Press freedoms under pressure;: Report

Fred P. Graham

Twentieth Century Fund

Classified files: The yellowing pages; a report on scholars' access to government documents,

Barker, Carol M

During the 1980s, virtually all nations were attracted to the potential benefits of decentralizing government domestic programs. America's New Federalism gave enhanced responsibility for support of social, educational, and cultural services to state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. A decade later, assessments of this decentralization experiment show mixed and uneven results. American's differ widely by community and region in levels of wealth and distress, in the fiscal resources of their state and local governments and voluntary organizations, and in their levels of public and private generosity and willingness to provide support for amenities, services, and income transfers. Decentralization has had some highly regressive effects that are difficult to remedy by government or the voluntary sector solely at state and community levels. The evidence warrants selective recentralization to help guarantee nationally adequate safety nets and quality of life.Through his efforts, Julian Wolpert, offers some measure to help move the debate over social policy away from the myth that, when it comes to poverty, government is the problem; and leads us back to a balanced assessment of the ways in which it can be part of the solution. More generally, if we do not learn to think of those activities as worthwhile, we shall continue to find the quality of our communities and or our lives failing to improve, however much we achieve record-setting revenues in our marketplace.

Patterns of Generosity in America: Who's Holding the Safety Net?

Politics & Social Sciences

Wolpert, Julian

Social Sciences

In the fall of 1990, The Twentieth Century Fund convened a group of distinguished individuals to consider the future of covert action in American democracy. During the course of their deliberations, world events seemed to move at "fast forward." Just before the group met, the Berlin Wall came down; just after, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Between these remarkable events, the cold war ended in a victory of the West. A second upheaval, the war in the Persian Gulf in 1991, raised profound questions about covert action and American foreign policy. The group responded to the challenge of changed circumstances with vigor and intelligence.As this new epoch of history has begun for world politics, American leaders are beginning to fashion new foreign policy in the absence of traditional truths. The United States needs new ideas fully equal to the enormous changes we have experienced in the past few years. This report meets that challenge by offering new assumptions for a new era in American Foreign

The Need to Know: The Report of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on Covert Action and American Democracy

Berkowitz, Bruce D.

Goodman, Allan E.

Politics & Government

Imminent Peril: Public Health in a Declining Economy

Science & Math

Technology

Canada celebrated a bittersweet 125th anniversary as a nation in 1992, bittersweet because many Canadians fear that their country may soon fall apart. As Quebec decides its own fate of voting for sovereign independence, the rest of Canada could follow suit and splinter as did the former Soviet Union. The likelihood of that actually happening is slim, however, there are major referendums on the coming ballot in Canada that could possibly alter not only the Canadian Constitution but the style and power of the government as well. Canada's own security is complex and will certainly be drawn-out, however, the United States could be of some assistance.For the foreseeable future, the most important connection between Canada and the United States are their economic ties and the bilateral relationship for both the U.S. corporate and labor sectors. With over three million jobs tied directly to trade, investment, and tourism linkages with Canada, the United States should be very concerned about what is transpiring north of the border. For far too long the American relationship with Canada has been overlooked and understudied. In this essay Earl H. Fry reports on the Canadian confederation and how it may now be at risk, and how the United States' own economic well-being may suffer as a result of the serious problems currently confronting Canada.

Canada's Unity Crisis: Implications for U.S.-Canadian Economic Relations

Business & Money

Fry, Earl H.

Economics

Third World debt remains a problem because of its massive size and the cost it continues to impose on Latin America's economic development. But other issues are emerging as as changes in the US and overseas open the way for closer global relations. This update on Twentieth Century Fund papers on the international debt crisis looks at developments in key Latin American countries since the mid 1980s and presents new challenges for US policy in the region. The book includes essays on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, and calls for the US government to do more to alleviate the debt burden.

In the Shadow of the Debt: Emerging Issues in Latin America

Bottome, Robert

Shady Business: Confronting Corporate Corruption

Ross, Irwin

Business Culture

In the 1980s we heard, "greed is good." We were told that greed lubricates the engines of capitalism. Each of us pursuing our own economic interest helps to create a society in which all of us are better off. Better off meaning, in this case, that we have more money, more goods, more of what we want. And all because we said yes to the impulse to want more in the first place. It is an idea almost elegant in its simplicity.But in the 1990s we have discovered that religious faith in capitalism alone would not make all of us, after all, better off. We have been reminded of the need to set limits in where our pursuit of self-interest might take us. We create rules: zoning regulations, liquor licenses, securities laws, and fiduciary responsibilities. We rely upon a web of limits and obligations designed to control the consequences of unbridled greed.In this intriguing and profound assessment of today's corporate greed, Irwin Ross looks deep into the men, women, and billionaires who run American corporations and their need for achievement and wealth at the expense of the American people. The findings in this book show how many of our business leaders are willing to risk sanctions, fines, and federal investigations as they push the limit to create more profits, more capital, and more wealth in this period of corporate want and personal greed.

Trading free: The GATT and U.S. trade policy

A generation ago, the teaching of macroeconomics in many American classrooms did not involve any analysis of international flows of goods and services. The reasoning behind this approach was straightforward: the amounts involved were statistically trivial compared to the immense gross domestic product of the United States. Although Americans had the largest part of the total global commerce, it was relatively unimportant to the prosperity of the United States.Today, students of our economy are obsessed with America's place in global commerce. Indeed, in what is still by far the world's largest economy, concern and even anger about international competition is becoming an increasingly powerful political force. One would be hard put to find in Congress the optimistic consensus that animated the largely American-designed postwar economic order, the Bretton Woods system. Then, of course, the American giant--sole possessor of the atomic bomb and production of 40 percent of the world's wealth--believed that free trade and Western-style business, under American leadership, would modernize the world.This belief in the blessings that would come from American economic supremacy has been shaken as international competitors claim ever-larger slices of the global economic pie. Even the apparent demise of communism has failed to restore American confidence in its economic future. As international competition has increased, so too has the debate in this country between free traders and protectionists. The possibility of a global paradise seems as far away as ever. And it may take stronger trade relations and organizations in the future for America to maintain some economic stability among her world competitors.In Trading Free, Patrick Low, makes a strong case against too much emphasis on trade negotiations as a zero-sum game, with winners and losers and the future of the GATT. He believes that the reductions in barriers to trade that have been accomplished since World War II have contributed to the high standard of living in this county and to desirable economic progress among our allies. In this thoughtful and provocative study, he sets out the background and clarifies the issues that will be debated by policymakers today, and classes tomorrow.

Trading Free: The Gatt and U.S. Trade Policy

Low, Patrick

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