Cover illustration by David M. Brinley
Cover design by Aaron Morales


Features

Bankers Versus Base
James K. Galbraith
Deficit reduction is the wrong obsession. Democrats need to embrace jobs and growth.

Earth Last
Chris Mooney
James Inhofe proves "flat Earth" doesn't refer to Oklahoma.

Freedom Fraud
Matthew Yglesias
Bush talks about democracy. Building it is another matter.

Meanwhile, in Africa …
Jason Vest
Some conservatives would like to establish U.S. air and naval bases in Eritrea.

Radcon 3
Robert B. Reich
From a new book, the right-wing trifecta and how to fight it.

The Rice Capades
Joshua Kurlantzick
Condi's problems didn't start with the 9-11 commission. She's been screwing things up from the start.


Special Report

American Families at Risk
Richard C. Leone
An Overview

Don't Mourn, Mobilize
Ruy Teixeira
Middle-class voters grasp that Bush is not representing their interests. But they don't act on that perception. They might -- but it's up to Democrats to motivate them.

Future Retirees at Risk
Alicia H. Munnell
Bush's "ownership society" would replace existing social-insurance systems with personal savings accounts. His approach threatens to make old age and poverty synoymous again.

Losing Ground
Jeff Faux
Outsourcing jobs, harrassing labor unions, repealing safety regulations, undercutting benefits: The Bush administration is clearly winning a great victory in its war on America's workers.

Middle Class and Broke
Elizabeth Warren
Once, the larger society shared the cost of raising and educating the next generation. These days, the responsibilities are falling more to individual families. It's bringing parents to their knees.

Schools of Hard Knocks
Richard D. Kahlenberg
Education is the ticket of entry to the middle class. So why has Bush done so little to establish social equity and so much to impede social mobility? Chalk it up to "compassionate conservatism."

The Great Tax Shift
William G. Gale and Peter Orszag
The president says his cuts are simply a way of

Throwing Away the Rules
Merrill Goozner
In its zeal to kowtow to business, the Bush administration is dismantling a century of regulations that protect middle class consumers from financial fraud and health hazards.