H ow is the new economy affecting our lives and what should be done about its excesses and injustices? This debate is emerging all over the world, but it surfaces only sporadically and partially, like the tip of a giant iceberg into which other things crash. French workers strike in pursuit of a 35-hour maximum […]
Robert Reich
Robert B. Reich, a co-founder of The American Prospect, is a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, one of the books featured in the Prospect’s High School Essay Contest.
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Taking Care of Business
There’s no longer any countervailing power in Washington. Business is incomplete control of the machinery of government. If corporate America understoodits long-term interest, it would use this unique moment to establish in thepublic’s mind the principle that business can be trusted. But it’s doing justthe opposite. Every industry and every major company is cashing in […]
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Why Business Should Love Gore
If they were true profit-maximizers–textbook illustrations of rational self-interest–American corporations and their top executives would be flooding Al Gore’s campaign with money, and not George W.’s. Rather than gamble on an unknown W., they’d bet on a proven Al Gore. No administration in modern history has been as good for American business as has the […]
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AOL-Time Warner’s Kingly Prerogative
Any time now, government economists will decide whether America Online’s (AOL’s) $165-billion proposed take-over of Time Warner is likely to be good or bad for consumers. If good, the government will sign off. If bad, there’ll be negotiations with AOL and Time Warner until an agreement can be reached on what the new company would […]
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The Great Divide
Dot-com billionaires are sprouting like spring crocuses, and their money is trickling down through the rich topsoil of America. The average pay of chief executives of major companies rose 18 percent in 1999, to $12 million. (Back in 1990, it was a modest $1.8 million.) Fearful of the dot-com brain drain, big law firms just […]
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Europe’s Great Leap of Faith
The New York Times The euro, the most audacious gamble in the history of currency, has become a reality. What will this crucial step toward unity mean for Europe, the United States and the world? The New York Times Op-Ed page asked several experts in economics and observers of European culture to offer their insights. […]
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Your Job is Change
Fast Company The Web changes everything — including change. And it’s not just the Web. Digital technologies, wireless technologies, the Human Genome Project, complexity theory, and the emergence of new science have all changed how we think about change: why change has to happen in companies, how change happens, and, most important, who makes change […]
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Look Who Demands Profits Above All
Los Angeles Times Despite the populist rhetoric of this campaign season, many traditional Democrats are pushing companies to generate higher returns regardless of social responsibility. These Democrats may not mean to do it, but this is the practical consequence of how they’re saving for retirement. American teachers, civil servants, unionized workers, college professors and similar […]
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No Escape
Broadcast February 2, 2001 Recently I was putting gas in my car, minding my own business, enjoying my solitude there by the gas pump, when the gas pump suddenly comes alive with a commercial — right there, on a little liquid-crystal screen mounted on the pump. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m in […]
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American Sweatshops
Broadcast January 18, 2001 A lot of Americans are concerned these days about sweatshops in Asia and Latin America where poor people cut and sew garments at cut-rate wages, often in unsanitary conditions. But you don’t need to go to a third-world nation to find a sweatshop. You can find all the sweatshops you want […]