of immigrants. -
Radicalizing Love
If monogamous love limits women, then perhaps feminism is the adultery of social norms. -
Revolution Amid Recession
Universal broadband internet is going to be spectacularly disruptive, and the challenge isn't just going to be getting everyone connected.
Culture
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Exit, Stage Left
A new collection of plays revisits a moment when the narrative power of organized labor was at its zenith. -
Getting Smarter About IQ
Simple advances, like adequate vision and dental care, can do more for the nation's children than theoretical debates about education inequality. -
A Stalled Counterrevolution
The finger-pointing for the economic crisis is in full force. In this review: Revisionism, I-Told-You-So-ism, human psychology, and a historical perspective.
Departments
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The XXX-Files
Porn industry lobbyists feel out Capitol Hill in a time of economic crisis. -
Republicans Tripping
Conservative critics used Obama's recent diplomatic trip to demonize the president. Unfortunately for them, their histrionics don't seem to be working. -
Up Front
A mixed farwell to bananas; the Fed's toxic legacy asset portfolio; and The Question. -
Noted
Cutting back on consumption, improving education, and "belling the cat." -
Seeking Justice in a System that Doesn't Guarantee It
How do we hold police and local governments accountable for the backlog of untested rape kits? -
Jerusalem's Obstructionist Construction
The pattern of Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is meant to erase the Clinton parameters for peace. -
How Bush Won the War Over the Courts
By exploiting certain rules, Bush managed to dramatically alter the makeup of the federal court system. -
The FundamentaList (No. 65)
Taking a close look at the common-ground approach of the "Come Let Us Reason Together" coalition, and Rick Warren's Facebook for evangelicals.
Features
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The Next War Over the Courts
Conservatives are already fired up about Obama's judicial nominations. Is the White House prepared for the fight? -
Charitable Relations
For years, foundations worked in concert with government, creating programs that could then be federally funded and expanded. Will a Democrat in the White House mean a return to this model? -
States Left Behind
When Obama selected his Cabinet, he caused a fair bit of upheaval in his nominees' home states. -
Progressivism Goes Mainstream
New research on ideology refutes the conservative myth that America is a "center right" nation. -
Risk Is Best Managed From the Bottom Up
We need regulations to address risk in every layer of the system, from the loan or bond, to the bank, to the very structure of the global financial industry. -
Rights Versus Rites
When it comes to the lives of women around the globe, do local traditions ever trump human rights? -
It's Time to Rethink the Problem
Everything Americans thought they knew about risk was wrong. Now what? To restore real prosperity, we'll need to get smarter about what we don't know. -
Housing is Local, and Lending Should Be, Too
We're just now learning how dangerous it is that the sources of finance for homeowners and their neighborhoods have no real connection to those people and places. -
Private Risk Is the Public's Business
From the earliest days of the republic, government at all levels has actively intervened to regulate and reallocate risk. -
A Strong Safety Net Encourages Healthy Risk-Taking
The basic underlying principle of the New Deal was that security is not opposed to opportunity but essential to it. -
The Rich and Powerful Can Avoid Risk
Managing and balancing risk in the future is an organic human problem, a political problem, and a problem of power. The question is how to remedy the fact that some players have the power to shift risks and to use the political process for insurance, while others do not. -
A Tale of Two Exurbs
Most outer-ring suburbs are being developed into unwalkable sprawl. But it doesn't have to be that way.
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