The budget rebellion in October seemingly ended Congress’s long night of unholy cohabitation with the Reagan and Bush administrations. But can the Democrats really get out of bed?
Article
Posted inLaw and Justice
Is Violent Crime Increasing?
News reports of an all-time record crime wave have set off a panic that America is out of control. What are the real facts?
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Small Children, Small Pay: Why Child Care Pays So Little
Child care is expensive, yet those who provide it are poorly paid. Solving the dilemma may call for a Solomonic choice.
Posted inCivil Rights in America
The Elusive Promise of Vaccines
Children are not getting vaccines now available, much less a new generation of vaccines that the biomedical revolution has put within our reach.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Reaganites and the Renegade
Conservative Republican strategists are hopping mad at Kevin Phillips. For years, they have embraced (with much success) the notion outlined by Phillips in his 1969 book, The Emerging Republican Majority, that middle-class voters could be wooed by running against the poor. But now, Phillips seems to have deserted his erstwhile allies. In his latest book, […]
Posted inAmerica and the World
Rejoinder: Who Do We Think They Are?
Ever since I argued in the Harvard Business Review last year that we should pay less attention to corporate nationality and more attention to whether our nation’s work force was gaining the skills and competences it needed to compete, I’ve had the curious sense of being shoved — quite against my will — to the […]
Posted inEnergy and the Environment
Remaking Regulation
Regulation of the air, the water, and the workplace has made things much better. But we could achieve even better results by regulating with incentives.
Posted inLaw and Justice
Getting Prisons Straight
In the 1970s prison rehabilitation seemed destined for the conservatives’ trophy case of failed social programs. Now the evidence looks better: Some programs have beneficial effects on both the prisoners and the prisons.
Posted inAmerica and the World
Dubious Crusade: The Push for Agricultural Laissez Faire
The Bush administration is pushing an international agreement to do away with agricultural subsidies. But we have never practiced—for good reason—the policies we are preaching to others.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Conservative Crackup
Conservative intellectuals are now facing some of their toughest adversaries ever—each other.