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Clinton enters the home stretch pushing his health legislation (Sunday, 4/30/00)
President Clinton is stepping up at least the frequency of his efforts to persuade Congress to pass legislation providing a "patients' bill of rights" and also a prescription medication benefit as part of Medicare. Other health issues are also much on his mind, though. We've already reported on the World Bank's concern that AIDS is already affecting the economic development efforts of many countries. Now, the American Administration says that the pandemic could become a threat to national security because of its potentially devastating consequences throughout the world. Europe required several centuries to recover from the "black death" of the mid-14th century, particularly so, because, in many regions, the plague revisited ever generation for several hundred years. In fact, even though Isaac Newton's birth was separated from the devastation of the mid-14th century by almost as long as we are separated from his death, the plague shut down Cambridge University while he was a student. He went home to the farm to wait it out, and, needing something to do, invented the calculus.

Editorial writers consider the way farm subsidies have been working (Sunday, 4/30/00)
Most of the government payments have been going to the larger farmers, rather than the smaller ones who are most likely to need help staying in business. The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorializes about this finding from a new study and its implications, saying that it's not surprising.

Blowing away $2 trillion? (Sunday, 4/30/00)
Here's another writer who isn't all that impressed with the job Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve have been doing. Among other things, he doesn't believe that the Chairman fully understands how new the new economy really is, meaning how much growth it can tolerate without inflation becoming a significant problem. Alan continues to worry about inflation, though, because, when it occurs, it simply screws up everything. Who's right? We can say with absolute certainty that we really have no idea. Stay tuned.

True entrepreneurship (Sunday, 4/30/00)
Many people starting dot-com companies really aren't entrepreneurs in the original sense, according to Jerry Heaster of the Kansas City Star. They really aren't interested in creating a company of long-term value, he says, and that's a problem for lots of people, particularly investors.

Today's very best tech-work collection (Sunday, 4/30/00)
Three major newspapers--the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning news, and the Austin American-Statesman have teamed up to produce today's "Top Tech" special section, which includes many articles worth reading. Among them are articles about the need for non-techies in technical firms, as well as ways non-techies can become techies, including some training options described by Angela Shah, getting girls interested in technical careers, the argument over age-bias in hi-tech, how some technical people are ending up in careers they didn't anticipate, the preference many have for contract work, as opposed to full-time positions, the difficulty some tech workers have in talking money, the unusual perks that may be part of a job offer, the causal work culture that may be an important perk for many, some tips for landing that important job, should you need them, such as making use of professional contacts, and the hi-tech competition among the three cities whose newspapers have done this series. You can take a breath here. Also, David LaGesse says that Congress can be expected to expand the number of visas necessary to bring technical workers into the U.S. This Houston Chronicle story tells about some very hot occupations you may not have heard about and which haven't existed all that long. Finally, Jennifer Montgomery tells what it's like to own and operate a business with your spouse. Whew!

A case study in how bad it's possible for things to get (Sunday, 4/30/00)
North Korea may not hold the global record for economic disaster, but it's certainly a finalist. Howard French writes from the prosperous country to the south about how North Korea is beginning to look to capitalism as a possible way of avoiding a complete and total meltdown of its society. Yes, North Korea. This is not a "misprint."

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Virtual Law Library (Sunday, 4/30/00)
Here's the Virtual Law Library from The Indiana University, including business law, but not confined to it.

Big conflict at Daewoo (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Twenty-thousand protesters clash with police over the troubled South Korean auto company's difficulties and some planned solutions.

Economic growth without job growth (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Why aren't more new jobs resulting in Australia's growing economy? There are reasons, and Matt Wade of the Sydney Morning Herald is willing to explain.

Vietnam fears too much Westernization (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Vietnam's economy can use some help, but, as this Washington Post story indicates, there is nervousness about how many of Western capitalism's procedures will be too many. Coincidentally, a number of former American G.I.s have been visiting Vietnam, including one very famous American, a Senator from Arizona, who spent more than five years in North Vietnamese prisons.

Microsoft employees not worried (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Many don't expect a breakup of Microsoft to happen at all, according to Allan Dowd, and, even if it does, it won't happen for quite a while. Moreover, in all likelihood, most of the 35,000 people who work for Microsoft could easily find jobs elsewhere in Silicon Valley, even without having to pack up and move. And, of course, if Microsoft does become two companies, both will need a lot of technical expertise, so why worry?

Ag Secretary says American organized labor has it all wrong (Saturday, 4/29/00)
The AFL-CIO shouldn't be worrying about the loss of American jobs from a trade deal with China. In fact, failure to enact the agreement could result in job losses, he says.

The other side of the story (Saturday, 4/29/00)
A Minnesota law school will not allow the Army to recruit on campus. A spokesperson for the William Mitchell College of Law (which has produced a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, incidentally) says it's because the Army will discriminate against some of the school's students because of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Anti-sweatshop group urges universities to work with manufacturers (Saturday, 4/29/00)
The Workers' Rights Consortium wants to improve conditions for the people who work in foreign factories that produce apparel marketed with various American university logos. Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times has more details on the effort to get universities and manufacturers together in order to solve the problem.

Employment implications of Amway reorganization still unclear (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Amway will be changing itself, and many workers will have to reapply for jobs in the restructured company, but it's still unclear how many jobs will be affected.

Washington families to get Medicaid coverage back (Saturday, 4/29/00)
As part of Washington state's welfare-reform program, Medicaid coverage to many families was cut off, and that was wrong. Now, those benefits are being restored to 29,000 families.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Internet Timeline v5.0 (Saturday, 4/29/00)
Robert H. Zakon has played a number of technical roles in the private sector and refers to himself as an Internet evangelist. Here's his Internet Timeline.

Argentine president to get his labor reform law (Friday, 4/28/00)
President Fernando de la Rœa has wanted to have legal authority to counteract the power of organized labor and reduce employers' labor costs as part of an effort to reduce his country's 14 percent unemployment rate. The Argentine Senate is controlled by the opposition, but they've passed his bill anyway.

Unemployment better than forecast, but still a record (Friday, 4/28/00)
In March, Japan's unemployment rate remained at a record 4.9 percent. At first glance, the number looks good compared to unemployment rates in other countries, particular in the European region. However, there are no consistent criteria for defining "unemployment" across different nations. In Japan, the smallest amount of work during a reporting period puts you technically among the employed. In actual fact, 4.9 percent in Japan represents an extremely serious unemployment problem. Incidentally, the elderly are not protected from age discrimination in Japan, where employers routinely advertise job openings and specify desired ages of candidates. Attitudes toward older people seem to be changing too, suggesting that the Japanese culture is undergoing significant modification. Japan may be a very different kind of place during the next thousand years, compared to the last thousand years.

Corruption in what used to be Saigon (Friday, 4/28/00)
In some ways, less has changed than you might imagine in Ho Chi Minh City. Don Kirk reports from there for the International Herald Tribune on how people are trying to make their own way within a rigid communist nation. For one thing, there's still a lot of corruption in a city that was once familiar to hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Trade deal threatened (Friday, 4/28/00)
The United States has been almost ready to grant new trade privileges to Africa, the Caribbean and Central America, but an argument over textiles has, for the moment at least, put the brakes on.

More on the increased assertiveness of America's janitors (Friday, 4/28/00)
Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times writes from Chicago today, and has some observations about recent militancy of janitors in that city, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

Hi-tech will benefit those in outlying areas (Friday, 4/28/00)
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve said yesterday that he expects the tech revolution to be of major benefit to those in small towns and rural areas.

More workers have been dying on the job in Massachusetts (Friday, 4/28/00)
Boston Globe columnist Diane Lewis writes about the new AFL-CIO report on job safety in Massachusetts. For one thing, workplace deaths have been on the increase.

New jobs at Corning (Friday, 4/28/00)
Corning has been in the glass business for a very long time, and is now best known for hi-tech fiber optics products. It will double its capacity and add 300 jobs at its Bedford, Massachusetts plant.

Here's something to make American boomers feel better about their unimpressive retirement savings (Friday, 4/28/00)
Experts have been worrying that many in the huge baby-boom generation are not making adequate financial preparations for their retirement, but it's nothing like the situation faced by 90 percent of the world's workers, according to a new report from the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations.

Preparing early for the new work world (Friday, 4/28/00)
H.J. Cummins, who told you about his concerns for America's boys yesterday, takes a look at "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" why it works well for many girls.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: DOL Employment and Training Administration (Friday, 4/28/00)
Here's the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, which is a useful starting point for individuals, employers, and various other persons, including professionals, who have a special interest in employment and training issues.

Economy still surging, and still stimulating inflation fears (Thursday, 4/27/00)
Labor shortages are translating into increased pay and benefits, which increased faster during the first quarter than at any time in the past decade. Here are more details from today's New York Times.

Physicians strike in Israel (Thursday, 4/27/00)
Actually, it's a previous strike resumed. Other parts of the country's health care system have joined in following unproductive talks.

The feds want to shorten the work day of truckers (Thursday, 4/27/00)
Recent fuel price increases were putting the squeeze on truckers trying to make a living out on the highways. Now, the Transportation Department wants truckers to be driving no more than 12 hours during a 24-hour period, rather than the current 18 hours. This is likely to be unpopular with many truckers who already are having difficulty making a living and who could point to recent research indicating that when a truck and automobile are involved in the same accident, it is more frequently caused by the automobile rather than by the truck, despite widespread beliefs. Speaking of over-work, Australian authorities are investigating a case in which a teacher at an exclusive school apparently had been scheduled for a 100-hour work week as well as 34 consecutive work days.

Troubled Australian Mitsubishi plants to cut jobs (Thursday, 4/27/00)
Operations are being scaled back at two Mitsubishi plants in Australia, which will also mean a reduction in jobs at both. In the U.S., European-based Philips Electronics will cut 1,500 jobs at its Ohio plant and export much of its operation to Mexico.

Drug price increases exceeded overall inflation last year (Thursday, 4/27/00)
The cost of prescription medications needed by the elderly increased faster last year than prices in general.

It's "Take our Daughters to Work Day," and what about our sons? (Thursday, 4/27/00)
H.J. Cummins tells why we should be concerned about boys as well as girls. Overall, women still suffer an economic disadvantage in a number of areas, but this does not mean that many men are not disadvantaged in their own ways. For instance, men don't live as long as women, on average, they're more likely to die a violent death, more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to suffer a range of illnesses that cannot easily be attributed to their essential genetic maleness. In fact, there is reason to believe that America has a national emergency on its hands when it comes to the male members of its population.

Does it pay to attend a famous, expensive college? (Thursday, 4/27/00)
There's been something goofy about the attitude of many Americans toward higher education for a long time, and much of it is clearly obsolete. There are a lot of myths as well, among which might be the common belief that a "good" college necessarily is an expensive one. You may or may not get what you pay for, and the college that is just right for you may not be the one that puts your family mostly deeply into long-term debt. But, at least you can expect to earn more if your degree is from a "prestigious" school, right? Well, no, not necessarily, according to new research by Alan Krueger and Stacy Dale. Here's the news story about it, and here's the research report: Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College.

Things just got harder for whistleblowers (Thursday, 4/27/00)
You've blown the whistle on some wrongdoing in your company, and you're fired because to it. From now on, it's going to be harder for you to invoke RICO in a suit against your former employer under those circumstances. It's because the Supreme Court has said so.

If J. C. Penney is acquired, things will be better now for many of the company's executives (Thursday, 4/27/00)
To older Americans, at least, J. C. Penney is one of the most familiar brands. However, the company is decades past its peak in the American retailing universe, and, recently, its stock price has been very low, making the company a prime candidate for takeover. If that happens, top Penney executives will be better situated, given a new severance program adopted in February.

Ohio State researcher has some bad news about retirement savings (Thursday, 4/27/00)
A majority of American households haven't been saving enough to cover the costs of retirement, according to analyses performed on Federal Reserve data by Professor Catherine Montalto.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Not The Final Exam (Thursday, 4/27/00)
Okay, listen up! It's time for a test. Not on economics, but on economists. It's trivia that could be from TV's "millionaire" show. Not The Final Exam tests your knowledge of economists lives more than their ideas.

Machinists vote today at Lockheed (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
If approved, the new three-year contract would provide each worker with $2,100 up front, among other things.

Both employment and unemployment increase in Israel (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Moti Bassok reports that there were 85,000 new jobs in 1999, but also an additional 27,000 persons without jobs. Nehemia Strasler attempts to clarify what seem to be confusing and contradictory data.

Things get fairly nasty at South Korean auto plant (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Daewoo Motor has been having problems, and a possible sale of the company has been in the wind, an idea which workers have been protesting. Yesterday, police conducted a raid and arrested a number of the leaders. Then, about a thousand protesters sealed off the plant. Thousands of miles to the south and west, Cambodian workers strike at a Ralph Lauren clothing plant.

Massachusetts hasn't been enforcing its worker's compensation law (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
At least, that's what an auditor is saying. Fines of $22 million haven't been collected. Here are details from columnist Diane Lewis of the Boston Globe.

Pinning Nasdaq's collapse on somebody (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Steven Syre and Charles Stein report that some are blaming Janet Reno for sabotaging the new economy. Here's their explanation.

Has it all been a misunderstanding? (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Just when you've become convinced that IRS agents have been suffering from a bad attitude, the General Accounting Office says it may be just your imagination after all. Here are details from Curt Anderson in America's capital.

Workers call on National Labor Relations Board to help recover privacy (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports that a worker backlash seems to be building against employers who monitor employee email. Workers have a legal right to organize and communicate freely with each other about work terms and conditions, and the NLRB has come down on the side of workers on the email monitoring issue in some recent cases. Speaking of the NLRB, they've ruled in support of a vote for unionization at a Wal-Mart store in Texas.

Maybe you haven't noticed the similarity (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Does the European Union resemble decadent ancient Rome? Austria's Joerg Haider seems to think so. He's the individual who has had some recent kind things to say about Adolf Hitler as well.

How to lie (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Brad Norington of the Sydney Morning Herald writes about federal government training for managers on how to lie to employees.

Some illegals become legals (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
A number of illegal immigrants tried to form a union and were reported to the INS. Now, they will be able to stay in the United States for a while as part of an agreement worked out yesterday.

Farm subsidies more likely to go to large operators (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group finds that a small percentage of large farmers have been collecting a large percentage of subsidies under the Freedom to Farm law.

Breaking up is hard to do (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Bill Gates believes that it is consumers who would suffer if Microsoft were broken into multiple "Baby Bills." Steve Ballmer, the company's CEO, doesn't expect it is going to happen, and the company has been trying to reassure its employees. Microsoft is trying to hang on to them too by providing another round of stock options based on current values. The very large drop in Microsoft's stock recently has essentially made previous stock options useless, at least for the time being, and, in a hot job market, many of Microsoft's 35,000 talented techies might jump ship. Billionaire Bill himself holds a lot of Microsoft stock, and, while he's still the richest man in the world, he's no longer the richest hi-tech stockholder. Larry Ellison of Oracle has just passed him. If you're wondering what it all means for Microsoft's future, Paul Andrews in Seattle has some questions and some answers.

$900 million supports more than 900 million people each day, sort of (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
The Asian Development Bank says that Asian countries need to focus more of their energies on helping to lift the vast multitudes out of poverty, now that they're well along on their recovery from the "Asian contagion" of three years ago.

Many college towns offer hot job opportunities (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Neil Irwin writes in today's Christian Science Monitor that some of the best job opportunities can be found in places you might not expect.

Hi-tech Budapest (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Daniel Langencamp reports that Hungary has become one of newest of the world's hi-tech centers.

Why are these people trying to play golf in their office? (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
Kansas City Star columnist Diane Stafford says it helps build camaraderie, and that may be good for business.

The role of medical bills in bankruptcy (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
A new study indicates that nearly a half-million personal bankruptcies in the U.S. last year occurred, at least in part, because of medical bills. Speaking of going broke, most of Europe's governments may be headed in that direction because of a combination of an aging baby-boom generation and pension obligations, according to the Washington Post.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: CareerBabe (Wednesday, 4/26/00)
You might want to think of CareerBabe as the Ann Landers of the work world, and you're free to ask her for advice. But, who is CareerBabe, really? She's Fran Quittel, recruitment consultant and author of FirePower! from 10 Speed Press. She's also written for the Washington Post and other major publications and has appeared on major national broadcasts.

Janitors ratify contract (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
A three-week strike of thousands of janitors in Los Angeles is over, as union members celebrate a new contract and what they consider to be a major victory.

More details on that agreement at Northwest that's been a very long time coming (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
Tony Kennedy of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says that union leaders seem happy with the tentative agreement finally reached between Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants, who have been working without a contract for several years. Quick ratification of the agreement is expected. The news isn't quite so nice at American Airlines, where negotiations have broken off between the airlines and its pilots. They've been attempting to agree on a contract extension. Meanwhile, aviation in Russia has different kinds of problems. The weak Russian economy is resulting in the shutdown of entire airlines, while other fleets are getting smaller.

A Bachelor of ArsDigita? (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
Hiawatha Bray reports in the Boston Globe on the intensive program in computer science offered free from ArsDigita University. Qualifications are tough, though, but every effort will be made to make the program highly substantive, according to officials of the new corporation-sponsored institution.

What are those American vets in Vietnam doing today? (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
A group of American business leaders, most of who once served in Vietnam as combat personnel, are visiting Hanoi as hi-tech consultants and helpers this time. Among other things, they're helping Vietnamese university students get connected. Back home in America, Business Week examines the great "swooosh" that occurred on and around Wall Street as air was let out of a lot of excessively inflated Internet stocks. Also, in one of Business Week's multiple editions, here's a cover story on Germany's reformer, a man who has been causing a lot of astonishment on the part of German business leaders. Finally, here's an analysis of poverty in Latin America, and the unlikely coalitions that are being formed in an effort to do something about it.

Your government may not want you to be reading this (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the Chinese government has created a special agency to keep track of Internet news, in part to help them stamp out "harmful" information, and we have reason to believe that NewWork News is on their list. Apparently, China has been trying to block domestic access to a large number of web sites for a long time. Totalitarian governments don't like the free flow of information and ideas. The Chinese government also intends to make state-operated web sites more attractive with the hope that their citizens will want to choose them instead of free sites from outside the country. Speaking of China, the American government is trying hard to get Congressional support for opening trade with China on a permanent basis, but U.S. organized labor is opposed, and is stepping up its efforts to head off the proposed agreement.

If you want to be safe, where should you go? (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
Go to work, says the National Safety Council. Despite a lot of highly publicized incidents, the American workplace is safer than a lot of other places, including your home.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: How to Write a Resume (Tuesday, 4/25/00)
How to Write a Resume is what it sounds like, and comes to you from folks at Bowling Green State University.

L.A. janitors vote today (Monday, 4/24/00)
By the end of the day, we should all know whether the thousands of striking janitors in Los Angeles will have accepted the terms of a new contract. A different strike is disrupting flight schedules today in Portugal. In other labor news, the contest between Lockheed and its striking machinists has moved to the Internet, and graduate assistants at New York University are voting today on whether to unionize. For generations, graduate students have worked long hours for little pay, medical students have been worked to exhaustion for more hours each week than they are likely to be able to remain lucid, and new hires at major law firms are ground into a fine particulate by work schedules that routinely produce early burnout and a questioning of the decision to become a lawyer.

It all suggests that the reputation of universities as places where there are a lot of smart people may be undeserved. What on earth is going on? Why so much irrationality? Minnesota psychologist Dr. Malia Huchindorf says it may be the familiar "cycle of abuse" that one also finds in highly dysfunctional families. Those who have suffered tend to pass it on and make the next generation suffer as well. It also brings to mind the concept of "cognitive dissonance" from social psychology which can help explain "initiation" rites in fraternities, the military, and other organizations where there is a need to build cohesion and encourage individuals to value group membership. People are more likely to come to love that for which they pay heavily for which they suffer.

More women achieve top management posts, according to the Census Bureau (Monday, 4/24/00)
The "glass ceiling" doesn't appear to be in danger of shattering just yet, but it does have cracks, according to a new report from the United States Bureau of the Census. Speaking of top management, it appears that a key attribute of the new economy is that many processes which have been underway all along have accelerated. For instance, Carol Hymowitz of the Wall Street Journal says that CEOs have less time to produce now before they are unceremoniously shown the door. David Leonhardt of the New York Times writes about the changes in the new economy in how top managers are compensated. The amounts are a bit startling too, perhaps to the point of "insanity," according to Ephraim Reiner of Israel's Ha'aretz, particularly considering the overall condition of Israel's economy. More on that from Moti Bassok, who reports that there is reason to expect additional strength before long.

Canada lags in production of new Internet companies (Monday, 4/24/00)
Canadians are certainly making use of the Internet for a wide variety of purposes, but startups in Canada are having difficulty attracting the attention of Canadian venture capitalists.

More on the dark side of the new economy (Monday, 4/24/00)
Slavery seems to be one attribute of the new economy that is about the same as in the old, very old economy. Still, it's been on the rise again in many regions of the world. The Washington Post reports that this most primitive of human institutions--in this case sexual slavery--is flourishing in Kosovo.

Protectionism or not? (Monday, 4/24/00)
The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse writes that American organized labor is trying to explain why its opposition to increased trade liberalization does not constitute a resurgence of protectionist attitudes on its part. Meanwhile, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith believe that American workers have a case against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Here's their article today via the Kansas City Star.

Wall Street's mood swings and the larger economy (Monday, 4/24/00)
The dramatic ups and downs of the North American stock market is leaving the overall economy largely unfazed, according to John Valozi, who writes from Canada.

Expect good news and bad news (Monday, 4/24/00)
Jerry Heaster writes that a report to be released Thursday will probably show about 6 percent growth during the first quarter of 2000. The bad news, he says, is that this will almost guarantee another interest rate increase next month. Scott Burns of the Houston Chronicle thinks he can see inflation all around him.

American vets return to Vietnam (Monday, 4/24/00)
This time, it's in the role of consultants rather than combatants. American hi-tech experts have been advising Vietnam leaders on how to make it in the new global information economy. Incidentally, here's another interesting U.S.-Vietnam connection. The Roman Catholic Church in America has been suffering a shortage of priests since long before labor shortages started to show up in other sectors. Now, the Church is getting help from Vietnamese immigrants. If you're surprised at the number of Vietnamese Catholics, remember that Vietnam used to be part of what was once called "French Indochina."

But, what does face-to-face contact really tell you? (Monday, 4/24/00)
For many years, employers have felt it necessary to conduct an unstructured interview with job candidates in order to make a hiring decision, despite the fact that correlations between decisions based on such unstructured contact and employee success have always been distressingly low. That is, if this is how you're going to decide whom to hire, you might save yourself some time and money by simply flipping a coin. Little has changed, however. Despite the increased use of the Internet to bring job seekers and employers together, eye contact and body language are deemed essential in the hiring process. That is, recruiters want to direct contact before forming a judgment.

Of course, judgments are easy; people make them all the time, just as juries render verdicts day in and day out. The important question is how frequently these judgments turn out to be accurate, and, for a clear picture of that, systematic research is necessary. It's easy to make up one's mind, but not necessarily easy to be right. It shouldn't be good enough to simply make something up. Speaking of recruiting, Joseph Herbulock is distressed because a Minnesota Law School won't allow JAG officers on campus to recruit for the Army. For those who don't watch U.S. television, "JAG" stands for "Judge Advocate General," and this story is NOT about Sarah MacKenzie.

You'll soon see more working seniors (Monday, 4/24/00)
Dave Carpenter discusses the consequences of the new law that eliminates the income test for Social Security beneficiaries between ages 65 and 70.

Religious diversity in the American workplace (Monday, 4/24/00)
Diversity of all kinds has been increasing in the new economy. In the United States, for instance, one finds a greater variety of religious groups represented in the workforce, and, sometimes, a greater variety of ways of discriminating.

What happens to North Koreans who make it to the South (Monday, 4/24/00)
At first glance, South Korea can seem like paradise to someone who has suffered from the regimentation and poverty of North Korea. However, Calvin Sims reports from Seoul that can still be hard for North Koreans who have managed to defect.

Postal worker nailed (Monday, 4/24/00)
A Florida worker with the Postal Service has been told to cut her inch-long fingernails. She's taking medical leave.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Action Science /Organizational Development (Monday, 4/24/00)
Chris Argyris has been one of the brighter lights in the field of organizational development for fifty years. The Action Science Network intends to make his ideas clear and demonstrate how they can be used in practical ways to make your work organization function more effectively for the benefit of all its constituencies.

Agreement ends L.A. janitors' strike (Sunday, 4/23/00)
The three-week janitors' strike in Los Angeles appears to be at an end as a tentative agreement is reached.

Aetna settlement hits a snag (Sunday, 4/23/00)
The deal reached between Aetna and the Texas attorney general isn't looking so good to many physicians as well as attorneys general in other states. Aetna had been offering financial incentives for limiting treatments, and the agreement had at first been seen as a model for the rest of the country. After a close look, though, many physicians and others are saying that it isn't quite what it first appeared to be. Little additional control of determining which treatments are necessary has shifted from the insurer to physicians, they say. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, leading HMOs are doubting the need for an "external review law" enabling appeal to an outside authority when a treatment is denied.

Retiring to the workforce (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Marlise Simons reports from Amsterdam on the large number of Dutch for whom retirement is simply a career change. The Netherlands is a conspicuous exception to the European unemployment problem.

The world's hungry amid its overfed (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Obesity is a major health risk in the United States, while vast numbers of people in Africa and other regions are going hungry. There is an abundance of food in the world, and American farm product prices have been lingering at historic lows, driving thousands of American farmers out of business each year. It's a strange world. The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial writers have been giving the problem much consideration, and offer some thoughts about a better-late-than-never effort to head off catastrophe in Africa.

Betting the house (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Tim Huber reports that more and more people have been financing their stock purchases with home equity loans. Given what has happened to many Internet stocks, this suggests cause for concern. Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan has expressed concern about the "irrational exuberance" which seemed to be supporting much of the stock market's spectacular gains in recent years, and a highly speculative climate does seem to encourage many persons to abandon good sense and take unjustified risks. Here's a St. Paul Pioneer Press article about the role hype has played in all this, and Laura Holson and Saul Hansell discuss the inflated parts of the market that have undergone deflation lately, and Serge Wilson says that the Internet stock game resembles the old game of musical chairs in which you can easily be left standing.

What will happen if Ford decides to close the Dagenham plant in Britain? (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Three other plants could be shut down by strikes, according to a leading UK business publication.

Six-month program creates computer specialists (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Jennifer Beauprez writes about a program in Colorado that is re-training professionals in fields where demand has weakened for high-demand computer jobs, and it's being done FAST.

More workers are skipping lunch (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Health experts have worried for years about people who skip breakfast, but, now, a lot of people are skipping lunch too. Columnist Amy Gage writes that this can damage your career as well as your health, according to experts. In Japan, Toho University researchers find that when Japanese workers are put in charge of their own schedules, they don't tend to take it easier, but, instead, are harder on themselves than a boss would be. The tendency to overwork is not new in Japan, but, as Stephanie Strom reports, hi-tech entrepreneurial attitudes, efforts, and vocabulary are fairly new but are becoming more prominent as Japan attempts to make the transition into full membership of the new global information economy.

Is the retreat from military service really all that mysterious? (Sunday, 4/23/00)
The U.S. Army is losing young officers in large numbers. Thomas Ricks writes about the survey that has been ordered to help the DOD better understand why.

Meterorological vs. economic forecasting (Sunday, 4/23/00)
Weather forecasting has improved considerably during recent years, given the greater access that meteorologists have to relevant data, even though chaos theory indicates that there is an inherent limit in the level of accuracy that is possible. An economy is also a complex dynamic system, and, like the atmosphere, seems to be a nonlinear system as well. If that's the case, one might expect the mathematics of chaos theory to apply to economics as well, meaning that may be a point beyond which it is not possible to go, so far as predictive accuracy is concerned. However, as the Toronto Star's Steven Theobald writes, so far, economic forecasting seems to fall far, far short of that point, and may be little better than chance in many cases? If so, why is that? The reasons are likely to be numerous, but one possibility may be that economic theory's psychological assumptions seem so outdated and may have little to do with the realities of human nature as we are best-able to understand them at this point. Most of the genuine systematically verifiable knowledge of nature, including human nature, is a product of very recent years, but many institutions have their roots in the information base of our ancestors.

In what occupation can you earn more than $100,000 your first year? (Sunday, 4/23/00)
There are a number of them, actually, but some, such as "movie star," may be a bit iffy. Graduate from a leading law school, though, and you may have to get a restraining order to get prospective law firms to leave you alone. They won't be trying to harass you; they'll be trying to hire you, and they're likely to be waving considerably more money at you this year than last. However, they may nearly work you to death too. The work load and hours can be absolutely crushing, and, in fact, do crush many. Burnout is common and can occur quickly.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For (Sunday, 4/23/00)
In the judgment of Fortune magazine, here's the latest list of the top 100 companies to work for. The labor market is tight. Desirable workers are scarce. These companies are going all out to attract and hold the people they need. Fortune updates their list each year.

Forty die in coal mine explosion (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Three miners are also missing following a gas explosion in a coal mine in northern China.

Talks to get underway at Lockheed (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Machinists at Lockheed have been on strike for two weeks. Talks will begin on Monday. Negotiations are underway between United Airlines and its pilots as well, and the head of the union says that job preservation is a key issue.

Layoffs at Compaq (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Once on top, Compaq Computer Corporation has been feeling the squeeze in the fast-moving computer industry. Dwight Silverman reports in the Houston Chronicle that the company is laying off 450 workers.

Highest priority when North and South Korean leaders get together (Saturday, 4/22/00)
The two Koreas have scheduled a summit in June, and have agreed to concentrate first on arranging for the reunion of families separated for decades.

Argentine police arrested for beating labor demonstrators (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Clifford Krauss reports from Buenos Aires on the aftermath of a labor demonstration that turned ugly, and, according to government officials, resulted in a bad case of police brutality.

Ethics and the Internet (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Dave Plotnik reports that ethicists are working on the development of a set of ethical rules appropriate for the world of cyberspace. In a slightly related story, George Colony of Forrester recently conducted a survey of CEOs of Internet companies and, on average, finds them to be shallow and greedy, when compared to CEOs at traditional companies.

The "paperless office" and other unrealistic fantasies (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Andrea Orr says that hi-tech hasn't resulted in the paperless office as expected. In fact, he seems to have resulted in even more paper use than before.

Easier for older Americans to find jobs (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Labor shortages in many sectors and regions of the country are making it easier for older people to find jobs, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Adult Learning Australia (Saturday, 4/22/00)
Adult Learning Australia is a comprehensive resource for those interested in adult and community education.

Agreement at Northwest (Friday, 4/21/00)
After years of working without a contract, it appears that Northwest Airlines' flight attendants have made a deal on a new contract.

In a sense, there are still two Vietnams (Friday, 4/21/00)
However, the division is economic rather than political at this point. Mark Landler reports in today's New York Times that Vietnam's economic gap is widening.

No evidence that recession has reasserted itself in Japan (Friday, 4/21/00)
The latest data suggest that the Japanese economy is still on track for recovery, according to the Japanese government. Reed Stevenson has details from Tokyo.

Holding on to workers during Chapter 11 reorganization (Friday, 4/21/00)
MicroAge is in bankruptcy, but they don't intend to go out of business. Dawn Gilbertson reports in the Arizona Republic on how the company plans to keep its employees during the time it is reorganizing under protection from its creditors.

Less money for home health care (Friday, 4/21/00)
Medicare spending on home health care services has dropped 45 percent during the past two fiscal years, and many are alarmed. Here's more from Robert Pear of the New York Times.

How to fix the gender gap in hi-tech occupations (Friday, 4/21/00)
It's well known that male and female bodies are constructed differently in some key ways, but do these differences include the brain? There is some tentative evidence that male and female brains are constructed differently, and that this might have implications for both abilities and interests in some areas. Of course, whatever differences may exist must be thought of in terms of averages. An example would be differences in height. While it is true that men, on the average, are taller than women, it is also true that there are a great many exceptions. One can expect this to apply to possible sex differences in, say spatial aptitude, as well. However, social learning also plays a major role, and the sum of the evidence so far provides no reason to believe that men are inherently better suited for work in the new economy than women, despite the tremendously larger number of men in technical occupations. According to a recent Sun-Sentinel report, major companies such as IBM, Motorola, and Xerox are trying to find ways to overcome traditional beliefs, mostly unfounded, that tend to support the lingering sex bias in engineering and other technical fields.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: WorkdayTV (Friday, 4/21/00)
WorkdayTV is a wireless Internet television service from the streets of downtown Toronto.

Jobless claims decrease dramatically (Thursday, 4/20/00)
First-time claims for jobless benefits hit their lowest level since December 1973 last week. South of the U.S. border, the overall employment situation has improved too. Mexico's jobless rate was down in March.

BIG cuts at Winn-Dixie (Thursday, 4/20/00)
The supermarket chain will close 114 stores and cut 11,000 jobs.

Coke chairman celebrates diversity (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Douglas Daft announced to shareholders that diversity is "indispensable" to Coca-Cola. Jesse Jackson is urging Coke to settle a discrimination suit.

Clinton looks to business for support in his effort to normalize trade with China (Thursday, 4/20/00)
President Clinton has been on the telephone today trying to persuade top American business leaders to get behind the effort to open up trade with China. Meanwhile, a major Democrat won't be supporting the President. The man who could become the next Speaker of the House, Congressman Dick Gephardt, says he will oppose permanent trade benefits for China.

Paper strike ends in Finland (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Thirty-thousand paper workers have been on strike for a week. However, with the help of a mediator, an agreement has been reached on a new contract.

The '90s weren't too good for Canadians (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Over the decade of the 1990s, living standards declined in Canada, according to a new report.

Surprise! South African whites expect business to be better under President Mbeki (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Rachell Swarns reports from Johannesburg about Afrikaner business support for South Africa's president, which represents a major change of attitude for many.

Which direction the causality? (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Do improved economic conditions lead to better health? Seems to make sense, but maybe not. Sanjay Kumar writes about a new report that indicates that the correlation between economic level and public health may be best-explained the other way around. Improved health leads to an improved economy, according to data from a Harvard University study. However, single cause-effect models have been largely replaced by complex system models, meaning that, in the real world, one may not have to make a choice between the two interpretations. If health improves economics, it doesn't preclude the possibility that economics improves health as well, which may lead to further improvements in economics, and so on.

Poverty and the digital divide (Thursday, 4/20/00)
A new study from Forrester Research finds that the digital divide is best-explained in terms of economics, not race. Katie Hafner reports that another study from Cheskin Research finds a significant increase in the number of Hispanics who are online, and also finds that household income makes a difference. Meanwhile, as additional evidence that the Internet is working its way into all areas of life, yesterday's Washington Post reported that the new director of the Peace Corps says that his organization can help narrow the global have vs. have not gap by helping people learning how to use computers. Also, the U.S. Army intends to make increasing use of the Internet in recruiting.

The workplace generation gap (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Columnist Diane Stafford finds that younger people in a new work situation have different perceptions of "loyalty" than the older generation which was formed by the old industrial economy. Meanwhile, Houston Chronicle columnist Jim Barlow tells about how his readers responded to his recent piece on keep valued workers.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality (Thursday, 4/20/00)
Once upon a time, 1984 seemed far in the dangerous future. Then, 2001 loomed on the horizon. After next year, we'll be looking in the rear view mirror at both years, but how about the things they were intended to represent? Orwell's fears haven't materialized, and, in fact, the year he selected for his book's title turned out to be the year the Macintosh computer was released and personal computers generally seemed to be countering the sort of centralization of power that many people feared from the post-modern period. Critics of the IMF and the World Bank see an increasingly centralized global economic system, while others emphasize the inherently decentralized nature of the Internet and its growing importance in the world's infrastructure. Speaking of hi-tech, remember "HAL" in 2001? If you wonder how the bossy computer's name was arrived at, just check the letters in the alphabet that follow each of the letters in Hal's name. Now that 2001 is nearly here, how real is Hal? How real can she/he/it be? Here's an online version of a 1996 book edited by David Storck and published by MIT press. It's Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality.

Jiang tours Israeli hi-tech industries (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
The President of China is finishing up a six-day visit to Israel aimed at broadening the relationship between the two countries, particularly their economic relationship. Here are more details from Ha'aretz.

More post-mortem on the D.C. protest (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
Leo Rennert thinks that many protesters of the IMF and World Bank meetings are aiming their resentment at some of the wrong targets.

Hutchinson makes cuts (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
A leading hi-tech company finds that demand for its products is a little flaccid, so it's cutting back its workforce by about 15 percent. Huchinson Technology is about to lay off 950 workers. Another industry may lose jobs, in this case, to the Internet. More people are booking travel online, and that may mean fewer travel agents before long.

Discrimination alleged at Coca-Cola (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
Eight African-American employees have filed a discrimination lawsuit, and supporters are attempting to make themselves heard at Coke's annual meeting.

Clinton on the great divide (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
President Clinton spoke to an audience of hi-tech industry insiders yesterday at COMDEX in Chicago, saying that he's worried about the growing "digital divide" and would like to see the technology industry help close the gap. If poorer citizens manage to acquire a computer, presidential candidate Bush would like for them to have some place to use it. George W. has proposed a $1.7 billion plan for helping to increase home ownership among the nation's poor.

The debate over OSHA's proposed national ergonomics standards (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
Kansas City Star columnist Diane Stafford explains how ergonomics has gone so quickly from being an arcane topic to a subject of great interest to people in millions of American work sites.

How do Australians see themselves? (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
While many North Americans may see Australians as being upside-down, how do they see themselves? John Vinocur writes from Sydney in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Designated Teacher Shortage Areas (Wednesday, 4/19/00)
A serious national shortage of teachers is building very rapidly. Designated Teacher Shortage Areas tracks the shortages. Education Week is in the process of building a national database to help teachers and school districts with shortages to find each other. The database should be ready by September, they say. A study released by the Department of Education last year predicted that American education will need 2 million new teachers will be needed during the next ten years in the United States.

Follow the bouncing ball (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
Tech stocks have bounced back, but the ball may still be in play, so expect more ups and downs. Anthony Hughes reports in the Sydney Morning Herald that Friday's speculative tech stock deflation has radiated all the way over to the underside of the globe, greatly affecting Australian shares. Tom Allard worries that Wall Street's woes in the U.S. might affect the American economy as a whole, which could have an even more disruptive effect on other economies, including Australia's. Japan's political leaders have similar concerns, particularly now that the Japanese economy has begun a tentative, perhaps easily disrupted recovery. Also, in Japan, where work violence has not been as prevalent as in the U.S., the stresses of unemployment are taking their toll. A former Suntory worker has shot a man, a woman, and himself.

Has the new economy suddenly become old and obsolete? (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
Annette Sampson provides an analysis of the tech stock roller-coaster and advises a well-considered reality check. Investors still seem to believe that the Internet is going to be nearly as important as the invention of written language or agriculture. Problem is, you can't invest in "the Internet." You must invest in individual companies, and to say that it isn't clear which Internet startups will survive for the long-haul and which will be gone by this time next year is one of the decade's leading understatements. So, investors take a wild throw, and hope they're buying stock in a few companies that will be among the survivors.

The highly speculative period may be over, though, and investors begin to insist that their shares represent something they regard as having genuine value, rather than simply hoping somebody else will be even more enthusiastic and want to raise their price. In the long run, a business' value depends on its ability to produce profits, because it cannot continue in business without capital, and profit is the cost of capital plus the cost of risk.

However, in the new economy, for the short-term, at least, other things can add value to a company as well, including brand recognition, domination of a market niche, and so on. Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, a rapidly growing company that does a lot of business but hasn't produced profits yet, has taken advantage of the speculative period to occupy territory, much as one would try to do in a land rush. When people rushed into Oklahoma Territory to grab land, it would still be quite a while before anyone would make money from the land newly occupied. Still, it would quickly become clear that those who controlled the land would be the eventual producers and profit-makers. The analogy isn't perfect, of course, because there is a finite amount of land, but not a finite amount of "Internet space."

Workers begin to jump overboard and swim for more stable vessels (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
For quite a long time now, workers have been leaving "old economy" corporations in order to join Internet startups. However, an increasing number of people are trying to go back.

Is the anxiety over globalization realistic or a neurosis? (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
Business Week examines the motivation behind the large-scale protests in Washington, D.C., and Seattle, as well as those that are likely to come. Meanwhile, editorial writers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune are scratching their heads, wondering why protesters aren't on the other side of the argument? Across town, the St. Paul Pioneer Press' Jane Bussey and Ken Moritsugu, who are actually writing from Washington, say the leaders of the IMF and World Bank, though they say they have been listening, seem fairly inflexible. Still, this Washington Post piece asserts that protesters have managed to broaden the set of issues that those in the formal meetings have had to consider. Joseph Kahn and John Kifner of the New York Times write that, in a show of sensitivity, world trade leaders have pledged to step up efforts to combat the spread of AIDS.

Inflation appears on the horizon somewhere off the coast of Western Europe (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
What to do about growing inflationary pressures in Britain? Business Week reports on the dilemma faced by the Bank of England.

New contract for Chicago janitors (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
A new three-year contract has been ratified by thousands of janitors who work in downtown Chicago. Meanwhile, janitors in Los Angeles remain out on strike, and Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times writes about the stark contrast between janitors in Silicon Valley and some of the other people who work there. Moreover, things are made even more difficult for people on the lower end of the economic scale because the cost of housing and other necessities has been driven into the stratosphere.

Illegal immigrants and the people they have to watch out for (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
Illegal immigrants in the United States not only have to keep an eye out for INS officials, they also need to be skeptical of people who say they're going to help them. Here are some details of a scam in Colorado.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Germany and Japan: The Future of Nationally Embedded Capitalism in a Global Economy (Tuesday, 4/18/00)
How are the world's second and third-largest economies responding to pressures to become part of a new global economy? Scholars from several countries are studying these issues as part of a project sponsored by the Max Planck Institute. Here's Germany and Japan: The Future of Nationally Embedded Capitalism in a Global Economy.

Rain, more police reduce protesters' impact in D. C. (Monday, 4/17/00)
Protesters have showed up in large numbers in Washington, this time D. C., rather than Seattle, but it doesn't appear to be a replay of the "battle in Seattle," and IMF representatives have been a able to conduct meetings despite efforts to interfere on the part of persons opposed to globalization. The World Bank started meeting early today as well, also likely thankful for the rain and police reinforcements throughout key parts of the American capital.

A new report funded by the United Nations serves to strengthen the case of some protesters concerned about how a dramatic increase in world trade levels might further threaten global ecosystems. Many are greatly concerned about the global have vs. have not gap, but don't see an effort to raise everybody to American levels of consumption as a solution. Less materialism and conspicuous consumption, rather than more, might prevent the earth from suffering a final paroxysm within a few generations, they think.

Meanwhile, another study finds that American college students aren't necessarily trying to look at the very big picture, but, instead, seem to be focusing on their own material futures. A survey conducted by Jobtrak.com finds that more than half of American collegiates expect to be rich by the time they are only about twice their present ages. Finally, a general slowing of global trade liberalization since the Seattle non-meetings has been frustrating Asian countries which are turning to regionalization as an alternative to globalization.

Are the two Koreas on their way to become one again? (Monday, 4/17/00)
South Korea's president says his government will push ahead on its economic reform agenda, but also wants bipartisan support for the upcoming summit with North Korea. He might also like skeptical business leaders to come on board. Meanwhile, around the world, newspapers are editorializing about the possibility of Korean reunification before long, now that the ice seems to have been broken. What has seemed rock-solid can suddenly dissolve, if conditions are right, so stay tuned.

Next year's grads will face a friendlier job market in Japan (Monday, 4/17/00)
Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun reports that grads next year are likely to find a more favorable job market as additional evidence of Japan's gradually improving economic picture.

If your stocks collapsed, you may not feel blessed, but... (Monday, 4/17/00)
It could be a blessing in disguise for the overall economy, which, despite the teeth-rattling shakeup on Wall Street, is still quite sound. Here are some more thoughts along these lines from today's Washington Post. All this is not to say that individuals and individual companies will not suffer. In fact, Steve Lohr thinks the decline of tech stocks may mark the beginning of a Internet company shakeout from which only the strong and nimble may survive.

The "sandwich generation" (Monday, 4/17/00)
Maurice Elias writes about the stresses of the generation with responsibilities for children as well as aging parents.

Nurses organize in greater numbers (Monday, 4/17/00)
Increasingly, nurses are unionizing. Jeff Donn reports that health care costs are putting the squeeze on nurses and escalating the level of labor conflict involving health professionals.

Empty slots at American casinos (Monday, 4/17/00)
Not slot machines, but job slots. Here's George Lane's Denver Post report on the labor shortage across Colorado casinos. The American military is facing similar difficulties in its officers' ranks, as younger officers retreat from military life in very large numbers.

The importance of getting everybody on the Internet (Monday, 4/17/00)
The Internet changes everything, as they say, and, before long, everything will be connected to everything else...except for those who are left out entirely, that is. President Clinton doesn't want any Americans to be left out, because the have vs. have not gap will be determined largely by access to information and information technologies from now on.

For instance, the first Americans are also the poorest, as a group, and many lack access to telephone service, which means they also lack access to the Internet in its current wired form. Clinton wants to see better telephone service plus computers for native Americans, and he's enlisting the assistance of a number of hi-tech corporations in the effort. Meanwhile, Greg Griffin of the Denver Post writes about a group of businessmen who are doing their best to bring poor areas of the world into the Internet age.

Incidentally, the nature of computers as well as the nature of the Internet can be expected to change dramatically over the new few years. Expect an increasing number of more specialized computing devices and processor chips in just about everything. Also, expect the Internet to become increasingly wireless at all levels. In related news, Joel Ackerman reports on the Internet's impact on the health care community, while Dan Eggen says that age is no barrier to going online. Finally, Hillel Italie tells about how public libraries are being transformed, in large part because of the hi-tech/info revolution.

A thoughtful examination of e-commerce (Monday, 4/17/00)
Today's Wall Street Journal contains a special section on e-commerce in all its aspects. Many articles, and, as usual, all worth reading.

The decline of the business uniform (Monday, 4/17/00)
In the old industrial economy, it was sometimes helpful to organize a business along paramilitary lines. However, the new economy is characterized by flexibility and diversity, and this is showing up in the way people dress for work as well. Formality and standardization are on the way out in many places.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: MSMONEY (Monday, 4/17/00)
Get your finances in order by spending only a couple of minutes per day, they say, with the help of MSMONEY, a new financial site for women.

Clinton attempts to calm fears (Sunday, 4/16/00)
President Clinton wants Americans to know that he doesn't expect the big Wall Street drop last week to mean that the overall American economy will be developing fundamental trouble. He expects a good year ahead, including solid growth without a significant problem from inflation. The Treasury Secretary also expects that inflation will not become a problem, and that the longer-term prospects for the American economy continue to be strong. However, various experts are saying that the tremendous loss of stock values could result in a cooling of consumer enthusiasm, and, thus, a frosty American economy, even to the point of recession. Scott Thurm of the Wall Street Journal says that there is more agreement on how the stock sell-off will be affecting Silicon Valley itself during the immediate future. The river of cash that has been fueling hi-tech enterprises won't be flowing as rapidly for a while, and many tech workers in the thousands of companies between San Francisco and San Jose, who have been relying on their generous stock options, will be focusing on their much more modest salaries. And, if you're an investor, fasten your safety belt, says Aaron Zitner of the Boston Globe. The roller-coast ride isn't over.

IMF determined to hold meetings despite protesters (Sunday, 4/16/00)
Meetings are continuing at the International Monetary Fund headquarters today, even though large numbers of protesters are gathered outside. Many downtown Washington streets have been blocked by protesters, and 600 of them have been arrested. Columnist David Crane writes that some protesters might be wishing that others would have stayed home. There are a great many different kinds of groups congregating in the streets of D.C. today, and some regard themselves as more serious than others, thinking that their credibility might become tarnished by some others whom they regard as loonies. From Manila, Thomas Crampton writes for the International Herald Tribune about why leaders of the Asian Development Bank don't expect major organized protests when they have their meeting in Thailand in May.

No acceleration of debt write-off (Sunday, 4/16/00)
The G7 didn't announce any plan yesterday for stepping up the forgiveness of debts owed by poor nations. The world's richest nations did agree that more effort is needed to bring world economic growth into greater overall balance.

Why Angola isn't the richest country on the vast African continent (Sunday, 4/16/00)
Blaine Harden of the New York Times explains from Luanda why Angola's vast oil reserves haven't helped its poor, despite a small overall population.

Broder examines the implications of the janitors' strike in L.A. (Sunday, 4/16/00)
The famed Washington Post columnist writes that a look at the reasons for the janitors' strike in Los Angeles brings some of the new economy's contradictions and disparities into focus. Meanwhile, Boston Globe columnist Diane Lewis tells about small business operators who are trying to pay their employees a livable wage and still stay in business. Part of the problem, of course, is that they may be competing against companies that aren't making a similar effort.

Who could possibly be unenthusiastic about the high-level meetings between the two Koreas? (Sunday, 4/16/00)
Many South Korean business leaders, that's who. Don Kirk offers an explanation from Seoul.

Indonesia to get some help (Sunday, 4/16/00)
The IMF agreed Friday to provide some support for Indonesia's efforts to repair its troubled economy. It all depends on reforms that the Indonesian government intends, but some observers are still skeptical. Indonesia was hit hard by the Asian financial storm that spread over the region a couple of years ago, and their problems were exacerbated by a variety of fundamental political difficulties.

One unexpected way in which the IRS has changed its ways (Sunday, 4/16/00)
According to research from Syracuse University, last year was the first time that poor taxpayers were more likely to be audited than rich ones.

Work climate at many Internet companies may be TOO casual (Sunday, 4/16/00)
Melinda Ligos of the New York Times expects that a wave of sexual harassment suits may soon sweep over many "new economy" startups.

Whitman urges Clinton to sign Republican tax-cut legislation (Sunday, 4/16/00)
The Governor of New Jersey is trying to persuade the President to sign a Republican-sponsored bill that would eliminate the "marriage penalty."

Protection against thieves within (Sunday, 4/16/00)
John Benedict has some advice for business leaders who want to prevent internal embezzlement.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Biographies of Women Mathematicians (Sunday, 4/16/00)
A strong sex bias persists in the technical occupations. Far more engineers, computer scientists, and other higher-level technical experts are male than female. If you think it is because women are inherently poor at technical pursuits, you may want to examine Biographies of Women Mathematicians from ancient through modern times, an ongoing project of the students at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

The difficulty of finding a place to talk (Saturday, 4/15/00)
Representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have congregated in Washington, D.C., but so have thousands of protesters, some encouraged by their success in disrupting the Seattle talks. Those opposed to globalization are a heterogeneous collection, many of whom may not have a great deal in common other than their feelings of antagonism, for their own respective reasons, toward the IMF and other international bodies. For instance a couple of people identifying themselves as vegetarians expressed their opposition to the World Bank in fairly direct and rude fashion yesterday, before being arrested. Many protesters are calling for cancellation of debt owned by some of the world's poorest countries, but, as the Toronto Star's David Crane writes, the wealthy countries have not been terribly responsive in providing debt relief. Edward Lotterman provides a brief history of the two main targets of protester wrath, and Jason Webb reports from Havana on the third-world summit that's been going on there. Finally, Sebastian Mallaby writes in today's Washington Post about progress toward a solution to the problem of sweatshops in poor countries, one of the issues of major concern to many persons protesting globalization.

The Fed hasn't changed its mind on its approach to cooling the American economy (Saturday, 4/15/00)
The dramatic events of the past few days aren't likely to change the Federal Reserve's strategy. Economists on Wall Street expect the Fed to continue raising interest rates gradually. In addition to a strong increase in the Consumer Price Index, sellers have greatly outnumbered buyers in the equities markets. Losses have been of historic proportions, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars of investor wealth. Thomas Mulligan of the Los Angeles Times describes the worst Wall Street downer since 1987, while Hiawatha Bray writes in today's Boston Globe that the financial blood bath has injured the "new economy," but has left it alive. Will the hot American economy cool quickly now? Floyd Norris of the New York Times offers some opinions on this question.

Agreement on appealing denial of care (Saturday, 4/15/00)
If your HMO refuses to provide a particular treatment, you may have an appeals process available soon. Robert Pear of the New York Times writes about an agreement reached by the Senate and House.

The "last plantation" (Saturday, 4/15/00)
Black farmers are saying that, despite their winning a class action suit against the United States Department of Agriculture, racism and discrimination persist in the USDA's dealings with minority farmers.

Foreign students in Japan seek part-time employment, often without success (Saturday, 4/15/00)
Jobs haven't been plentiful in Japan lately, given that country's worst recession since the end of the Second World War. But, things are particularly hard for foreign students wanting to work part-time while they study.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Basics of Saving and Investing: A Teaching Guide (Saturday, 4/15/00)
Here's some advice: Don't buy high and sell low. For more than that, here's a teaching guide from the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. and the National Institute for Consumer Education.

A chill in the air? (Friday, 4/14/00)
After basking in the economic sunshine for so long, a change of seasons may finally be on the way. Knut Engelmann reports that consumer prices increased markedly in March. The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index rose 0.7 last month, and experts are saying this will probably mean still-higher interest rates as well as less enthusiasm on the part of investors. If hi-tech really has been driving the strong American economy, there is reason for concern about the dramatic drop in tech stock prices during recent days. Among the losers has been the richest man in the world, on the 25th anniversary of his company, whose net worth has declined by about as much as the total net worth of the third-richest person in the world. Paul Sheehan of the Sydney Morning Herald reports on the stunning decrease in value of Australian Internet stocks during the past two weeks, showing that it's not an exclusively American phenomenon.

As the Internet balloon deflates, people working for online startups are beginning to get a little nervous about their jobs, as well. Mike Hughlett of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on the recent increase in the rate at which layoffs have been occurring in non-dot-com companies. However, these do not necessarily represent a coming slowdown of the economy. During much of the decade of the 1990s, staff reductions have been part of the increased use of technology in order to produce greater efficiencies and higher productivity. Also, the new economy has been characterized by a good deal of turbulence and churning with hiring and firing going on at a rapid rate as companies have attempted to achieve higher degrees of flexibility, including a "just-in-time" workforce.

Marriage penalty bill hits barrier (Friday, 4/14/00)
Republicans have been trying to get a $248 billion tax cut bill through the Senate which would eliminate the "marriage penalty," but Democrats have been standing in the way, saying that insufficient consideration has been given to the bill's likely impact on the economy as a whole. Senate Republicans are trying to rush things, they say. Speaking of taxes, David Francis of the Christian Science Monitor says you're probably paying a lower rate this year than you did nearly two decades ago.

Women advance a bit toward full equality in Egypt (Friday, 4/14/00)
Howard Schneider reports that a new law in Egypt makes it easier for women to get a divorce. Overall, though women across the Islamic world have a long way to go before achieving full legal and economic equality.

Labor Department wants more info to aid its anti-discrimination effort (Friday, 4/14/00)
Federal contractors are being asked for additional information about the people they're hiring, and some are suspicious of where this may lead. Here's more from Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post. Meanwhile, another federal government agency is trying to overcome its own fairly dismal history of bias and discrimination. Minority farmers have complained for years about the Department of Agriculture's policies which have put them at an unfair disadvantage, they say. The Ag Secretary will announce the firing of a number of department personnel as well as the disciplining of others, but specific details aren't likely to be included in the report this month. And, would a President George W. Bush be biased toward gays in his administration? Not in the least, the candidate says, following a meeting with a gay political group. He would not hesitate to appoint gays to key positions in his administration, he says.

FedEx drivers implicated in drug ring (Friday, 4/14/00)
Drivers were bribed so that their trucks could be used to transport illegal drugs, according to the DEA.

The pros and cons of globalization (Friday, 4/14/00)
The President of the United States as well as officials of the International Monetary Fund insist that a free trade and globalization are the best ways to improve the lives of impoverished millions across the globe. And, while you've heard of G7, the richest industrial countries on earth, how about G133? Representatives of many of the world's poorest nations have been meeting in Havana, and many of them share a different view of globalization and its consequences for their countries. E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post believes that the critics of globalization who have been congregating in Washington have a point on some issues, and their questions are ones that should be asked, not dismissed casually. Finally, Reginald Dale writes in the International Herald Tribune about how...and why...the United States is under increasing attack, not only by Fidel Castro, but also by many long considered to be its friends. Anti-Americanism is on the rise in many regions, including Europe.

The Social Security earnings test is gone, but what else can be done? (Friday, 4/14/00)
Congress is trying to find additional ways to keep older workers in the workforce longer, in order to help ease the labor shortage. Workers of all ages are more likely to stick with their employers in Texas, even if they feel that they're being mistreated, according to a new study conducted by Walker Information and the Hudson Institute.

The mediators will be called in at United (Friday, 4/14/00)
United Airlines and its pilots have failed to reach agreement on a new contract, so they're calling on mediators for help. In other airline labor news, baggage handlers have gone on strike at Portugal's five international airports.

AFT wants new standards for teachers (Friday, 4/14/00)
Possibly in an effort to head of a movement that could take quite a lot of control of their own profession out of the hands of educators, the American Federation of Teachers has reversed course and is now calling for rigorous testing to improve the overall quality of teachers in American classrooms.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Foreign Languages for Travelers (Friday, 4/14/00)
Business travelers are swarming over the globe continually, and globalization can only accelerate this process, even though it is far faster and less expensive to move information now than to move people. Still, if you would like to learn some survival words and be understood wherever you are, Foreign Languages for Travelers can help with 70 languages, including pronunciations on their web site.

Is inflation about to awaken from its long slumber? (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Alan Greenspan has been accused of being phobic about inflation, but a phobia is an irrational fear. His concerns may be perfectly rational indeed, and other economists see price pressures building.

Not all familiar laws of economics have been repealed (Thursday, 4/13/00)
There seems to be a growing consensus that the "new economy" really is fundamentally different from the old in some interesting ways, but it's still grounded in the same universe. For instance, while enthusiasm and a special game of "chicken" can inflate the stock values of Internet companies for a time, sooner or later, even these firms must actually produce a profit. Peter Howe writes about the new report from Forrester Research of Cambridge, which says that the air that's been let out of technology stocks very recently is only the beginning. Despite the presumed efficiencies that can come from doing business online, the barrier to entry isn't all that high, which means that both consumers and investors have a lot of choices. Expect a big shakeout very soon, the researchers say. Expect half of the e-commerce sites to be gone by the end of next year. Former political science professor, syndicated columnist, ABC News commentator, and baseball's leading fanatic, George Will, has some thoughts about tech stocks and recent market gyrations.

Asian flu eradicated? (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Even persons with fairly short memories will recall the frequency with which we pointed to press reports about spreading financial crises in Asia and elsewhere not so long ago. But, time moves on, and, as the Christian Science Monitor's David Francis writes, the global economy is in better overall shape than it's been for years. Across Asia itself, the tourism sector is among those that have been rebounding nicely, according to this International Herald Tribune story. International Monetary Fund officials seem pleased with the way things have been going in the world and expect solid overall growth, but agree with Alan Greenspan that the American economy is beginning to overheat and can be a hazard for the rest of the world. Not everybody's happy, though. In fact, Howard LaFranchi writes from Mexico City about disquiet among Andean countries that think globalization has worked to their disadvantage. Another discouraging word comes from economist Joseph Stiglitz currently of the Brookings Institution. Toronto Star columnist David Crane reports on why the former World Bank chief economist thinks the IMF and US mishandled the Asian financial crisis.

The growing economic impact of AIDS (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Why on earth would an organization like the World Bank be concerned about a disease? John Burgess reports that the AIDS epidemic has reached such proportions that it is interfering with efforts to assist economic development in some countries. The World Bank is calling for a tougher and more effective fight against it.

Maintenance manager reassigned at Alaska Airlines (Thursday, 4/13/00)
In the wake of the crash of one of Alaska Air's planes, 64 mechanics report having been under pressure from their supervisor to "cut corners" on maintenance. The supervisor has been given a new job.

Working Japanese women step out of their traditional roles and assert themselves in the work world (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Yasushi Sato writes in Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun that male-dominated Japan, Inc. is under fire from working women, another sign that the economy that is beginning to emerge from Japan's deepest post-war recession will be quite different from the economy that the country had going into the big slump. Traditions are losing their grip.

Congressional Republicans outline prescription drug plan (Thursday, 4/13/00)
In an election year, both major parties would like to be able to take credit for helping Medicare recipients gain more affordable access to prescription medications. Joanne Kenen reports that Republicans in the House of Representatives are developing a plan, but the fine strokes haven't been painted in yet.

Say only what you wouldn't mind the boss hearing (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Nancy Riovera Brooks writes in the Los Angeles Times about the common employer policy of keeping track of how employees are using technologies on the job. The privacy rights you may presume are yours at home don't extend to a setting owned by your employer when you're using equipment also owned by your employer. Why should your boss care what you do or say on the telephone or on the Internet? You may be wasting time that he's paying for, for one thing, but he may also be very concerned about his legal liabilities. He could get sued over what YOU are doing.

In a sweat about sweatshirts (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Many American college students see themselves as providing moral instruction to their elders, some of whom run universities. Here's Mary Beth Marklein's USA Today story about the spreading campus movement against selling merchandise produced by sweatshop labor.

House committee votes to make tech visas unlimited (Thursday, 4/13/00)
The legislation may not be what it appears to be, though, according to American Business for Legal Immigration, and organization that wants to see more H1-B visas. Meanwhile, on the Senate side, a bill has been passed that would enable many hourly workers to receive stock options as parts of their employment packages.

Reports about Hong Kong's still-free press may have been exaggerated (Thursday, 4/13/00)
Mark Landler writes from the former British colony that Beijing has told Hong Kong's press in no uncertain terms that they cannot report freely on "separatist ideas" in relation to the mainland's conflict with Taiwan. The truly addicted among our readers may recall that several years ago, before the handover, we quite frequently pointed to stories in Hong Kong newspapers. We seldom do so any longer, and this is the reason. You can be absolutely sure that the Chinese press will accurately report exactly what the Chinese government wants it to report.

Trouble is, the boundary between China's press and Hong Kong's press has become increasingly blurred, and, no matter what it says on a Hong Kong paper's masthead, you know who's really in charge. Too bad too, because Hong Kong remains an important economic force in Asia. What about China itself? Even Richard Nixon, who build a political career on his opposition to Communism, felt that the world could not long tolerate the isolation of one-quarter of the world's population, so he opened the door to China and drank tea with Mao. The current administration is well-aware of China's human rights abuses, but also feels that the world will be better off if trade relations between the US. and China are normalized. Many disagree, and 10,000 of these persons descended on the American Capitol yesterday to make their view clear and unambiguous.

A tilt from print toward electronic publishing (Thursday, 4/13/00)
The Journal of Commerce has been covering business in the United States since the year after Thomas Jefferson died. However, as a sign of the times, it will stop publishing a daily print edition, but will continue daily coverage on its web site. The print version isn't disappearing entirely, though. It will become a weekly magazine.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Columbia Journalism Review (Thursday, 4/13/00)
We're all about life and work in the new economy, and, of course, that includes people who work in journalism. And, because we're part of the "new journalism," it's important to check in now and then with those thoughtful persons who have something to say about how the craft is practiced in the new as well as the conventional media. For instance, maybe we shouldn't deliberately ignore the AP Style Manual, but, for the most part, we do, and for our own reasons. One of the best sources for anyone interested in the practice of journalism is the Columbia Journalism Review from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Aetna decides to remove physicians from a conflict of interest situation (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Aetna has decided to settle a lawsuit that alleges that participating physicians have been offered cash incentives for limiting costly care, which many have regarded as a amounting to a blatant conflict of interest and a fundamental betrayal of the healer's professional obligation to his/her patients. Observers are saying that the settlement could have widespread implications for managed care generally. Here's more from George Lardner of the Washington Post. As additional evidence that the system hasn't been working and often places dedicated professionals in an intolerable moral dilemma, a survey conducted by the American Medical Association finds that four out of ten American physicians acknowledge that they frequently lie to insurance companies in order to provide patients with the treatment they need.

Meanwhile, the fact that more than 30 million persons lack access to health care and 20 percent of children in the wealthiest nation ever to occupy space on planet Earth live in poverty is beginning to get the attention of at least some political leaders. Candidate George W. has made two recent health care proposals, including a $4.3 billion plan to strengthen the safety net for the neediest Americans, as well as a plan for helping the working poor.

Workers exposed to radiation to receive $400 million (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Workers in the American nuclear industry were exposed to radiation that has resulted in a high incidence of major illness over the years since. The federal government has decided to compensate those persons who have been affected. The total bill will be at least $400 million.

Harbingers of things to come? (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
People who would like to disrupt the IMF-World Bank meetings held two demonstrations in Washington yesterday, but they were peaceful. The Christian Science Monitor's Ron Scherer compares today's protesters with those of a generation ago.

Improved training is the key, according to Greenspan (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
The continued vitality of the American economy will depend on the ready availability of high-level skills, and these will require a major national commitment to training. On this issue, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is not alone in his opinion.

A call for a national strike over water (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
The largest union in Bolivia wants a national strike to protest a state of emergency imposed by the government following violent protests over a proposal to start charging for water. Here's the story from Carlos Quiroga, reporting from La Paz.

At times, survivors may envy the casualties (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Much attention has been given to persons sliced loose from their careers because of downsizing, particularly if these persons are displaced after many years of work and shortly before they had intended to retire at a time when the job market may have lost some enthusiasm for workers of their generation. But, how about workers who are spared the ax? Well, there has been considerable evidence that survivors often have to pick up considerable slack left by the departed, meaning that they may be working longer and harder, and, while this has contributed to overall productivity increases in recent years, it also can increase job-related stress levels. New research from Finland finds that being a survivor on the job may mean increased vulnerability to illness. The loss of a feeling of control may be a contributing factor, the researchers say, and, in fact, research presented at the Society of Behavioral Medicine meeting in Tennessee finds a strong relationship between sense of control and stress on the job. As an example, earlier research has found that one of the most stressful occupations is that of secretary, because these folks are constantly having to react to things over which they have little control.

What to say about a worker everybody would like to see succeed in finding a different job (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Columnist Kirstin Downey Grimsley advises a correspondent who might agree with Thumper, that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. However, in this case, if the individual is successful in finding a different job, it will be to everybody's relief, because it will mean that the individual will be gone, gone, gone. What to say? Tell the truth, and the individual probably won't move on.

Families split for a half century might tentatively hope for reunion now (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
For a couple of generations, Korean family members have been separated by a border that may as well separate different planets. However, as Doug Struck reports, the planned summit involving leaders of the two Koreas may offer some hope.

Evidence that the American press might not be dominated by liberals after all (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
A survey conducted by the Freedom Forum finds that American newsrooms have not welcomed minorities in large numbers, despite a quarter century effort on the part of some to diversify the population of persons who tell Americans what is going on and what it all means. In a somewhat related story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has agreed to settle a discrimination-in-hiring suit.

Bank of Japan sees signs of improvement (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
The sun may not be setting on Japan's postwar economic "miracle" after all. A new report from the Bank of Japan finds numerous signs that things are getting better and that the country really is emerging from its worst recession since the devastation of World War II. It's still a slow process, though.

More on workers with special needs (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Amy Lindgren continues her four-part series in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on workers with disabilities or special problems. This time, she focuses on persons with chronic illnesses.

Most passengers in Paris largely unaware that a strike has been going on (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Four unions at two major French airports have been on strike for two days, but air traffic has continued mostly in a normal fashion. Agreement has been reached with three of the unions, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Many women entrepreneurs feel as though they're in a slalom on broken skis (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
More new businesses are being started by women than by men, so the American economy has become increasingly dependent on the good fortunes of women entrepreneurs. So, why do so many obstacles remain? Libby Quaid describes some of them from Washington, D. C.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Women Nobel Prize Laureates (Wednesday, 4/12/00)
Here's a list of some of history's major super-achievers. In this case, we're talking about Women Nobel Prize Laureates.

The "most dangerous place on earth" may be getting slightly less volatile (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
The greatest economic and political contrast in the world between nations sharing a common border may be found on the Korean peninsula where an increasingly democratic, wildly successful economic powerhouse shares a border with the most pathologically regimented society on earth which also has a catastrophic economy. For the first time in more than 50 years, the two Koreas seem ready to begin talking to each other at high levels, and, among those who are pleased with the planned summit is the American president. South Korea has had some economic problems during the past couple of years, but they seem hardly worth mentioning compared to North Korea's almost totally non-functioning economy. In fact, even the strike at Daewoo can be seen as a symptom of an increasingly open, successful society. The strike may be spreading to other industries, though.

D.C. prepares for what could become a Seattle-type siege (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Many people oppose globalization for a variety of reasons, and quite a number of them are expected in Washington, D. C. this week to protest, as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank hold spring meetings in the U.S. capital this week. Here's more from Francis Clines of the New York Times.

Fairly courteous strike at Lockheed Martin (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Here's Dan Piller's report in today's Fort Worth Star Telegram on the machinists' strike at Lockheed Martin. Striking workers would like pay and benefit parity with Boeing. So far, according to Kathryn Hopper, the strike contrasts greatly with the one in 1984, which turned ugly.

Entrepreneurism fever hasn't abated among MBA students (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reported that MBA students at America's top business schools continue to scramble to set up companies on the Internet, despite concerns that others have about a shakeout. E-commerce sites favoring business-to-business transactions are particularly popular.

Psychiatry as a political weapon (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Once leaders in the old Soviet Union began to get a little embarrassed about Stalin, new approaches to dealing with dissidents were developed that could provide more "deniability" and cover than Stalin's direct and brutal methods. For a time, a popular approach was to obtain a psychiatric diagnosis for a troublesome dissident. Then, it might seem perfectly appropriate and humane to hospitalize the poor soul, keep him on medication, and so on. Matthew Wald reports from Washington that the Labor Department has determined that an American company may have used a similar approach to silence and discredit a "whistle-blower."

Harvard could have used fewer words, according to columnist Barlow (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Jim Barlow, in today's Houston Chronicle, says that Harvard's current edition of the Management Update advises on how to retain valued employees. It's really not all that complicated, Barlow says. The Chronicle of Higher Education Online reports that Georgia's university system has formed a special committee to slow the rapid turnover rate of information technology workers in the system. They've come up with a dozen tactics, including a 80/20 plan wherein an IT worker would work 80 percent of the time in a regular university assignment but the other 20 percent of the time in a different role at a pay rate equivalent to that available in the private sector. Meanwhile Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Leonard Inskip says that Minnesota has been lagging behind many other regions in developing ways to attract and hold hi-tech personnel. The Twin Cities region used to be one of the nation's leading technology centers, but it has lost ground during recent years. The University of Minnesota's president is trying to draw on some of the state's best minds to find ways for the state to regain its former position.

New contract at America West includes catch-up clause (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Peter Corbett writes in the Arizona Republic about a tentative agreement between America West's fleet services workers. The agreement includes a previously lost bonus.Speaking of the airline industry, which group of unionized workers earn more than airline pilots? If you said Full-time dockworkers on the West Coast, you're entitled to the coveted NewWork handshake award. They averaged $112,500 last year.

The likely fallout from a public sector wage increase (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Israel's Finance Ministry Director-General says that an increase in pay in the private sector likely would follow an increase in the public sector, and that could have undesirable consequences. Here's more from Moti Bassok, Ha'aretz Economics Correspondent.

It's because of boredom, not fear (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
A new study from the American Association of University Women has an explanation for why women are so underrepresented in high-paying, hi-tech jobs. It's because middle-school and high school girls find the typical computer courses boring. Here's more on the report from AAUW.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World Paper Money (Tuesday, 4/11/00)
Are you interested in money? REALLY interested in it, that is? Do you like to look at it? Ron Wise has put together a collection of front and back images of more than 3,500 different banknotes from around the world in his World Paper Money collection.

We'll have what they're having (Monday, 4/10/00)
Machinists at Lockheed Martin have voted to strike. They're unhappy that their counterparts at Boeing have moved out ahead in terms of wages and benefits. In other labor news, metalworkers in eastern Germany have gone out on strike for similar reasons. Their counterparts in western Germany have been doing too much better, they say. Finally, Gary Gentile writes from Los Angeles about why the janitors' strike there could have implications across the entire country.

Are big corporations eroding the sovereignty of nation-states? (Monday, 4/10/00)
Laurent Belsie writes in the current edition of the Christian Science Monitor on renewed concerns about the growing possibility of some sort of world government, but the object of this concern is different from only a few years ago.

More on the mysteries of drug pricing (Monday, 4/10/00)
It's not only the case that many prescription medications cost less in Canada than in the United States. Now, a new report finds that Medicare recipients pay about 15 percent more than many other U.S. patients. Why? Many health insurers have negotiated discounts with drug providers.

What ever happened to Eduard Shevardnadze? (Monday, 4/10/00)
He was a top Soviet official during the USSR's waning days and widely recognized for his intellect and skill, as well as for a reasonableness that had been uncharacteristic of most Soviet big shots. During recent years, he's been president of Georgia, now an independent state that was once part of the Soviet Union. He's just been re-elected and he faces major challenges, including severe widespread poverty in his country. Meanwhile, other countries struggle with poverty because of crippling loans, according to demonstrators in Washington, D. C. yesterday. They're asking for forgiveness. That is, they want the IMF and World Bank to forgive a lot of loans to impoverished countries.

BIG gap expected between supply of tech workers and demand (Monday, 4/10/00)
The American hi-tech sector would be able to use an additional 850,000 technically-skilled workers over the next year, in addition to those who will be available. The huge shortfall is discussed in a new report from the Information Technology Association of America.

Japan's economy really is recovering, honest (Monday, 4/10/00)
Japanese government analysts warn that a drop in machinery orders during February should not be over-interpreted. It's a ripple, not a wave, in an economy that remains on a recovery path, they say.

Market gyrations cause pause in thinking about retirement (Monday, 4/10/00)
Nationally syndicated columnist William Raspberry takes a look at the stock market's recent ups and downs and thinks about plans to privatize Social Security. Things could be particularly risky for boomers, he says.

Violence and death over the price of water (Monday, 4/10/00)
A bill in the Bolivian Congress would require people to begin paying for water they have been receiving free, and this has prompted protests that have turned violent. Five have died so far.

Some editorial thoughts on slavery as an attribute of the new economy (Monday, 4/10/00)
Human exploitation in its most disgusting forms is one thing about the new economy that makes it look quite a lot like the oldest of economies. Today's Washington Post editorializes on the persistence of slavery over much of the world, including the United States.

Help in leaving prison with marketable skills (Monday, 4/10/00)
Mark Brunswick reports in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune about an experimental program in Minnesota that is helping prisoners who are nearing the end of their sentences and also contributing to the development of more affordable housing in needy communities.

Why China deserves some help from the West (Monday, 4/10/00)
Kaimay Yuen Terry urges those who are debating China's membership in the World Trade Organization to adopt a broad perspective on what has been happening in the world's most populous country. Meanwhile, in another part of the world, Turkey and the EU may be getting farther apart on Turkey's possible membership. Attitudes may be hardening on both sides.

The price of working on Shabbat in Israel (Monday, 4/10/00)
Is Tel Aviv violating the law by employing Jews to be sure that other Jews don't open for business on Shabbat? Yariv Tikolsker writes in today's Ha'aretz about an issue that shows the lingering importance of culture's impact on economics.

Are too many men spending too much time staying in touch with their inner geek? (Monday, 4/10/00)
There are a lot more men than women in Silicon Valley, so why are so many women spending so much time alone or with other women? Evelyn Nieves reports from Palo Alto for the today's New York Times.

It's costing more to show off (Monday, 4/10/00)
If you're still feeling insufficiently secure about yourself, you're going to have to pay more in order to compete in the "I-can-waste-more-money-than-you-can" sweepstakes. A strong economy and a lot of new wealth has fueled competition in the futile effort to add value to oneself by spending more on expensive stuff, much of it simply expensive junk.

Who decides that a "luxury" is worth what somebody would like to get for it? Market demand, of course, but what determines market demand? Why do people want to spend a fortune on something that more secure individuals might not be willing to accept as a gift because they don't want to clutter up their lives with obvious and transparent distractions?

As we've pointed out repeatedly, poverty is a well-known risk factor so far as personal well-being is concerned, but wealth may also be a risk factor that should be given more research attention now that more Americans are becoming wealthy.

Among those things for which you can pay too much is a college education. The relative cost of college can bring to mind Oscar Wilde's famous wisecrack about people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Does it somehow make you feel better if you pay more for your child's education than your neighbors are paying? If so, why is that? You're certainly free to spend a lot if you want to, and there are many schools that will happily deposit your checks.

This may be a good time for a general reality check. For instance, Abraham Lincoln had less than a year of formal education, but he was enormously sophisticated and usually outranks most other presidents on historians' lists of the best. Many historians consider Lincoln, Washington, and Franklin Roosevelt as the top three, and, of these, only Roosevelt completed elementary school. Gail Marksjarvis examines issues relating to access to college, on the one hand, and the cost of it, on the other.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Saving for College (Monday, 4/10/00)
Leading pension-fund organization TIAA-CREF offers help if you're trying to decide how on earth you're going to be able to pay for a child's college education. Saving for College offers a comparison of the various approaches available, as well as a calculator for help in your planning.

Does Alan get it, or does he not get it? (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Fed Head Greenspan has his critics, and some of them are saying that the "new economy" is so new that many familiar assumptions don't apply, and Mr. Greenspan is basing his actions on familiar assumptions. However, Friday, Greenspan defended the Federal Reserve's five recent interest rate increases.

More bias claims in the military (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Hanna Rosin writes in today's Washington Post about the complaints of Navy chaplains who have Evangelical affiliations. All denominations are not treated equally, they say.

Indonesia is no longer one of the world centers of bad news (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Indonesia's economy was hit hard by the so-called "Asian flu" of a couple of years ago, but, unlike many other afflicted Asian countries, their economic problems were compounded by deep social and political distress. Agence France-Presse reports on how things have improved. For one thing, Indonesian President Wahid is predicting a 3 to 4 percent economic growth rate this year.

Why so many people have been losing it on the job (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Gerry Smith is a human resources consultant, and, unlike consultant John Cowan, who writes for us, Mr. Smith is a former priest, rather than a current one. At any rate, Dana Flavelle writes in the Toronto Star about Smith's views on the causes of "work rage" and why the workplace has gotten so dangerous. Job stress and burnout can have a variety of destructive consequences, and Susan Hamilton says her son has learned about some of these at the tender age of 16.

It's gotten a little harder to tell the perms from the temps (Sunday, 4/9/00)
The new economy prefers a "just-in-time" workforce, so it tends to rely heavily on temps and contract workers. However, many permanent employees aren't all that permanent either, particularly in Silicon Valley, as the San Jose Mercury News' Margaret Steen reports. From the other side of the United States, columnist Diane Lewis examines the motivation of job hoppers, and finds a quest for work satisfaction in a fairly secure job market. New Labor Department data confirm the tendency toward shorter stays in full-time jobs, particularly among the young.

Report says community colleges are key to solving tech skills problem (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Here are details from the new report from the American Association of Community Colleges and ACT Inc. on the importance of community colleges in providing much-needed computer training. Until America does a more adequate job of supplying its own needs for technically-trained people, Silicon Valley will no doubt continue pushing for the further importation of technical talent from outside the country. However, the U.S. isn't the only nation making this push. Roger Cohen writes from Berlin about Germany's effort to make the transition from an old industrial economy to a new information age economy, and the need to attract technical workers from outside the country in order to pull it off. It amounts to a significant change, because, during earlier years, foreign workers in Germany were brought in from poorer regions of Europe to do the low-skilled work that Germans didn't want to do.

Are you under suspicion at work? (Sunday, 4/9/00)
If you're a man and seem to be giving priority to your family, your loyalty may be in question and you may be suspected of having not quite enough testosterone, according to the authors of a new book called Father Courage: What Happens When Men Put Family First. In a related story, Julie Flaherty of the New York Times examines issues relating to parental leave when it comes to new fathers. Cherie Blair has put these issues on the front page recently by indicating that she expects her husband to take off a little time from work when their fourth child is born. Mr. Blair has a fairly atypical job, so he may have to take some of his work home with him. He is prime minister of Great Britain.

Reinforcing stereotypes is part of what Hollywood does (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Mental health experts are outraged at the way the new prime-time TV show "Wonderland" provides a distorted picture of the mentally ill and contemporary mental health facilities, given all that psychologists and psychiatrists have been doing for so many years to overcome public attitudes that have no basis in reality. Business people may be getting similarly tired of being portrayed as bad guys in exchange for their efforts to make a living, create jobs, and serve consumer needs. Martha Hamilton reports on how the exception becomes the rule in so many feature films. The reason that business crooks end up on the front page is that they are news, and that means that they are the rare exception. It isn't news that hundreds of billions of transactions are conducted every day in which fair value is given in exchange for the consumer's money with the work conducted by satisfied employees who are treated well by their employers. Why do film producers insist on presenting caricatures of real business people in their movies? Probably because there are a lot more workers who are movie goers than bosses. Similarly, feature films aimed at a teenage audience routinely portray adults as imbeciles.

Growing resentment toward America (Sunday, 4/9/00)
The West, led by the United States, won the Cold War. Now, the U.S. is the world's only superpower and also has an economy that is the envy of the world. Is there a danger of smugness or more? Are Americans feeling a bit too superior? Many Europeans think so, and many are fearing the "Americanization of the globe." Of course, Europe should know about the consequences for others in the world of deep feelings of superiority. During the long period of colonization, Europe dominated most of the planet. For instance, a small island off the western coast of Europe once dominated a quarter of the world's population all by itself.

Commission is critical of Florida, Texas and California's post-affirmative action policies (Sunday, 4/9/00)
Three major states have eliminated affirmative action in college admissions in favor of their own plans, which the United States Commission on Civil Rights doesn't think much of. A new report to be released soon says that, among other things, the new programs are doing nothing to increase diversity in state-supported graduate and professional schools.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Center for Working-Class Studies (Sunday, 4/9/00)
The Center for Working-Class Studies is unique in the United States. It is dedicated to the study of working-class life and culture and is located at Youngstown State University at Youngstown, Ohio.

It's official: you can now earn all you like without sacrificing Social Security benefits (Saturday, 4/8/00)
President Clinton has signed into law the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000. Social Security recipients between ages 65 and 70 will not have to pass an earnings test in order to receive full benefits. Persons 70 and over are not affected by the new legislation, because they've been able to earn all they like all along (Eighty-one-year-old Mike Wallace of CBS' "60 Minutes" is not affected, for instance, but he says he sends his Social Security checks to a favorite charity). The law doesn't change things for persons who choose to accept Social Security benefits between ages 62 and 65. For them, the earnings test is still in effect.

Senate budget doesn't please Clinton (Saturday, 4/8/00)
The budget plans passed by the Senate and the House are very similar, but not too much like what the President would like to see. Expect a lot of growling, scratching and biting during the remaining months of the Clinton administration. The President has some favorite spending priorities in mind, while Congressional Republicans, and at least one presidential candidate, would like to emphasize tax cuts.

Big cuts at CompUSA (Saturday, 4/8/00)
It's hard to keep up in the hi-tech firestorm. Not so long ago, CompUSA hammered their principal competitor at the time, Computer City, to such an extent that they were able to buy the competing chain so that they could shut it down. Recently, though, mail order companies and e-commerce sites on the web have been hammering CompUSA. For one thing, consumers have had a tendency to visit one of their stores in order to examine a product, ask questions, and so on, but, then, go home and order it from a catalog or web site in order to get a lower price. So, CompUSA began to try to reinvent itself by de-emphasizing hardware and productivity software, but it's been difficult. Now, the company has been sold to a Mexican firm, and 1,500 jobs will be cut.

Hard times in Zimbabwe (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Economic conditions in Zimbabwe have deteriorated, and many persons are wondering why. Who's to blame? Who's in charge? What can be done?

IMF officials act encouraged by Mr. Putin, and maybe they really are (Saturday, 4/8/00)
It's always possible that the beginning of Russia's Putin era is also the beginning of a new era for Russia's battered, bruised, and barely breathing economy. Russia badly needs loan payments that the IMF has suspended, and the IMF needs to see some major reforms in the country. There seems to be more optimism now that these will really happen.

What fun it must be behind the scenes (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Everybody seems to be pointing at everybody else in the top echelons of the United States Army. Now, it appears that General Kennedy, who has accused another general of sexual harassment, is herself being accused, or maybe it's all rumor or innuendo. One thing seems sure from this story as well as other recent ones: the Army hasn't moved as far along as some of the other services in solving problems of harassment and discrimination as well as a generally poisonous climate at all levels. This sort of thing isn't simply a matter of discomfort for individuals involved; it can interfere with the Army's readiness to do its job when called on.

No bonuses for top Xerox execs last year (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Xerox has been one of the better-known American brand names for many years, and has played a key role in technological innovation. However, now their problem is to transform themselves from an "old hi-tech company" to a "new hi-tech company.," and they're not having an easy time so far. We've already reported on their planned job cuts. Now, it's been disclosed that their top executives did not get bonuses last year. That can be highly significant, because top execs are in great demand and getting nearly anything they ask for at many other companies. Xerox first became so closely identified with the modern copy machine that many office workers came to say "I'll Xerox it," rather than "I'll copy it." They made an attempt to enter the personal computer market with their own CP/M machines about 20 years ago, at the same time they made a major hi-tech retailing push with their "Xerox Stores," but none of this worked very well. Moreover, the basic ideas for the personal computer's inconographic interface, which now dominates computing with both Macintosh and Windows, came from Xerox, but, for whatever reason, others benefited by turning these revolutionary breakthroughs into viable products while, in fact, also changing the world.

Will Microsoft be the latest of the once-great companies to fade into history? (Saturday, 4/8/00)
James Flanigan of the Los Angeles Times says that it's far too early to plan a funeral for the software giant that Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded when Bill was about 20-years-old. The company still has a lot of clout and stunning resources, so competitors, even on a more level playing field, should watch out. Moreover, Billionaire Bill didn't get to be the richest and most influential businessman in the world at such an early age by being timid or stupid. Much depends on Microsoft's ability to shift its focus from the desktop to the Internet, though, as John Markoff asserts. What about Microsoft's legal troubles? Judge Jackson seems to want to move the case directly to the Supreme Court, but Microsoft clearly prefers to move through the appeals process, one step at a time, given that, at each step, there is a chance of turning the whole thing around. Also, Microsoft has friends in Congress, and we'll have a new president in a few months as well. A week can be an eternity in politics, and a changing political or legal climate could work to Microsoft's benefit long before the final curtain comes down on this landmark case.

The upside and downside of being a working mother (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Jaine and James Carter, who have reported their own experiences as working parents, say there is reason to believe that mothers who work benefit overall and so do their families, but things can get tricky when the kids get sick.

Your can quit or you can fire somebody in Texas without giving a reason (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Here's more about a new ruling from the Texas Supreme Court.

"Take our daughters to work day" is approaching (Saturday, 4/8/00)
It's April 27, and, this year, the focus will be on small business, according to columnist Jane Applegagte.

The growing irrelevance of geography in the new work world (Saturday, 4/8/00)
Dexter Filkins reports that people can work for you now without being in the same office, the same building, or even on the same continent. Where is a lot of work in the new economy being conducted now? Hint: Mr. Filins reports from Bangalore.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: How the net works (Saturday, 4/8/00)
How does the Internet work? Glad you asked, and so are the folks at C|Net, who are happy to answer 20 of the most frequently asked questions about how the net works.

Autoworkers strike in South Korea (Friday, 4/7/00)
Plans are underway to sell Daewoo Motor Company to outsiders, and many South Koreans don't like it. Workers from other companies have stopped work as an expression of sympathy for Daewoo workers.

Putin feels cooperative (Friday, 4/7/00)
Russia's new president says he wants to cooperate with the International Monetary Fund. He has reason to. Russia has been trying to persuade the IMF to resume loan payments.

Can you believe it? The rate of job creation got even greater in March (Friday, 4/7/00)
The American economy continues to create new jobs at an even faster rate, according to the latest Labor Department numbers, and may mean another interest rate increase next month. Speculation is that the increase could be bigger than the ones we've been used to, as the Federal Reserve has more reason to worry about inflation.

Whoops--too many tech visas at a time when Silicon Valley thinks there aren't enough (Friday, 4/7/00)
American hi-tech firms continue to complain that the technically-skilled worker shortage requires that they be able to make greater use of expertise from outside the country if the great American technology engine driving the American economic is not to stall. Hi-tech corporation officials continue to lobby hard to persuade the feds to increase the number of H-1B visas issued each year. However, as it turns out, too many were issued last year by mistake, according to an audit.

Critics of China's WTO membership bid can relax, Commerce Secretary says (Friday, 4/7/00)
Secretary Daley believes that China's commitments in order to gain membership in the World Trade Organization will result in changes that should satisfy people who have been opposing China's entry into the world body.

What high school seniors don't know about personal finance could cause a depression. Psychological, that is (Friday, 4/7/00)
Here's Jeannine Aversa's story about a new national survey that finds a decline in financial literacy among Americans who are just beginning adulthood. Nancy Lloyd tells why education about money should begin much earlier. But, who's going to do the teaching? A teacher shortage looms in the United States. The head of a major teachers' union tells how the five R's can help.

Two types of grad degrees proposed in Israel (Friday, 4/7/00)
Relly Sa'ar writes in Ha'aretz about a planned change in the nature of advanced university degrees, in part to deal with escalating costs associated with a tremendous increase in the number of persons seeking second degrees.

Is that a collective sigh of relief we hear from passengers? (Friday, 4/7/00)
Native French-speaking pilots and native French-speaking air traffic controllers at France's Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport no longer will have to speak in what is a foreign language for all of them. Air France has changed its mind and suspended an order in effect since March 23.

Diversity is good, Clinton says. In fact, it just "is," so let's get with it (Friday, 4/7/00)
Many Caucasian Americans have been able to maintain the attitude that the U.S. is basically a "white" country mostly because it grew out of Western European colonies during a time when Western Europeans believed without question in their own superiority, to the point of considering many other people around the world as "sub-human." In a new world in which nearly everything is connected to nearly everything else, it's harder to maintain illiterate, bigoted attitudes about persons outside one's own local niche, although human capacity for irrationality can be perfectly stunning and should not be underestimated. Nonetheless, to anyone who has not been unconscious for several centuries, it should be clear that pale skin and light-colored hair are not essential elements of the definition of humanity. In fact, humanity isn't defined by a distinction between "black" and "white" either. Humankind's reality is far more complex, and the United States is beginning to more accurately reflect the diversity that is inherent in the species. The President would like to see corporations come to reflect basic realities as well.

More good news from Brazil (Friday, 4/7/00)
Not so long ago, the world worried much about the fifth largest economy, but Brazil has dodged a bullet, and has been coming back with a full head of steam. Kevin Hall reports from Rio de Janeiro about Brazil's vigorous economic surge.

When you have a contract like this one with Ford, it tends to be good for your entire company (Friday, 4/7/00)
Ford Motor Company is supplying all of its workers with a personal computer system, and PeoplePC has been hired to provide the systems. To help a little, Ford has also invested $25 million in the company.

Big Brother isn't in Washington; he may be up on your top floor (Friday, 4/7/00)
L. M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle reports that your boss may very well be monitoring your email and web browsing. If that seems unreasonable, you may want to consider the company's possible legal liabilities.

Protesters want a $10 minimum wage at Harvard (Friday, 4/7/00)
A campus sleep-in reminiscent of the 1960's was conducted on Harvard's campus by about 125 people seeking a minimum wage of $10 for persons who work at the university. Here's more from Diane Lewis of the Boston Globe.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Social Security Retirement Planner (Friday, 4/7/00)
The Social Security Administration offers a retirement planner to help you prepare for life beyond work. It includes various calculators and a good deal of relevant information.

Secretary Herman cleared (Thursday, 4/6/00)
No indictment will be brought against the United States Secretary of Labor, says independent counsel Ralph Lancaster, who has been investigating Secretary Alexis Herman for two years.

Guess who would be investigating harassment cases in the Army (Thursday, 4/6/00)
It would be the man who has been accused by a woman general of making inappropriate sexual advances. Maj. Gen. Larry Smith had been appointed to the post of deputy inspector general, but the Army has frozen the appointment.

About a hundred million Americans were born since first-time jobless claims were this low the last time (Thursday, 4/6/00)
Initial jobless claims not only went down last week, they hit their lowest level in 26 years. A lot of Americans were born since the last time there was a recession in the U.S. too, and they could be forgiven for believing that economic expansion and good times are simply the way things always are. Is the business cycle ready for the Smithsonian? Is it part of an obsolete old economy, never to be seen again in the new economy? Don't count on it.

More on that White House conference yesterday (Thursday, 4/6/00)
Some of the brighter lights in economics convened with the President of the United States at the White House yesterday to discuss the new economy and what's likely to happen from here on. The President indicated that hi-tech is the key to further economic expansion and prosperity for the world, and Chairman Greenspan seemed to agree, to a point. Productivity levels in the U.S. are still high and increasing, he said.

On one issue, there was wide agreement at the conference: In an information/knowledge economy, education will be the key to success for individuals as well as entire national economies. Other experts at the meeting told the President what they think could bring the present boom to an end, and how this might be avoided. Bill Gates was there as well, and it was interesting to see him on television sitting right next to the President shortly after another branch of government had made a direct hit on Microsoft Corporation and currently is aiming another torpedo at the injured giant. The conference has been scheduled for quite a long time, but the timing turned out to be rather good for Mr. Gates. His appearance at the highly publicized event fit into his company's organized campaign to repair any damage to its image.

Meanwhile, Judge Jackson wants to move things along in the Microsoft case, and plans to make his decision on remedies by sometime in June. Rather than allowing Microsoft years to work through the conventional appeals process, the Judge might prefer that the Supreme Court get the case right away, and he would like to see it all wrapped up by the end of the year 2000. Charles Ferguson, who writes for the Washington Post, thinks talk about breaking up the software colossus may be ill-advised, and a dismembering of Microsoft might produce unanticipated results.

Junior EU doctors may be working only 48 hours...by the time they're quite a lot older (Thursday, 4/6/00)
France has been considering a 35-hour work week, but, across the European Union, junior physicians have been working a lot more than that. The European Parliament has announced a tentative agreement that could reduce the work week of many doctors to 48 hours within nine years.

Special report on executive pay (Thursday, 4/6/00)
Today's Wall Street Journal contains one of those special sections for which it is justly esteemed. This time, it's about executive remuneration. Many articles, and, as usual, all worth reading.

Are the Japanese working themselves to death...literally? (Thursday, 4/6/00)
They have an official name for it which somebody might write on your death certificate if you die in Japan: "death from overwork." Cameron Barr of the Christian Science Monitor writes that the sad story of former Prime Minister Obuchi has a lot of Japanese thinking and reconsidering.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it... (Thursday, 4/6/00)
Holding on to high-quality tech professors who probably receive love letters from all the top corporations almost daily might be "mission impossible" indeed. Dave Curtin and Robert Schwab writes in today's Denver Post about how they're trying to solve this problem in Colorado with the very active participation of Governor Bill Owens.

Diplomas vs. knowing and the ability to do (Thursday, 4/6/00)
There are many good reasons for de-emphasizing diplomas, degrees, and other symbols in the new economy and, instead, emphasizing genuine competence and performance, however prepared for, however achieved. In the long run, the only thing that the world really asks is whether we did something of value and left it a better place because we managed to pass through. St. Peter probably isn't going to ask to see your transcript when the time comes to check in to the one place or another.

In fact, already, the new economy is considerably more performance-oriented, as opposed credentials-oriented, than the old economy. What's important is not status based on symbols, but genuine stature based on substance. Quite a lot of people are still stuck in a time warp, secretly nostalgic for the "good old days" of decadent aristocracy when the right title could mean unearned, undeserved privilege forever. This obsolete attitude helps maintain a market for the diploma mills, which have moved to the Internet where a tremendous number of highly gullible persons can be found. If a diploma, any diploma, were perceived as simply a piece of paper, who would be willing to pay anything for it?

The important questions are, "Do I really know anything, and can I really do anything?" If the answer to those questions is "yes," there aren't any other important questions. If the answer is "no," there aren't any other important questions either.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: American Association of University Women (Thursday, 4/6/00)
For many years, the American Association of University Women has worked to secure equity for girls and women everywhere. The AAUW has 150,000 members.

White House conference on the new economy (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler draws an interesting parallel between the new economy and the collapse of the infamous old Soviet Union, particularly with respect to the messiness of the transition. President Clinton said today that hi-tech is offering an unprecedented opportunity for world prosperity, so he's called in top movers and shakers (and maybe some who are just shakers) to discuss the historic changes the world is going through, including Bill Gates. It's good timing for him, of course, because he probably doesn't have too much on his mind right now (!).

Actually, while they're at it, they may want to discuss the whole Microsoft phenomenon as one of the principal factors influencing global economic change. For instance, Judge Jackson's ruling against Microsoft seems to have been the trigger setting off a convulsion in the equity markets and making a lot of people, including Billionaire Bill himself, a lot less wealthy during the past 48 hours. The White House has sent out its damage control crew to reassure worriers, including the chairman of the White House National Economic Council who said on television this morning that, despite the drop in stock prices, particularly the tech stocks, the American economy is still very strong.

While the Bills chat at the White House, others are offering their ideas on how Microsoft could be broken up into a number of smaller, presumably less muscular companies. Also, while conventional wisdom would indicate that we should be able to expect years of appeals during which Microsoft might be fairly free to continue doing business as it has always done, Judge Jackson doesn't want to see that happen. He wants to put the whole thing on a very fast track and get it over with, and that could mean giving the case to the Supreme Court right away.

Government can make a difference after all (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
If it's really bad government, it can mean poverty for a lot of people, according to a new United Nations report.

Explosive unrest in China (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
It's taken a while for the word to get out, but John Pomfret reports that 20,000 miners and other angry workers rioted in northeastern China in late February. They were angry about the loss of jobs as well as about corrupt officials. As China has tried to shut down huge state-run operations in its effort to encourage the further development of a market economy, enormous numbers of people have been thrown out of work.

Responding to the needs and wishes of a diverse workforce (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
Some workers have religious reasons for objecting to having to work on Saturdays. Now, those persons who work for Sears will be able to work on Sundays instead.

Cuts go better with Coke (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
Coca-Cola will be cutting 800 fewer jobs than they had planned as part of a restructuring program.

Social Security system unfair to women, Gore says (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
The Republicans have the "marriage penalty" to argue against, but how about the "motherhood penalty?" Al Gore wants the Social Security system changed so as not to discriminate against mothers who stay at home with their children. Meanwhile, the Vice-President's current boss wants to turn up the heat on his effort to make a prescription medication benefit part of Medicare, speaking of which, Edward Pound reports in USA Today that an audit has found millions in Medicare overpayments.

What's a chairman to do? (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
Alan Greenspan has been trying to slow the American economy to a more sustainable level by raising interest rates, but, so far, it hasn't worked very well. What now? John Berry of the Washington Post has some thoughts on the subject, saying that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep on keeping on.

How the web is changing the role of the salesperson (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
Peter Goodman says that sales positions are unlikely to disappear from the new economy, but they will be changed by the ubiquitousness of the Internet. Among shoppers who are changing the way they buy because of hi-tech are government agencies, according to Sarah Schafer.

Why the general's harassment case worries other women in the military (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
If a top general can be a harasser, many military women worry about the implications of reporting their own victimization. Here's more from Thomas Ricks in today's Washington Post. Incidentally, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that homeowners insurance can be called upon to pay damages for sexual harassment. Huh? Margaret Zack offers an explanation in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The boss has agreed to cut your pay, and you're the boss (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
North Carolina worker-owners feel better about pay cuts than they might otherwise, according to Paul Nowell in this story from today's St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Send in and be counted (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
You're not mailing in your census forms, and the government is beginning to worry. Returns are running at a considerably lower rate than expected, and this means that Census Bureau workers will be out trying to find you so that they can talk to you in person, and that costs a lot of money.

The latest on the post-affirmative action world of California higher education (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
Overall, minority admissions on California campuses are running higher than when the old affirmative action programs were in place. But, as Barbara Whitaker of the New York Times reports, there's still a problem on the state's "flagship" campuses.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: HotelsTravel.com (Wednesday, 4/5/00)
It's far easier and faster to move information than to move people in the new global economy, but, nonetheless, there are times when it's really best to get on an airplane to go talk to somebody face-to-face. Global business travelers are likely to find HotelsTravel.com very helpful. It contains more than 75,000 links to travel pages, and isn't just about hotels.

What now for Microsoft? (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Judge Jackson came down hard on the world's largest software company yesterday, which, until recently, had also been the world's most highly valued company. Many experts expect harsh remedies, although Bill Gates expects that his company will survive. Of course, what else can he say? Microsoft stock lost approximately 15 percent of its value yesterday, recovered a bit this morning, and, then, slipped a bit further by mid-afternoon. Gates himself lost about $12 billion of his net worth yesterday.

In addition to whatever remedies may be imposed by the court, Microsoft is facing at least 120 lawsuits...so far. Gates is betting that his company eventually will win on appeal, and some expert observers agree. Even if the Microsoft is broken up into a collection of "baby Bills," Gates' net worth may not suffer in the long-run. Experience in similar cases suggests that the combined worth of stock from several smaller companies could eventually exceed Microsoft's recent market cap.

However, Microsoft will have to push ahead very aggressively in order to stake out a position in new markets while the appeal process is going on if it is to remain relevant, let alone dominate any important market segments. A potential problem because of the immediate drop in the value of Microsoft's stock is that many of its top employees, who have been betting their futures on stock options, suddenly find that their options are worthless, at least as of today. In a market that is screaming for top technical people, opportunities elsewhere abound. Without its talent, Microsoft could quickly lose its ability to innovate, which, according to Gates, has been the definition of the company. One might easily exaggerate just how technically innovative Microsoft has been, however. Gates may be remembered mostly as a business genius, not a technology genius.

For instance, Microsoft did not invent MS-DOS, but, instead, purchased it from a little company called Seattle Computer Corporation. At the time, it was basically CP/M for Intel microprocessors. Further, Microsoft did not invent the icongraphic interface that characterizes Windows. Instead, it got it mostly from Apple's Macintosh. Apple didn't invent it either, but, instead, got the basic ideas from Xerox, which never made a viable product from ideas that have transformed computing throughout the world.

Incidentally, Windows users who switch to the Mac tend to find Mac to be about the same, while Mac users who go to Windows tend to find the latter to be clunky and inconvenient. Why didn't Microsoft make Windows more elegant and slicker from the beginning? Basically, it's because they feared additional lawsuits from Apple. Apple sued them a few years ago, but Microsoft won. Following that victory, Microsoft became more aggressive and made Windows better than it had been.

You've been suffering the worst recession in more than a half-century and your prime minister has a life-threatening stroke, so what else don't you need? (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
How about a major volcanic eruption that will affect the Japanese economy for years to come?

Speed check (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Business Week wonders how fast the American economy can grow without generating troublesome inflation. It's possible that it may have been exceeding the speed limit very recently, given the concern of manufacturing executives with the rising prices for materials and energy that they're having to pay. Also, the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators, which, in the past, has been fairly good at forecasting economic activity several months ahead, was down in February.

Change may be coming to both health and legal services for the poor (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
A report from the Institute of Medicine finds that hospitals and clinics that have been providing health services to the poor and uninsured are experiencing great financial pressures that could threaten their survival. Also, Linda Greenhouse, who covers the Supreme Court for the New York Times and also appears regularly on PBS' "Washington Week in Review," reports that the high court will decide what restrictions can be placed on the use of federal money supporting legal aid.

The effect of working conditions on pregnancies (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Research from the University of Michigan Medical School finds that difficult working conditions can lead to premature births or complications during pregnancy.

Bad PR at one of the great broadcast stations, even if they win the suit (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
WCCO radio has been legendary in its industry, and WCCO-TV also has been one of the country's leading local television stations for nearly 50 years. Now, though, a sexual harassment complaint has been granted class-action status by a U.S. District Court judge.

Talks at Northwest recessed (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Mediators have broken off talks between Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants for now, with the hope that they will resume later this month. In other labor news, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that graduate assistants at New York University can conduct a vote on union representation, and a strike of trash haulers in Seattle has been averted.

Is a minimum wage increase a good idea? (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Yes or no, depending. Richard Berman offers his views.

Crime doesn't pay (Nice hours, though) (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
James Blair of the Christian Science Monitor writes that there are fewer bank robbers than there used to be, although, unlike so many other fields, there doesn't appear to be a shortage.

Another taboo succumbs to tight labor market pressures (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
Employers have long felt that having workers who date each other is likely to cause all sorts of problems, but these pale in comparison to having no workers at all. As a consequence, in a tight labor market, the rules are being relaxed.

Making haves out of tech-have nots (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
The Secretary General of the United Nations is concerned about the vast numbers of people in the world who are about to be permanently left out of the new economy unless the rich countries do something to help poorer nations obtain current technology. Along similar lines and for similar reasons, Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore wants minorities in American to have access to computers. However, an article in the current edition of Interactive Week says that a majority of the 113 million Americans who use computers at work and the more than 100 million who use them at home really aren't "computer literate" in any meaningful sense of that term. Simply having access to the technology isn't enough, they say, and the full potential of the technology will not be realized until a lot more people are able to do a lot more with their computers. However, access clearly can be important, and Jim Barlow, writing in the Houston Chronicle, thinks that companies which are giving computers to all of their employees are on the right track, and this will turn out to be a very good investment in the long-run.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: THE List of Free Computer-Related Publications (Tuesday, 4/4/00)
If you feel that you haven't been reading quite enough about computers and are offended at the idea of actually having to pay for information, here's a solution to your problem. It's THE List of Free Computer-Related Publications.

Microsoft found in violation of antitrust law (Monday, 4/3/00)
District Judge Thomas Jackson has ruled that Microsoft has violated the antitrust act. You can be fairly sure that years of appeals will follow. The breakdown of talks between the company the Justice Department hit the Nasdaq index fairly hard, but the Dow picked up some strength, as have US Treasuries.

House to vote in May on China trade deal (Monday, 4/3/00)
The Senate will vote in May too, and almost surely will approve it. The House is somewhat less certain, but it's feared that the agreement with China will get entangled in U.S. election-year politics if a vote in the House is delayed beyond the Memorial Day recess.

Africa's debt crisis tops summit agenda (Monday, 4/3/00)
The first Africa-Europe summit opened today with a call by the Egyptian president to find a solution to Africa's debt crisis. Meanwhile, an international labor conference opens in South Africa with a call to oppose destructive social and economic consequences of globalization. The new head of the International Monetary Fund feels that markets can be too open, as well, and wants some international rules.

Columnist sees a saturated job search site market (Monday, 4/3/00)
Still, as Amy Joyce reports, there are new job listing sites coming on line all the time.

Business travelers, your laptop may be in peril (Monday, 4/3/00)
Joe Sharkey of the New York Times tells how thieves work together to steal laptop computers at airports around the world.

Postpartum PM (Monday, 4/3/00)
Mrs. Blair wants her husband to take a little time off when their fourth child is born next month. Actually, as nationally syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman reports, it wouldn't be the first time that a prime minister has done such a thing.

Students not waiting for graduation before becoming involved (Monday, 4/3/00)
An education writer tells how teens are contributing to their communities and impressing their elders. Fortunately, such things are often taken into consideration when top colleges make their selection decisions, as Jacques Steinberg writes in today's New York Times.

Hot economy helping former prisoners (Monday, 4/3/00)
Robyn Meredith writes about the somewhat easier task of finding employment now, if you're leaving prison.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: College Savings Plans Network (Monday, 4/3/00)
The National Association of State Treasurers provides help for families wanting to be able to afford college for their young people when the time comes with their College Savings Plans Network.

Slavery in the United States (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Slavery in America was outlawed but apparently not eliminated at the end of the Civil War in 1865. A new investigation by the American Central Intelligence Agency finds slavery still exists on a massive scale with the illegal importation of as many as 50,000 persons yearly from outside the country. Joel Brinkley has more in today's New York Times.

What will happen to interest rates now? (Sunday, 4/2/00)
The Federal Reserve, under the leadership of Chairman Alan Greenspan, has been trying to cool the American economy a bit through the use of a series of modest interest rate increases, but the economy doesn't seem to be cooperating. Fourth quarter 1999 growth was the most vigorous in many years, despite the increases. What's next? Pierre Belec reports on what many of Mr. Greenspan's critics are expecting.

Diversity without affirmative action (Sunday, 4/2/00)
American colleges have been trying various ways of increasing diversity on their campuses without affirmative action. These efforts have had mixed results so far, according to Kenneth Cooper's report.

Why boomers shouldn't relax because of the boom (Sunday, 4/2/00)
The Washington Post editorial writers argue that, despite a strong economy, it's easy to exaggerate the impact on Social Security and Medicare for the years ahead. When the huge baby boom generation retires, the hairline fissures in these major entitlement systems will split wide open anyway unless something basic is done to fix them.

Government lights burn late in Moscow (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Vladimir Putin has put together a collection of experts to work on plans for Russia's future, which is starting right now, so there isn't much time to dawdle. Of particular concern is the still-near-catastrophic Russian economy, according to the New York Times' Celestine Bohlen. Russia's new president is still mostly a mystery to the world outside his native country, and maybe to most people within it too. We know that he attended undergraduate and graduate school in what is now St. Petersburg again, that he served as a KGB official in East Germany and is fluent in German, but we don't know how committed he is to democratic ideals or a democratic future for Russia. The Russian people are weary of the chaos that has ensued since the collapse of the old Soviet Union, so his stated intentions for cleaning things up have met with widespread public approval. But, will this mean autocracy? There have been mixed signals so far. Many people throughout much of the world are more than curious, because few countries have influenced the world more during the 20th century than Russia. Here are some excerpts from newspaper editorials from several countries.

Why many people aren't using those educational tax credits (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Thomas Fogarty writes in USA Today about generous tax credits that many people are neglecting because they think they're too complicated, which probably is a mistake. In other IRS news, David Cay Johnston reports that quite a lot of Americans have been helping themselves to tax breaks to which they are not entitled, but, at the moment, at least, the Internal Revenue Service doesn't seem to be able to do much about it.

That New England nurses' strike is having a variety of practical effects (Sunday, 4/2/00)
In this case, a strike of health care professionals is influencing, not only the level of care available, but also a planned move. St. Vincent Hospital is delaying the transfer to its new multimillion-dollar facility.

Will Cuba be a fountain of entrepreneurism once Castro leave the scene? (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Anita Snow writes from Havana, which is 90 miles as well as about 900,000 miles from America. She says signs of entrepreneurial interest are everywhere, if you pay attention.

Fixing tornado damage slowed by labor shortages (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Downtown Fort Worth, Texas was hit badly by last Tuesday's storm, and, as Bob Cox reports in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, a lack of skilled workers will mean that the repair roofs will take longer than hoped.

The principal thing wrong with Canada's health care system (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Columnist David Crane of the Toronto Star thinks that the principal thing wrong with Canada's national health care system is that so many people BELIEVE that there's a lot wrong with it. These beliefs are more of a threat to the system than a lack of sufficient funds, he says.

Great opportunities now available to minorities, but they must be prepared (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Diane Lewis of the Boston Globe tells what colleges and companies are doing to help minorities take full advantage of the wealth of opportunity provided by the hi-tech revolution.

Look who's hurting because of Japan's struggling economy (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Despite a few technical blips in the right direction during recent months, for the most part, Japan has been suffering through its worst recession since the devastation of World War II. This has been affecting nearly everybody in the world's second-largest economy, including some folks you may not have thought of. Among those feeling the squeeze are Japan's legendary mobsters.

Gypsies find that the new Europe is much like the old Europe for them (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Europe hasn't been the exclusive world center of intolerance and persecution over the past several centuries, but it does have a sordid history along these lines that extends much further back than the infamous Nazi period of about 60 years ago. Steven Erlanger writes from Slovakia about the open discrimination faced by Europe's Gypsies.

Is the new millennium bringing down the curtain on the great American family farm? (Sunday, 4/2/00)
There has been much talk about helping farmers survive during what for them is a depression in the midst of the great American economic boom. However, despite the talk, Nicholas Kristof reports that thousands of farmers continue to go out of business.

Holland continues doing what it's always done (Sunday, 4/2/00)
The Netherlands has long experience over many centuries as Europe's trading center, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the Dutch know how to attract contemporary corporations. Incidentally, can Microsoft survive a breakup by simply moving out of the United States?

Executive pay in the old vs. new economies (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Here's an analysis of executive compensation practices in old vs. new-economy companies from today's New York Times.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (Sunday, 4/2/00)
Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH is an international development agency owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. It works toward the improvement of living standards in partner countries and also toward the conservation of natural resources. The site is presented in both English and German.

What's keeping the boom going? (Saturday, 4/1/00)
The causes of the longest economic expansion in American history are numerous and fundamental, and, of course, include the historic technology revolution that is well underway but probably also only at its very beginning. However, vigorous consumer spending doesn't hurt, and consumers have been spending furiously. Personal incomes were up in February, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, but spending increased at an even faster rate . In fact, Americans have been spending at a rate more than twice that of the growth in their incomes, meaning that savings are waaaaay down. But, then, Americans have never been big savers, compared to persons in many other countries. Incidentally, Canada has been enjoying a boom as well. Here's Steven Theobald's Toronto Star report on the 18-month expansion of the Canadian economy.

Brazil is a survivor (Saturday, 4/1/00)
More than a year ago, when memories of the "Asian contagion" were still fresh, many persons around the world expected a general meltdown of the Brazilian economy as well. Stephen Buckley of the Washington Post is happy to report that the worst fears were not realized, and Brazil has rescued itself.

Defense Secretary says an investigation into harassment charge is underway (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy has accused another general of inappropriate sexual contact, and the Pentagon is looking into it. Secretary Cohen says that he and other top officials have just become aware of the complaint, which means that it hadn't been reported up the chain of command.

Tough times in the British auto industry (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Tens of thousands of people have been demonstrating against the intended sale of Rover by BMW. Now, Honda has announced that it will cut production at its British plant by 50 percent. There is widespread worry about how these events will influence jobs in the UK, despite some efforts to provide reassurance.

China's WTO membership in doubt now (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Talks with the European Union have not been successful, so it could mean a significant loss of momentum in China's 14-year attempt to gain membership in the World Trade Organization.

Nurses strike in Massachusetts (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Hundreds of striking nurses at St. Vincent Hospital blame "corporate greed" for circumstances leading to the strike. The hospital used to be nonprofit and was operated by the Roman Catholic church. Now, it's owned by Tenet Healthcare System.

Plaintiffs make settlement offer to Coke (Saturday, 4/1/00)
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a detailed proposal has been delivered to Coca-Cola that would settle the class-action racial discrimination suit. So far, there has been no response from the company. In a somewhat related story, Frances McMorris of the Wall Street Journal describes the commonly-used "equal-opportunity harasser" defense. It means that it's harder for women or minorities to claim discrimination if the boss simply treats everybody in a reprehensible manner.

E-MBAs (Saturday, 4/1/00)
The current edition of US News reports that electronic commerce is leading to a quick transformation of MBA programs at universities throughout the United States.

Learning to be an entrepreneur (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Columnist Jane Applegate tells how many people are learning from their employers how to start and run their own businesses.

A place where life really is nasty, brutish, and short (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Barry Bearak reports from Haka, Bangladesh on what life is like in one of the poorest places on the planet. Among many other things, crime is rampant, he says.

Another case of government's being too damn intrusive? (Saturday, 4/1/00)
Many Republicans would like to see less governmental involvement in the lives of individuals, so it's not surprising that Republican politicians are well-represented among those who agree that some of the questions in the current Census are too personal. Also in today's New York Times, a Nobel Laureate in economics discusses the "Internet bubble," and Abby Ellin tells why many corporate training seminar leaders often miss the point of your workplace realities and the rules, formal and informal, by which management operates the place.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The New Economy Index (Saturday, 4/1/00)
There seems to be ample evidence that the new economy really is new in some fundamental ways, and that the over-used word "revolution" may be appropriate in this case. If you would like to get a better sense of what makes the new economy new, the Progressive Policy Institute can help with its New Economy Index.

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