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The biggest danger to capitalism? (Sunday, 6/30/02)
As it turns out, communism and socialism may not have been the biggest challenge to capitalism after all. In fact, the real question may be whether capitalism can survive the capitalists. Here's more from the New York Times. Meanwhile, Daniel Altman examines the likely economic consequences of eliminating the estate tax.

The Postal Service struggles in the new economy (Sunday, 6/30/02)
Hal Mattern tells about the new obstacles faced by the United States Postal Service.

How to retire if you're self-employed (Sunday, 6/30/02)
Linda Stern helps you review your options for developing an adequate retirement plan if you work for yourself.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Committee on Information (Sunday, 6/30/02)
The United Nations maintains a Committee on Information for purposes of making available reports on General Assembly sessions as well as other UN activities.

Who else is hurt by WorldCom? (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Not just the 17,000 employees who are losing their jobs, and, who, needless to say, aren't happy about the reasons, but also many people working for other organizations who have been depending on pension funds that include WorldCom stock. Russ Wiles reports on the many state pension funds that have been hit by a stock that has gone from around $70 per share to near nothing. In fact, many of the affected funds are heading for court as this is written.

Back to the drawing board on executive compensation (Saturday, 6/29/02)
The New York Times tells how WorldCom's bonus system for retaining managers is likely to add to the growing anger. Alan Clendenning offers additional perspective on why so many CEOs seem to have been motivated to engage in "pump and dump" activities that give priority to short-term profit and stock values.

It all started some years ago when it seemed to be a good idea to link executive compensation to results rather than attendance at meetings or seniority. It makes sense: the research on human nature clearly indicates that you tend to get more of whatever is rewarded and less of what is ignored and also, under some circumstances--and this is where current knowledge sometimes conflicts with what people often regard as "common sense"--less of whatever is punished sufficiently and in the right ways...sometimes.

So, if you want to increase profits and corporate stock values, it makes sense to reward executives who can make those things happen through the use of devices such as stock options, right?

Well, yes, in principle; but this assumes that the profits and stock values are real. If the potential rewards are big enough and the personal risks small enough, there can be strong incentives to simply "cook the books" in a way that creates a major gap between appearances and reality, and that seems to be what has happened. People working for brokerage or accounting firms can have similar motivation.

As one analyst put it, suppose you're faced with the opportunity to make a fairly risky bet. If you win, you gain tens of millions of dollars and you can go home, never having to work again, no matter how many mines or time bombs you may have left behind. If you lose, you may be able to move on before the mines or time bombs go off too so as to make the bet again someplace else, and your former employer gets fined. Is there any good reason not to make the bet?

American economy taps the brakes (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Jeannine Aversa reports from Washington that, despite almost astonishing growth numbers during the first quarter, it appears that the economy has been slowing considerably and may have grown at an annualized rate of about 2.5 percent during the second quarter now nearing its end, compared to 6.1 percent during the first three months of the year.

Consumers become a bit more reluctant to spend (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Consumers make up about 2/3 of the American economy, so they have a lot of ability to influence what happens. Here's more about the latest Commerce Department numbers for May.

Tech consulting company to cut jobs (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Cap Gemini is Europe's largest computer consulting firm. Times are still hard in the tech world, and that makes it harder for consultants too, so 5,500 jobs are set for elimination. Sherwood Ross tells about the challenges facing consultants under the best of circumstances, particularly those who strike out on their own.

Go ahead--take the summer off (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Without pay, that is. Qwest Communications is among the telecommunications companies having problems right now, and they're hoping that some of their employees will accept their suggestion that they take some unpaid leave. It may or may not help Qwest become fully viable, and it may or may not result in saved jobs. Here's more from Max Jarman, who doesn't say whether there has been an overwhelming response to the memo that went out to 56,000 employees on Thursday.

Mickey looks at his books again too (Saturday, 6/29/02)
In the present context, many companies are thinking that it's a good idea to re-examine their accounting procedures. Disney is among those that are revising their earnings calculations, but, in their case, the results aren't scandalous. Suddenly, though, there seems to have been a change of corporate fashion. Casual is out.

Winning elections in the new America (Saturday, 6/29/02)
Some Democrats are salivating over the drum beat of corporate scandals, hoping to tie them to the Bush administration and defeat Republican candidates in the fall election, while gaining control of both houses of Congress in the process.It is true that Republican administrations do tend to be somewhat more friendly to business, and the current Administration may be the most "corporate" in a long-time, with President, Vice President, and various other officials, including the Treasury Secretary, who are former top corporate managers.

However, it is said that Bill Clinton, among others, is cautioning Democratic candidates. The Democratic impulse is to attack the rich, which are assumed to be the corporate people and the people who own stock. But, don't DO that, Clinton is saying. America is a different country than it used to be. For one thing, nearly two-thirds of Americans now own stock, meaning that stock ownership no longer is concentrated in the hands of a few rich people. Moreover, millions of people work for corporations and like it, and millions of those are Democrats. Will Lester writes about Democratic possibilities in the fall and whether the current corporate messiness can be turned to their advantage.

Incidentally, with respect to William Jefferson Clinton, it might not be surprising that somebody named after Jefferson should be both brilliant and undisciplined much like the original. Whatever else one might say about Bill Clinton, there is no doubt that he has a world-class mind and is one of the most competent American politicians in at least a century or so. Gore resisted being influenced by him in the 2002 campaign, but current Democratic candidates would be wise to listen to whatever he has to say.

The cost of infestation (Saturday, 6/29/02)
It is said that anyone who uses a computer sooner or later feels like hanging him/herself. Part of the reason has to do with the fact that computers are perfectly logical; they dutifully attempt to do exactly what they're told, even if it doesn't make any sense at all. They don't make mistakes unless they're broken. Meanwhile, humans, in effect, tear their hair and yell, "I don't want it to do what I tell it to do; I want it to do what I want done!" A computer software bug is just another human instruction, so far as the machine is concerned, but from the person's point-of-view, it may be frustrating or destructive. Also costly, according to new data from the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, costing the U.S. economy nearly $60 billion per year.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Women's Institute for Financial Education (Saturday, 6/29/02)
The Women's Institute for Financial Education\ is an online newsletter that offers information on a fairly strange mixture of topics, but may be worth a look. Also, the site's acronym, WIFE, suggests a slight PR insensitivity or an assumption on the part of its producers that it's still 1955 or so.

It's been clouding up again (Friday, 6/28/02)
Treasury Secretary O'Neill spoke on the BBC about the reasons for some renewed sluggishness of the U.S. economy. President Bush is concerned about the overall impact of the WorldCom mess, and that story has been nudged off the front page a bit today by news that Xerox has been taking a second look at its books and is reconsidering how much money it's really been making. Who's next?

George is fed up (Friday, 6/28/02)
President Bush is sick of each day's news being dominated by a new Corporate scandal, and he intends to lay down the law in his radio address tomorrow and in a New York speech July 9. Top corporate management is something that he knows something about, because he's spent quite a lot of time in those roles himself.

Incidentally, comedians and highly partisan Democrats like to joke about how dumb the President is, in large part, because he's a convenient target now that Dan Quayle is out of the spotlight. Problem is, many of the same things were claimed about Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower by their political enemies. Until George W. Bush came along, few academics seemed willing to claim that dumb people earn graduate degrees at Harvard, and, if you believe he holds a Harvard MBA because he's a Bush, you're probably kidding yourself. Harvard is much bigger than any particular family or, for that matter, any particular president, at least in a sense. Presidents come and go, but Harvard seems almost eternal. It also has a huge endowment that helps reduce its vulnerability to the influence of potential donors who want something from the university.

The President may not have a record-setting IQ, but so what? Many highly successful American presidents wouldn't have broken the bank in SAT-type intelligence, and, John Quincy Adams, probably our smartest president, was also one of our least successful. Researchers now know that "intelligence" is not well-represented on a single dimension. That is, there are many different ways of being smart that apply in a variety of circumstances. Many academics find it convenient to point out that Bush must be incompetent because he doesn't seem to know quite a lot of the things that they know, but it appears to be at least partially a cultural thing. Many academics often display an astonishing level of dumbness in relation to business or economics too, to the point of assuming all sorts of things that aren't accurate at all. In many cases, they don't even seem to know what questions to ask.

We believe that the President is in no danger of becoming a Nobel Laureate, say, in any of the sciences, but we don't believe that his Harvard MBA is the result of a clerical error either. However, we also believe his life-long lack of curiosity about things usually included under the term "liberal arts" has left him with limited perspective in relation to many issues a president must deal with. This can be a problem, particularly in a modern world that nobody really fully understands. He isn't stupid, but his experience has been a bit too specialized. However, many other apparently limited men have grown into the presidency once they have assumed the office. That already has happened with Bush to some extent, and we all need for him to do more of it. Stay tuned.

Another strike in Germany (Friday, 6/28/02)
Thousands of workers at Deutsche Telekom left their jobs yesterday demanding a 6.5 percent pay raise.

"Fast track" on the slow track (Friday, 6/28/02)
The President has been wanting renewal of the so-called "fast-track" authority for negotiating trade deals that had been available to presidents earlier. Despite repeated roadblocks in Congress, a compromise seems to be in the works. Also, House Republicans have passed a Medicare prescription drug bill. Generally, though, Congressional Democrats don't like it, so whatever might eventually become law may look a lot different. In other Congressional news, the federal debt limit has been increased by $450 billion. Our older readers may remember something once referred to as a "surplus." Actually, before long, young people may not remember it because they're too young, and old people may not remember it because, well, because they're old.

A giant rises (Friday, 6/28/02)
China's last dynasty began running out of steam in the 19th century, and that resulted in a country that couldn't even defend itself or its own borders. Foreign powers came in and essentially carved up the country, inflicting great humiliation on an entire people as reflected in things such as the Opium War and the famous signs on lawns in Shanghai saying "No Chinese or Dogs Allowed."

The real father of the new China was Dr. Sun Yet Sen early in the 20th century, but China as a single 21st century country might not have been possible without Mao as well, even though he left a very mixed legacy. He unified the country, saying in his 1949 victory speech in Tiananmen Square that "China has stood up." But, his "Great Leap Forward" in the late 1950s was really a great leap into an abyss, resulting in huge losses to the Chinese people. Similarly, the "Cultural Revolution" which he unleashed, in part, to disable his political opposition, but also possibly because of an encroaching senility, devastated China.

Mao adopted some European Marxist ideas in order to unify his people and break with medieval habits and institutions that had dominated Chinese life for centuries, while bragging fairly late in life that he hadn't even read "The Communist Manifesto." Many have debated in recent years about whether Mao was a "real" communist or simply the latest Chinese emperor. The Cultural Revolution was made possible because of the emperor-like personality cult that he had developed, and history teaches that charismatic political leadership frequently doesn't turn out too well in the long-run.

In addition to Sun Yet Sen and Mao, Deng has been the most important modern Chinese political figure, and he set in motion economic changes about a quarter of a century ago that have transformed the country. Quite different types of politicians are in charge now. They are autocrats for sure, for now, but they don't appear to be wannabee emperors, and they may not be communists in any real sense either. It remains to be seen whether they will have to change the name of China's governing party before long.

While, politically, China may have "stood up" in 1949, it appears to be getting on its economic feet right now. Jane Perlez of the New York Times reports on what may be the most important developing story in the world, while the U.S. and others are greatly distracted by the Middle East and international terrorism. All of a sudden, China has become almost the most important economic power in Asia, the U.S. and Japan and South Korea and the other "tigers" notwithstanding. Today, Asia; tomorrow, the world?

Hundreds of thousands of qualified students still can't afford college (Friday, 6/28/02)
Tracey Wong Briggs of USA Today reports on the wrangling already going on in Congress over the Higher Education Act.

No more MP3 swaps at work (Friday, 6/28/02)
Employers are concerned about bandwidth costs as well as possible legal liabilities, so they're cracking down.

Early ergonomics training (Friday, 6/28/02)
Tomorrow's office workers are in elementary school today. For those who may spend much of their lives at keyboards, it may be important to learn how to avoid repetitive stress injuries starting early. Also, there are significant risks during childhood itself because of small bodies that are not well-positioned for keyboard and mouse use, according to a University of Washington professor.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Food and Drink Jobs (Friday, 6/28/02)
Here's a specialized jobs site for those in the hospitality industry who work with food for drink.

The widening Enron case (Thursday, 6/27/02)
If you believed that the priest problem involved a single bad apple, or if you believed that the Enron scandal was an isolated incident, you've probably had to change your mind. With respect to Enron, which was several debacles ago but still going on, Kurt Eichenwald and David Barboza of the New York Times say that investigators are beginning to look at bankers now as well. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary O'Neill says that corporate executives who have been cooking the books should go to jail.

Russia survives initiation process (Thursday, 6/27/02)
The G8 summit in Canada has agreed to give Russia a permanent seat at the table, meaning, apparently, that it will be all G8 from now on and no more G7. Russia's influence in world affairs outweighs the strength of its economy, so the world's richest industrial countries will consider Russia to be a permanent member of its club. The summit has spent considerable time on issues relating to international terrorism and the Middle East, as planned, but not much on Africa, which had been on the agenda. A new UN report forecasts a catastrophe of historic proportions on the African continent due to AIDS. Economic consequences of the pandemic are likely to be massive, but that's just the beginning.

Revised first quarter numbers (Thursday, 6/27/02)
The American economy grew even faster than first estimated during the first quarter of 2002, surging ahead at an annual rate of 6.1 percent. However, something nearer 2.5 percent is expected for the April-June period. Meanwhile, first-time jobless claims fell last week, and UN economists expect global growth to be relatively unimpressive during the months ahead.

Explaining farm policy (Thursday, 6/27/02)
The Bush administration is seen by officials from some other countries as hypocritical on free trade, given the steel tariffs it has imposed as well as the big farm subsidy bill that the President signed into law recently. However, Administration officials are quick to point out that they don't see any inconsistencies, and have been spending quite a lot of time recently defending U.S. farm policy in international circles.

Senate Finance Committee passes welfare bill (Thursday, 6/27/02)
The bill is unlikely to become law in its present form, however, given the great contrast between it and the House version favored by President Bush.

The implications of Italy's labor restrictions (Thursday, 6/27/02)
Firing somebody in Italy isn't easy. Alan Krueger suggests that the country's restrictive labor policies suggest that we need not fear the loss of national sovereignty as a result of the new Europe's cross-national organization.

Pilots want federal mediation (Thursday, 6/27/02)
American Airlines pilots are asking for the help of a mediator, but the airline hasn't yet indicated whether it likes the idea. In other labor news, agreement may be nearing in contract talks between San Francisco dock workers and shippers. The current contract expires next week.

Fingerhut jobs to be preserved (Thursday, 6/27/02)
More than 800 people in Minnesota may keep their jobs after all following Federated Department Stores sale of its receivables to a credit card company.

Interest rates left alone (Thursday, 6/27/02)
As expected, the Federal Reserve has decided to leave interest rates at their lowest levels since the Kennedy administration.

Job cuts at Motorola (Thursday, 6/27/02)
Motorola already has cut quite a lot of jobs, but they intend to cut more. Seven-thousand more are set to be eliminated.

D.C. does better on tech jobs (Thursday, 6/27/02)
IT employment leveled off across the country last year, but the Washington, D. C. area added 7,000 tech jobs.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Institute for the Study of Labor (Thursday, 6/27/02)
The Institute for the Study of Labor is a private, independent research organization located at the University of Bonn in Germany.

Scandal du jour (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
WorldCom has provided America with its latest corporate mess, and it may be the largest accounting fraud in American history. Moreover, it will cost 17,000 people their jobs. Investors are noticing and are beginning to fear that corruption is widely distributed across American corporations. It means that many people feel safer if they put their money under the mattress than into equities, and that's hurting...perhaps fundamentally threatening...the American economic system.

Latest strike ends in Germany (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Representatives of German construction workers have reached a deal with employers on a new contract that will include a 3.2 percent pay increase.

Bias at Sun? (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Sun Microsystems has been accused of a selective layoff policy, and federal agencies are investigating. According to complaints, Sun has favored foreigners working under H-1B visas, while laying off more expensive American citizens.

Steel tariffs: latest round (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
The World Trade Organization is investigating the protective tariffs that the Bush administration has imposed on imported steel, and is broadening its probe.

Safer to drive than to build? (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
The UAW claims that four Honda factories in Ohio have injury rates that are twice as high as those for the American auto industry overall.

The economic importance of immigrants and minorities (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
U.S. housing prices are holding up very well, and recent analyses seem to agree that they don't represent a dot-com-type bubble in the real estate market. The values appear to be real, and minorities and immigrants are playing a major role in supporting the real estate market. Moreover, expect the overall American economy to benefit greatly from minorities and immigrants over the next 20 years.

Broadcast industry not sufficiently diverse, according to the FCC and others (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Some industry and government figures seem to agree that broadcast companies should hire more minorities and women, but there is disagreement on how to go about it. In the small world department, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is the son of the U. S. Secretary of State.

Refinancing can help reduce student loan burden (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Some grads may feel that their life's work is to pay off their student loans.

While it makes good economic sense to put off buying many things we really can do without for a while until we have the money to pay for them, there are some exceptions. For instance, most people will be nearing retirement by the time they are able to save enough to pay cash for a house. The mortgage is a brilliant invention. It enables people to live in the house during the years they are raising their families, and, in many cases, have the mortgage paid off about the time they're ready to retire on reduced income. The fact that monthly payments during the early years do little more than cover the interest and that the total cost of buying the house will be much more than it would be if paying cash doesn't cancel out the benefits. For most people, it's worth it, considering the alternatives.

The situation with higher education is similar now that it can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. Members of earlier generations often were able to work their way through college, or, one way or another, be essentially debt free upon graduation. Not so with many of today's young Americans. If college plus grad or professional school costs more than $100,000, say, most people would be old by the time they could have saved that much. As in the case of a house, it's better to be able to obtain the benefits before having to pay for them, despite the large interest costs.

However, living with one large monthly mortgage payment for thirty years or so is one thing, but what if there are two--one for the house and one for college? It can leave many people with not quite enough to cover the daily costs of living and raising a family. Salary increases and inflation will tend to help out in the long-run, but the biggest burden will come during the early years when people are at the beginnings of their careers and raising their children. It's a fairly new problem that American society hasn't entirely sorted out yet.

In the meantime, Lauren Bayne Anderson of the Houston Chronicle tells how grads can take advantage of low interest rates and refinance their student loans in order to bring those monthly payment down.

Job satisfaction dips among government workers (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
A survey conducted by the Brookings Institution finds that U.S. civil servants feel that their job satisfaction and quality of work life have declined during the past year. However, workers at the Department of Defense are feeling a new sense of purpose after 9/11.

Rising expectations among teens (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
During the recent boom, teens learned that they may not have to be satisfied with traditional kid-like summer jobs. The boom is over, but many teens aren't ready to settle for baby-sitting or lawn mowing again quite yet.

Is it really any of an employer's business? (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Job seekers are claiming that many employers are conducting background checks that simply use security concerns as an excuse for finding something convenient upon which to base dismissal later if desired.

Hey!--that's the wrong fork. Shape up! (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
Etiquette boot camp? In case you think you've heard everything, read Adam Geller's story about the latest thing for new hires during a time of massive corporate corruption and scandal. Does the word "priorities" come to mind? Incidentally, if you've been looking for another reason to doubt the persistent rumor that universities contain a lot of smart people, you might be wondering what business schools have been teaching lately.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Committee on Education and the Workforce (Wednesday, 6/26/02)
The House of Representatives has a Committee on Education and the Workforce, which maintains a major website.

More privatization in Chile (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Chile's government intends to break new ground in Latin America by turning the country's unemployment insurance system over to the private sector. Here's more from Larry Rohter in Santiago.

O'Neill says Americans should be "outraged" (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Investors have become far less confident of what they're really investing in when they buy stock, which is jeopardizing the American economic system. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill feels that Americans have a right to be "outraged" by the continuing drumbeat of corporate scandals. He says that the Administration is working hard to find ways to overcome apparently widespread corporate corruption and to restore investor confidence.

Blejer will do what he can, even though he's resigning as president of Argentina's central bank (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Argentine President Duhalde says that talks with the International Monetary Fund will resume, despite Blejer's resignation.

Popcorn processing may pose work hazard (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Stephanie Armour of USA Today reports that many workers in plants that produce microwave popcorn are claiming that the butter flavoring is harming their lungs.

Consumer confidence slips (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence hit a four-month low, but still didn't go as low as analysts had expected. The Conference Board also forecasts that white collar raises will droop this year.

Kmart to cut special retirement benefits (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Bankrupt Kmart Corporation has been paying about 20 former executives $2 million per year in special retirement benefits, but they intend to stop. Meanwhile, the company that had quite a lot to do with Kmart's troubles in the market, Wal-Mart, is being sued by workers who claim that they have been forced to work some hours without pay.

A step closer for former Enron workers (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Former Enron workers moved a bit closer to obtaining an extra $28 million in severance benefits following preliminary approval from a bankruptcy judge.

Court rules that age can make a difference (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
The California Supreme Court has ruled that a company can provide fewer benefits to older workers than younger ones.

Efforts to turn back the clock on the Internet (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
The ability of people to communicate openly with one another has always been a threat to centralized autocratic political power, but key participants in the latest Internet Society conference in Washington, D. C. are saying that government and corporations in the U.S. also feel threatened by the Internet and are trying to get control of it.

A shortage of educated males? (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Women used to be fairly rare on American university campuses. Now, as Michael Fletcher reports from Baltimore, the balance has shifted, and experts are wondering why more men aren't graduating from college.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: How to Identify Trust-Worthy Trusts (Tuesday, 6/25/02)
Here's information from the Federal Trade Commission on how to avoid living trust scams.

The rich guys will talk about terrorism and Africa (Monday, 6/24/02)
The next G8 economics summit will focus on terrorism with its many faces and consequences as well as grinding problems over the continent of Africa.

Actually, they're not all rich guys. While G7 is the organization of the world's richest industrial countries, G8 is made up of G7 plus Russia, which is still a rich-guy wannabe. Russia is given a seat at the table because the world learned during the 20th century that nearly everybody has a stake in Russia's success and that it can be a deadly mistake to ignore what happens in that country.

With a long history that has not included strong democratic or capitalist traditions, Russia is trying to develop both a viable democracy and a strong open-market economy. After struggling horribly for several years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's economy has been showing signs of life. Also, its president was elected and succeeded another elected president--a milestone in a country that has known almost nothing other than autocratic government in one form or another for a thousand years. While one can quibble about how elections are conducted in Russia, they have been elections, and international observers feel that things have been going about as well as can be expected at this point. However, there is some international nervousness about increased authoritarian tendencies, particularly with respect to shrinking press freedoms. Stay tuned.

Don't expect interest rate increases for a while (Monday, 6/24/02)
Susan Tompor says that the Fed is likely to hold back until near the end of the year because the recovery has gotten a little bumpy.

Strikers resume talks in Germany (Monday, 6/24/02)
The strike of Germany's construction workers is a week old and talks started up again today.

401(k)s reconsidered (Monday, 6/24/02)
Maybe the 401(k) isn't the retirement panacea that many expected after all. Not only because stocks are so frumpy now, but also even during the boom period, according to recent analyses. Here's more from Miriam Hill. What could be worse? Having no retirement plan at all, according to Scott Burns who writes from Boston College's Center for Retirement Research

Have employers become too "picky?" (Monday, 6/24/02)
Adam Geller reports that many workers think that background checks are reaching back too far and employers are overreacting because of security concerns. Unless your "predictor" or "detector" is perfect, there will always be two kinds of errors, "false positives" and "false negatives." If you're trying to identify crooks, a way to minimize false negatives is to cynically assume that nearly everybody's dishonest, but the result will be greatly to inflate false positives. On the other hand, a naive response that assumes that everybody can be trusted will minimize false positives but greatly inflate false negatives. When people feel threatened, the tendency is to err in the direction of increasing false positives.

International terrorists are capable of leveraging and projecting power to an extent far greater than ever before in an interconnected world in which geography has become largely irrelevant and which knows few boundaries functioning as genuine obstacles. Among other things, this means that it really is possible for a small, highly disciplined organization of people to inflict tens of thousands of casualties in a single attack. However, the greatest damage will come if, in response to our fear, we destroy our own liberties and commit a major portion of our treasure to protection, crippling both our democracy and our economy in the process, and, conceivably, changing the course of history.

Where there isn't a will, there's a way anyway...sometimes (Monday, 6/24/02)
Ronald Lipman responds to a correspondent who asks about transferring property to heirs without using a will.

How to take off and take it off (Monday, 6/24/02)
Does the IRS have any provisions for helping you pay for your vacation? Well, yes, in a way. Here's more from Gary Klott.

Displaced workers hoping to persuade another company to move in and hire them all (Monday, 6/24/02)
In the judgment of 360 skilled electronics workers who have worked there, Clearfield, Pennsylvania can be a good place to do business. They're about to lose their jobs because their company is closing, and they're searching for work. Actually, they're hoping that a company will come to them so they won't have to move.

Demographics out of whack in China (Monday, 6/24/02)
Long before many new American home buyers have retired their mortgages, as many as 40 million Chinese men will have had to settle for being single, because there won't be enough women in China. It's illegal to base abortions on selective prenatal gender screening, but it's widely practiced anyway, and, with the traditional Chinese preference for having sons rather than daughters, plus the government's one-child policy, far more males are born than females. This could prevent China from becoming a full-fledged democracy over the years ahead, and even have international consequences, according to some experts. Here's more from Paul Wiseman of USA Today.

Incidentally, we've reported during previous months on China's having as many as 100 million unemployed as a result of the shutdown of huge, failed state-run industries as part of the privatization process that has helped lift the Chinese economy to the highest national growth rate in the world: currently about 7 percent annually.

Just about anything one can say about China involves the use of very big numbers. For instance, the country now contains about 1.4 billion persons, eighty percent of whom are rural. However, this still leaves about 280 million city-dwellers where the action is, which is about equivalent to the total population of the United States.

Shanghai, for example, the very flashy, fast-track "New York of China," has about 17 million population, including 2 million temporary workers from rural areas who have come to the big city in search of work. Many, depending on their skill levels, work on street crews or do other work, including highway or building construction, both of which have been occurring at a furious rate. Three-thousand (sic) skyscrapers have been built in Shanghai during the past seven years or so, and, in China's wealthier southeastern region, freeway construction is continuing at a fever pitch but is barely able to keep up with increased car and truck traffic, now that products of all kinds are being transported on the roads and more and more people are able to afford the still-very-expensive automobiles. There is a vast difference between China's lowest and highest income levels, but its middle and affluent upper-middle-classes are expanding very rapidly.

China's certainly not a participative democracy, and it may not become one, but personal freedoms of most kinds have broadened greatly in just a few years along with the country's high rate of economic development. Deng, the national hero who opened China beginning in the late 1970s, may have expected that changing the Chinese economy eventually would change everything else. That remains to be seen. However, China was the leading, most advanced society on earth longer than most others have played that role during the history of the planet, and it seems clear that many educated Chinese are determined that it become the world's most advanced, powerful, and influential society again. Keep a close eye on China, which seems to be making rapid progress toward becoming a very different place.

Speaking of interesting numbers, Beijing alone, also a huge and increasingly wealthy city, has more than 100 universities. China doesn't intend to be short of knowledge workers in a knowledge-based economy.

eBay to offer health insurance to some self-employed (Monday, 6/24/02)
People who depend on sales on eBay as their primary source of income may be able to benefit soon from the big auction site's ability to negotiate favorable rates on group health insurance coverage.

More Americans working at home for off-site employers (Monday, 6/24/02)
"Women who don't work outside the home" used to refer mostly to full-time homemakers who are not employed, but that will have to be modified. More and more employed women are doing their work at home now, and more men too. A survey conducted by the International Telework Association and Council finds that telecommuting continues on the increase, but not at blinding speed. Here's more from Maria Mallory of the Cox News Service. Some employers who believe they're buying an employee's time rather than performance or results continue to resist the idea, and some employees don't like the isolation, feeling that face-to-face interaction around the water cooler can make a difference, not only for morale purposes, but also job performance, particularly in highly collaborative enterprises. Meanwhile, overall, working Americans are spending more time in their cars. Here's what the resulting gridlock costs per rush hour driver in several major metropolitan areas.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Ahorrando para el futuro (Monday, 6/24/02)
On average, Hispanic-Americans tend to save less and invest less than many other Americans. The Bond Market Foundation is nonprofit, and has launched Ahorrando para el futuro, or Tomorrow's Money: A Step-By-Step Guide for Today, to help close the gap. Here's the English version of the site.

Agreement on severance (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
A tentative agreement has been reached that could double the amount of severance pay that some former Enron workers receive. Here's more from Juan Lozano in Houston.

North Dakota voters seen as leading the nation toward greater financial privacy (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
In a referendum yesterday, voters in North Dakota overwhelmingly rejected a law that allowed banks to share depositers' financial information without their permission.

Capitalism under attack in Poland (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
After feeling betrayed by years of Communism, an increasing number of Poles feel that free-market capitalism is failing them too. Here's more from Ian Fisher in Szczecin.

Billions lost in unemployment system (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
Audits find widespread overpayment and fraud in the unemployment system. It's estimated that $2.4 billion was overpaid last year alone.

Union blockade broken in Australia (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
Riot police have broken through a blockade at a steel plant in Melbourne. Hundreds of trade union members have blockaded entrances to the plant for three weeks to protest company plans to replace maintenance employees with contractors.

Poor countries ask for free trade in agriculture (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
Many leaders in the world's poorer countries feel that there is widespread hypocrisy among rich countries favoring free trade around the world, thinking that the rich are in favor of it when it favors them, but not necessarily when it favors the poor. For instance, there has been an increasing chorus of criticism of farm subsidies in the U.S. and Europe. Here's more from Nicole Winfield at the UN World Food Summit in Rome.

Twenty-three countries approved for World Bank education program (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
The World Bank wants millions of children in poor countries to have access to quality elementary education by the year 2015. Twenty-three countries have been approved for receiving assistance.

Surprised? Well, THAT'S not surprising (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
Economic columnist Robert Samuelson remarks that the growing odds of default in Japan shows just how much world conditions have changed, and it's causing a general crisis of confidence. The world is wandering into uncharted regions.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Children's Health Insurance Program (Wednesday, 6/12/02)
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) makes health coverage available to many children from poor families the CHIP program is part of Head Start in the Administration for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Steel tariffs, round three (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
The Bush administration, which claims to be in favor of free trade, decided to impose protective tariffs on imported steel. Then, in an effort to placate international critics, it exempted several dozen products. Now, the European Union plans retaliatory tariffs of its own, so a trade war may be starting up. The U.S. and other wealthy countries are also under fire from the UN because of their continuing practice of subsidizing their agricultural sectors, to the disadvantage of poor countries that produce agricultural products. However, in the hardball world of international politics, the U.S. may be more inclined to hear the complaints over steel tariffs because they tend to come from wealthy and powerful trading partners rather than poor and relatively powerless nations. Stay tuned.

Unions critical of Labor Department action (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Union leaders feel that it may have something to do with the current Administration's being Republican, and they don't like it. Posting the financial reports from hundreds of unions on the Internet while not doing the same with employers' reports is unfair and discriminatory, they say.

Amtrak likely to cut jobs (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Amtrak is reorganizing in an effort to keep rolling, and jobs are likely to go as part of the process.

Labor problems persist in Germany (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
German construction workers are voting on whether or not to strike, while telephone and postal workers already have walked out for brief periods. Here's more from David McHugh in Frankfurt.

UN Food Summit called a waste of time (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Britain explains why it isn't sending a representative. Here's more from Crispian Balmer in Rome.

The '90s boom wasn't uniformly distributed (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Some states did a good deal better than others during the booming 1990s, according to data from the Commerce Department. Interestingly, a traveler usually is able to tell which country s/he's in, no matter where in the United States s/he wanders, which is interesting in itself, given the great variety of regions, differing population densities, and so on. Many attribute the ability of the U.S. to hang together as one country, despite all of this, to our federalist system.

Every few years--the 2000 election fiasco was the latest--there is a call for the abolition of the electoral college, thinking that it's only fair that national political offices be filled by those who obtain the greatest number of votes nationwide. On the other hand, if everything were distributed according to population, California would have more than 30 times as many Senators as North Dakota, and a presidential candidate would never appear outside California, New York, Texas, and possibly another state or two during a campaign.

Also, it is likely that the great population centers would totally dominate American life, receiving nearly all the resources. Under those conditions, one might expect an eventual breakup of the United States followed by the sort of international conflict on the North American continent that has dominated Europe over the centuries and that we're seeing now between India and Pakistan, both of which were part of British India.

Even though the majority rules, the American Constitution is intended to provide protection from tyrannies of a minority or of the majority.

North Dakota may lead the nation (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
A statewide referendum is being held today on whether banks will be able to share financial information without its customers' written permission.

Things improve for some Native Americans in Minnesota (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Everybody living in the U.S. had immigrant ancestors, but some came to the Americas a little earlier than others. In the case of many Native Americans, the immigration occurred tens of thousands of years ago. Ironically, perhaps, the people whose ancestors were here to welcome the earliest Europeans continue to be among the most underprivileged in American society at this late date. However, Pat Doyle and Terry Collins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune report on an overall reduction of unemployment and poverty on Minnesota reservations during the 1990s, according to Census data.

One reason health care is so costly (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
A new study concludes that inefficiency in health care wastes $390 billion each year in the United States.

A free-market enthusiast criticizes executive pay (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
Jim Barlow of the Houston Chronicle says that it isn't a free market that is determining the compensation of top executives, and he thinks they make too much money.

Don't assume you'll always make out on real estate investments (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
If you believe that you can't lose by buying a house, don't bet on it. Laurent Belsie says it can become a "debt trap."

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Proposal (Tuesday, 6/11/02)
The National Science Foundation wants to help make doctoral dissertations in economics less dismal.

Conservatives get a lock on French parliament (Monday, 6/10/02)
It probably means that President Chirac will be able to carry on with what he regards as economic reforms. The vote amounts to a rejection of France's left as well as its far right.

Unfair agricultural advantage alleged (Monday, 6/10/02) The UN Secretary-General wants rich countries to stop subsidizing their ag sectors, because it prevents poorer countries from competing in the world's agricultural product markets. Farm product prices have been low compared to earlier years, which has put many American farmers in jeopardy. A new subsidy law was passed recently, in part, because of the key role that several farm states may play in the November election which will determine who will control Congress for the next two years.

Eastern states top the Index (Monday, 6/10/02)
It may surprise a lot of people in California, but the Progressive Policy Institute's New Economy Index lists several eastern states as the highest performers, according to their criteria.

Settlement at Disney (Monday, 6/10/02)
Workers who have been on strike at two Disney World hotels in Florida have ratified their new contract. It means that some will be going back to work, but not all of them immediately. Here's an explanation from Lake Buena Vista.

Double-dip not expected (Monday, 6/10/02)
Most economists believe that growth during the first quarter was too high to be sustained, but don't believe that the U.S. economy is headed back into recession. It's not likely to be a return to the "good old days" of the late 1990s either. For instance, startup businesses have not been doing well, and Jim Hopkins reports on the grim faces of many venture capitalists.

Court agrees that employers can protect workers from themselves (Monday, 6/10/02)
The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't give people the right to expose themselves to work conditions that can do them harm. It seems to open up all sorts of questions about who will decide and according to what criteria, and who will decide who will decide in particular cases.

Time to fix capitalism again? (Monday, 6/10/02)
During the 1930s, it appeared that capitalism was fatally flawed, and it led to considerable international enthusiasm for Marxist economics and political regimes, and that led to what appears to have been a failed experiment of monumental proportions. However, if my neighbor is sick, it does not necessarily imply that I am well, and Sebastian Mallaby thinks that capitalism is showing some rot that needs to be carved out. Of course, no familiar system was constructed for the sort of qualitatively new global economy we presently have, and that introduces all sorts of novelties that nobody really understands. Can we paraphrase Winston Churchill's remarks about democracy and say that capitalism is the worst possible system...except for all the others?

Pharm life (Monday, 6/10/02)
Kyle Wingfield has more on the hot job market that is welcoming new pharmacists, or older ones who want to freshen up their careers. It all contrasts significantly with many people in other fields with similar levels of education. Elsewhere in the health services field, the shortage of nurses threatens to reach crisis levels before long. On the other hand, in some communities, there is an excess of physicians, particularly those in some specialties.

Somebody might decide to start a former CEO support group (Monday, 6/10/02)
Del Jones and Gary Strauss of USA Today report that CEOs have been losing their jobs at the rate of two per day so far this year. John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press says that it may have something to do with generally poor performance, if executive performance is measured by corporate performance, but that hasn't kept top managers from making out nicely financially. Russ Wiles of the Arizona Republic reports that a growing number of shareholders seem to want corporations to become better citizens. This at a time when many company executives have been exhibiting, at best, insensitivity, at worst, arrogance. There is Enron, of course, as well as a growing chorus of criticism of monopolistic practices on the part of Clear Channel Communications, Stanley Tools' decision to move its corporate headquarters off shore in order greatly to reduce its tax bill, and Tyco International's Dennis Kozlowski's indictment for tax evasion. But, columnist Susan Tompor says that many Americans have been finding creative ways of to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Career planning based on the reality that we'll all be dead in a few years (Monday, 6/10/02)
Everybody suffers from a terminal condition. Life is terminal. None of us will get out "all this" alive. Here's one writer's reflections following the death of a cousin and how one's work should fit into the bigger picture, keeping in mind that work itself isn't the bigger picture, but only part of it.

For love and money (Monday, 6/10/02)
Eileen Alt Powell believes that the financial stuff should be sorted out before the wedding, not sometime after.

Hell, no; I won't go (Monday, 6/10/02)
Stan Hinden, who is himself a retired newspaperman--well, sort of--tells about people who don't aspire to idleness, and will be happy to remain on the job until the very end, if possible.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: FedScope (Monday, 6/10/02)
FedScope, from the federal Office of Personnel Management, enables you to find and analyze federal employment data.

Workplace violence in Rhode Island (Sunday, 6/9/02)
Three workers at a newspaper production plant have died as a result of shooting.

Ratification at Hershey (Sunday, 6/9/02)
The longest strike in company history is over at Hershey Foods, as workers vote to accept their new contract.

Duhalde expresses surprise (Sunday, 6/9/02)
Argentina's president may or may not really be surprised that the International Monetary Fund isn't satisfied with the country's reforms so far, but he says he is.

Not a piece of wood (Sunday, 6/9/02)
Treasury Secretary O'Neill has returned from Africa and has been affected by the experience. He's also changed his mind about the likelihood of being able to make a practical difference, thinking that there is no reason not to move ahead quickly in cleaning up the water for impoverished, suffering people on the huge continent. Not to be affected by what he and his traveling companion, rock star Bono, saw would have to mean being a "piece of wood" or something, he says, and that's neither of them.

Travel industry attempts to become more women-friendly (Sunday, 6/9/02)
As part of a larger effort to win back business travelers, the travel industry is trying to make it easier for women who travel for business reasons.

Arizona's best jobs are among America's best jobs (Sunday, 6/9/02)
Christine Romero has been examining data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor and finds that the role of obstetrician/gynecologist is one of the good jobs in Arizona. During the memory of many people who are still active themselves, women have made major strides in the professions, including senior roles in the health services. For instance, not so long ago "male" essentially was part of the definition of "veterinarian." Soon, though, a majority of animal doctors will be women. Incidentally, terms like "animal doctor," "child psychologist," and "small businessman" (about three feet tall) are fun to play around with.

What to do after graduation? (Sunday, 6/9/02)
New and recent college grads are facing one of the worst job markets in years following one of the best markets only a short while ago. Many feel that grad school is among the better alternatives to unemployment or underemployment, but post-grad internships are also very popular as ways of gaining practical experience and strengthening a resume that might otherwise contain little more than reference to college. However, many new graduates have the additional problem of more accumulated debt than they should have at such an early age, and, as Seth Stern reports, it's not all from student loans.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: History and Genealogy of the Wealthy Families of America (Sunday, 6/9/02)
Here are the stories of the wealthiest families in the wealthiest society ever to exist on the earth. It's the History and Genealogy of the Wealthy Families of America.

Steel tariffs, round two (Saturday, 6/8/02)
The Administration has decided to back off a bit from the protective tariffs it imposed a while back, by exempting dozens of products. More exemptions are under consideration. The net result of first imposing the tariffs, then making numerous exceptions, may be to make nearly everybody mad, both in the U.S. and abroad.

New UAW prez talks tough in Vegas (Saturday, 6/8/02)
Ron Gettelfinger is the new president of the United Auto Workers. An aging membership draws more attention to health care and pension issues in negotiations, and, from all indications, he doesn't intend to give an inch.

Tech wreckage still strewn across the American economy (Saturday, 6/8/02)
According to various estimates, many U.S. companies spent too much money on technology that they didn't need and will never use, there is still excess capacity in many areas, and corporate capital investment is still down overall. All in all, the technology sector is still suffering, and recovery remains elusive.

War, what war? Danger, what danger? (Saturday, 6/8/02)
The U.S. government has been telling Americans that it's time to get the hell out of India, but, as Barry Bearak and Seth Mydans report from New Delhi, for many U.S. citizens, it seems to be just business as usual.

Meausuring the unmeasurable? (Saturday, 6/8/02)
We reported yesterday on how concerns about measurement methodology have cast doubt on the optimistic first-quarter growth numbers in Japan. Now, there appears to be a similar problem with the presumed U.S. recovery. Louis Uchitelle of the New York Times reports that many experts wonder whether widely quoted consumer confidence indexes measure anything real.

On the right track? (Saturday, 6/8/02)
Japan has been in the process of privatizing its national rail system for fifteen years, which means since before the onset of the big economic slump that has bedeviled the country for more than a decade. Now, there is a strong move to complete the process with the hope that it will help relieve the big budget deficit.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Population Statistics (Saturday, 6/8/02)
Population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau amount to a great deal more than you might expect, and allow analysis every which way in order to help you answer a wide variety of questions of interest. The site offers dozens of downloadable PDF files.

Unemployment declines in May (Friday, 6/7/02)
The drop in first-time unemployment claims has been followed by a reduced unemployment rate during May, which may mean that employers are becoming sufficiently confident that the recovery will persist that they're beginning to hire new workers. Here's more from today's Washington Post.

Japan's first-quarter growth rate was encouraging too, leading some to believe that the latest of several recessions during the past decade, may be at an end. However, Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun says that the Japanese government iis acknowledging methodological problems and is proposing a new way of calculating growth, which seems to call into question the accuracy of the current numbers. Also, despite what may or may not be good growth news, Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Average closed down.

A similar situation exists in the U.S., where, despite a fairly good looking economy overall, investors don't appear to be optimistic. Some attribute the persistent Wall Street malaise to the possibility that stocks are still overvalued in relation to corporate earnings, a lingering effect of the earlier tech bubble that may still not be fully deflated.

It's official in Europe and the U.S.: Russia has a market economy (Friday, 6/7/02)
Russia has been complaining that its Soviet history has been held against it in trade negotiations. Now the EU and President Bush are saying that Russia's economy is indeed a market economy, and significant practical changes are expected.

AFL-CIO says they really did try to help Enron workers (Friday, 6/7/02)
Despite accusations, lawyers say the big labor confederation never encouraged Enron workers to settle for less that what is now being offered, according to Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle.

Bali talks near end, but not necessarily in a satisfying manner (Friday, 6/7/02)
Some observers have noted the irony that ministers have been meeting at a luxury resort in Bali with the intention of developing a draft plan for helping the world's most impoverished people. They're trying to prepare for a UN sustainable development summit in August to be held in South Africa, but some issues remain unresolved, suggesting that they may be put off to some later time. More than a hundred heads of state are scheduled for the South African meeting this summer.

What a city needs to attract talent, companies, and jobs (Friday, 6/7/02)
A vibrant cultural life can help, according to the Washington Post.

Most Brits still recognize the Channel as Europe's western boundary (Friday, 6/7/02)
Europe is one thing, and the UK is something else, according to popular British opinion, and that goes for its currency too. A new survey shows that a majority of the British don't want their country to adopt the euro.

Sweetness returns to Hershey (Friday, 6/7/02)
A 42-day strike at Hershey Foods appears to have ended with a tentative agreement.

Permanent repeal of the estate tax voted in the House (Friday, 6/7/02)
Under current law, the estate tax is fading temporally, but many Republicans in the House of Representatives would like to see it become part of history. Many Democrats, on the other hand, say it would favor the rich and lock in permanent family dynasties.

Compromise brewing on patients' rights bill (Friday, 6/7/02)
The President is indicating that he is prepared to accept a patient's limited right to sue in order to get a bill passed into law. Meanwhile, American society may be moving toward recognizing what psychiatrists, psychologists, and other professionals regard as the obvious, given contemporary information: that psychiatric illness is genuine illness, not to be distinguished from others like smallpox or cancer when it comes to making treatment accessible. Two-thousand people have demonstrated in Washington, D. C. on behalf of insurance parity, and President Bush has indicated that he favors the idea. Incidentally, speaking of smallpox, participants in a government-sponsored forum at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan are urging that health workers be vaccinated in case of a terrorist attack. It's reflects recognition of a new occupational hazard for people working in the health services.

Which would be easier: dealing with your teenagers, or mediating between the Palestinians and Israelis? Being a corporate CEO or an inner-city school principal? (Friday, 6/7/02)
On the latter issue, some feel that running an inner-city school is the greater challenge.

Videoconferencing benefits from 9/11 (Friday, 6/7/02)
Videoconferencing systems have gotten less expensive. This combined with a greater fear or travel and a recognition that quite a lot of business can be conducted at a distance, a growing number of people have been staying in their offices rather than heading for the airport. The airline industry has been noticing, incidentally, and, as we've reported previously, has been trying to find ways to encourage business travelers to come back.

Peer rivalry at work (Friday, 6/7/02)
Columnist L. M. Sixel notes the uncanny resemblance of work relationships to what many people remember from a childhood growing up with siblings.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Online Small Business Workshop (Friday, 6/7/02)
If you would like to start a small business in Canada, the Online Small Business Workshop can help you succeed every step of the way, and you WILL need all the help you can get. The allure of being your own boss is strong, but, if it were easy, nearly everybody would be doing it.

New claims at their lowest in a year (Thursday, 6/6/02)
First-time unemployment claims hit their lowest point in a year last week, according to the latest Labor Department data, but part of it may have been artifactual, according to Jeannine Aversa in Washington. However, it does seem to be an indicator that the American economy is gathering strength. An apparent decline in layoffs is nice; more job growth would be even nicer. Another sign of a strengthening economy is last month's growth of the service sector which was greater than at any time in nearly two years, according to a survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management.

New UAW prez speaks in Las Vegas (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Ron Gettelfinger is the newly elected president of the United Auto Workers. John Gallagher reports on what delegates to the union's constitutional convention have hoped to hear from him.

Required registrations (Thursday, 6/6/02)
The U.S. Attorney General wants as many as 100,000 foreign visitors to register with the United States government, and civil liberties groups don't like the idea, thinking that it could amount to an Orwellian "slippery slope" that could threaten basic American liberties sometime in the future. Of course, Osama bin Laden and his band of sweethearts no doubt had in mind the possibility of encouraging us to destroy the United States ourselves as we know it by forcing us to make it into an entirely different kind of place.

Just as the 1st Amendment isn't necessary when people say highly popular things, it's fairly easy to favor liberties and openness of all kinds when there are no major threats, and it's also easy to dream up solutions to PART of a problem.

In all fairness, we probably need to be sufficiently empathetic to consider the dilemmas faced by public officials who have grave responsibilities during a time of threat or crisis. Of course, there IS the danger that we will destroy our own liberties in an effort to achieve security. On the other hand, what would a nuclear bomb or some other instrument of hell do in Midtown Manhattan or any one of hundreds or thousands of other American locales? It's easy to say what officials should do to solve PART of the problem, but what are your suggestions for dealing with the ENTIRE problem?

It's not a new concern. During the Adams administration in 1798, only 22 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, four laws were passed that came to be known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. To some people, at least, these seemed to be a good idea at the time. However, it's hard to imagine anything less "American" now. These certainly were anti-immigrant, as well as intending to employ the full force of the state in order to silence criticism of the government.

Then, during the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended habeus corpus in response to what he considered to be a sufficiently justifying emergency. At this point, it seems unbecoming of the man considered by many to be the greatest American president, and hardly less radical than burning the Constitution. But, how did things look to him at the time?

For this and other actions, Lincoln was considered by many of his contemporaries, some of them in the North, to be a dangerous dictator, and legal scholars seem to agree that he exceeded his Constitutional authority. But, while we feel obligated to say that we believe that no one is above the law, the role of the president is unique in American society. Suppose a president is faced with a situation in which the alternative to violating the Constitution is the destruction of the United States of American. What would his obligation be?

Modern physics has demonstrated that nature, at the subatomic level, does things which, to the human mind, seem paradoxical, nonsensical, "unreasonable". If paradox is a fundamental part of nature at that level, is it reasonable to expect that it occurs at the level of experience as well? Because of the mechanisms by which we form our interpretations of reality--e.g., selective perception, etc.--we may be able to make our way through most life situations by imposing our expectations of what seems "sensible and reasonable" on reality. In some cases, though, reality as it REALLY is, including the wrenching paradoxes, may be unavoidable.

As Hubert Humphrey pointed out, politics is the art of the possible. All of us have no alternative but to choose from the options available at the time, and that's the scary part.

War threatens an interconnected economy (Thursday, 6/6/02)
The rest of the world could be profoundly affected by a war between India and Pakistan, most notably if it includes a nuclear exchange. However, short of that, even the threat of war is having a damaging effect on India's big software industry and its relations with its international clients.

Some U.S. allies are among those tolerating the slave trade (Thursday, 6/6/02)
However, that new U.S. report doesn't spare them the glare of the international spotlight. Estimates are that as many as 4 million persons are forced to live and work under conditions of slavery each year.

Interest rates up again in Australia (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Australia's central bank has raised rates for the second time in a month.

Explaining productivity (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Recently, during what may or may not have qualified officially as a genuine recession, productivity continued to grow, and that's not what usually happens. Why this time? Here's Hal Varian's explanation from the New York Times.

Just as you're beginning to feel better... (Thursday, 6/6/02)
...Here's something that may make you sick: Health insurance costs may leap upward another 20 percent next year.

Why losing $6 billion this year is seen as a relatively good thing (Thursday, 6/6/02)
It's because the airline industry lost $12 billion last year. The full flights can be deceiving, because there are a lot fewer of them, and it's costly several ways to keep planes parked on the ground. Here's an example of what one major airline is doing in an attempt to lure the all-important business traveler back into the air. In China, more people are on the move as well, but, in the case of many who have been benefiting from the latest Chinese revolution--economic, in this case--they're moving faster than a speeding bicycle now. Here's the Washington Post report from Shanghai on the great leap forward in automobile ownership in the world's largest and still at least nominally communist country.

Who said that? (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Reporters at the Washington Post apparently earn an average of about $85,000 per year. That may sound like a lot of money to some people, including many who live in Washington, D. C. However, even Members of Congress sometimes have difficulty handling the D. C. area's sky-high housing costs, so a dollar doesn't go nearly so far there as it does in some American communities. Besides, the Washington Post is one of two or three of the world's newspapers that many journalism students dream about. If you already work for the Post, there aren't too many places to move that are up. At any rate, a squabble is going on over pay and pension issues at the moment, and, in order to call attention to their case, journalists left their names off their work yesterday.

Gender segregation at school (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Vocational and technical schools are being accused of directing women students toward more traditional "feminine," dead-end, low-pay occupations. Here's more from Tamara Henry of USA Today.

Tyco workers have an advantage over Enron folks (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Tyco International has been this week's bad news biz story, but, as Christine Dugas and Stephanie Armour report, there is at least a little good news: Tyco employees have more 401(k) protection.

Perspective on the new farm subsidy law (Thursday, 6/6/02)
The New York Times' Robert Pear has been thinking about the new successor to the 1996 so-called "freedom to farm" act and what it means about American politics and economics, in addition to issues having directly to do with the food supply.

Silicon culture resists change (Thursday, 6/6/02)
Given the slump in Silicon Valley, there may be less need now than during the busy old days for people to work 30+ hours at a stretch, existing on caffeine and adrenaline fumes, while taking cat naps under one's desk and becoming a stranger at home. Habits die hard, though, according to Sam McManis in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Where's Johnny Appleseed when he's needed? (Thursday, 6/6/02)
A single automobile accident has injured the entire tree-planting crew in Idaho Falls, and the city is asking for volunteer help.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Military Pay & Benefits (Thursday, 6/6/02)
The Military Pay & Benefits site enables you to compare your total military remuneration with its presumed equivalent in the civilian economy, plus learn about retirement and survivor benefits. All this comes to you from the office of the Secretary of Defense.

Invitation from the President (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Key Senators have been invited to the White House so that President Bush can twist their arms on the welfare bill question. He wants a more rigorous work requirement included in the renewal of the 1996 welfare reform statute. One Senator who is running for re-election this fall, Minnesota's Paul Wellstone, wants welfare recipients to get more education so that they can earn more, and would like to see the federal government help with that. Finally, Richard Rothstein writes about new research that suggests that the effect of mothers moving from welfare to work hurts adolescents more than younger children, and that's surprising a lot of people, including critics of the 1996 law.

Canada's central bank raises rates (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Interest rates in the United States are running about where they were when President Kennedy was in the White House, and there is little indication that the Federal Reserve will be raising them soon. However, in Canada, it's a different story, where there is reason to worry about inflation, according to Bernard Simon in Toronto.

More tightening of boundaries in Europe (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The Italian Parliament has voted to make it harder for immigrants to enter the country and harder to stay. Speaking of Europe, Ian Fisher reports from Zekoanow on the suspicion of the European Union entertained by many Polish farmers.

Providers would get a bigger slice of the pie (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Healthcare providers say they're not being paid enough to serve Medicare patients, so a House Republican plan would increase their payments, but that is likely to mean less for helping the elderly with the cost of prescription medications.

Some ex-Enron workers may get money (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Approximately 4,200 former Enron employees fired at the end of last year may receive additional severance of about $7,000 each under a tentative agreement reached with the company's creditors. Speaking of severance, there's also growing concern about what top executives are taking with them when they leave, but for different reasons. The sums are difficult for ordinary mortals to believe, according to this story in today's Washington Post. Moreover, many people are asking "Why?"

Talks break down at Hershey Foods (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Twenty-seven-hundred workers are still on strike, and the company says it will use temporary workers in order to keep those chocolate bars going out the door. In other labor news, Teamsters members have been gathering at UPS facilities around the U.S. in support of their demands for pay increases and a greater number of full-time positions. Their current contract with the company expires at the end of July.

Greenspan is cheered by what he sees (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve believes that the American economy is on a forward path, but that we shouldn't expect the high growth of the first quarter to hold up.

My, how things have changed (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The trafficking in human beings is different from what it was several centuries ago. Mostly, because the numbers appear to be much greater now, given the vastly larger world population and the great gap between a few rich and many poor. If you thought that references to slavery and similar wretched conditions can only be found in the history books now, check your local newspaper. George Gedda reports that the U.S. government is unhappy with at least 19 countries because they're not doing enough to get rid of the practice of forcibly transporting human beings across international boundaries. Incidentally, while you have your history book out, you may be interested to find that the United States was NOT the first Western nation to outlaw slavery during the 19th century. Nonetheless, there are other things to celebrate on the upcoming 4th of July.

Workers' comp and terrorism (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
During a time when the greatest risk of injury or death at work may not come from accidentally sticking your hand in a machine, the workers' compensation system could easily be overwhelmed. It needs a backup, according to M. R. Greenbert in the Washington Post.

Why a leading capitalist feels that capitalism requires regulation (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Felix Rohatyn has a stunning resume, even if you overlook the fact that he was ambassador to France for a number of years. His article in the New York Review of Books, "The Betrayal of Capitalism," is stirring a lot of talk because of who he is and what he has to say. After all, if basketball didn't have rules or referees, it really couldn't be a game, could it?

WorldCom feels survival requires major surgery (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The big long-distance telephone company may cut 16,000 jobs in order to reduce costs.

Why Bob Kerrey can always have a job (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, former governor of Nebraska, former United States Senator, and current president of New York City's New School University may or may not be a presidential candidate at some time in the future. But, if all else fails, he could always go back and do what he was trained to do in the first place. He could be a pharmacist, because there are lots of job openings. Kim Norris of the Detroit Free Press writes about another growing shortage in the general medical services area, in addition to the grinding national shortage of nurses.

No more unemployment benefits for workers who take voluntary leave (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
At least, this is what Northwest Airlines is saying, although it will be up to the each of the states in which the company does business. Meanwhile, Northwest's pilots make a deal that will mean pay raises of 4.5 percent beginning in September. At US Airways, things are a bit different. Pilots there are offering to take a reduction in pay in order to help the company remain in the air.

Ancestral identities cut loose (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
According to the Census Bureau, the decade of the 1990s was a period during which more Americans stopped identifying with their European ancestors. Also, as the 2000 Census data continues to be analyzed, Tamara Henry reports on the increase in the number of Americans who are high school grads or more. Finally, here's information on who benefited from the economic boom of the 1990s and where the beneficiaries are concentrated.

And a child shall lead them (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
It may not surprise you that there has been a generational flip in many schools when it comes to technology. Who's teaching who? Karen Thomas of USA Today reports that the young are the experts on many school campuses.

College is one thing, but life is something else (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
Quality higher education should be a balanced mix of education for work, education for living, and education for citizenship, which, among other things, is meant to emphasize that there may be even more important reasons for going to college than career preparation. Education is different from training, and it's supposed to be. At the very least, it's not just about preparing for your first job or the first year or two after graduation. The emphasis should be on the long-haul. Still, students do have to make the immediate transition to the "real world" off campus, and as Amanda Paulson suggests, that ain't easy, see?

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: U.S. Economic Outlook 2002-2003 (Wednesday, 6/5/02)
The current Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, built a financial and media empire after first becoming one of Wall Street's major stars. Given that 46 of the 50 states are operating with deficits at the moment, including New York, and given the Big City's economic problems because of the aftermath of 9/11 plus the recession, it's a good thing that Mr. Bloomberg knows a lot about money. Meanwhile, his business empire is being run by others while he's away and busy with other concerns. Here are what a number of experts have to see about the U.S. Economic Outlook 2002-2003 from the Bloomberg Forum Series.

Irish airline prepares to return to the air (Tuesday, 6/4/02)
Aer Lingus will resume operations after being grounded for five days by a labor dispute. The airline's pilots' union has voted to accept a new contract.

More strikers in Germany (Tuesday, 6/4/02)