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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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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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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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 […]
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There’s No Big Binge in Half a Point
LA Times Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday did exactly what he needed to do by dropping short-term interest rates another half-point, but it’s not enough. The Great Economic Slowdown of 2001 (let’s not call it a recession quite yet) came on partly because Greenspan raised short-term interest rates too high, starting in June […]
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The Butcher Is Back
Broadcast August 24, 2001 The butcher metaphors of modern management are back: cutting out the fat, slicing to the bone, getting leaner and meaner. Well, all this butchering may slow the slide of stock prices, but it’s not a way to build long-term competitive strengths. The fact is, the key competitive assets of most companies […]
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Electrosoft:
Los Angeles Times Microsoft will not be broken up. There’s no chance the Bush administration will ask the Supreme Court to reverse Thursday’s federal appeals court rescue of the company. Instead, the case will go back to a new judge to decide how to respond to Microsoft’s monopoly without splitting it up. The best outcome: […]
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Sacrifice Or Spend?
Broadcast October 11, 2001 Typically in times of war, the public is asked to hold back and forebear from purchasing so there’s enough productive capacity left to meet the military’s needs. If they don’t do it voluntarily, government imposes rationing. Not this time. Even as we wage war on terrorism, our political and business leaders […]