George
Sternlieb and James W. Hughes, in Soci-
ety (Mar.-Apr. 1984), Box A, Rutgers-
The State University, New Brunswick,
N.J. 08903.
1980, an American home-buying binge that had lasted nearly 50 years had come to an end. But Sternlieb and Hughes, both urban- planning specialists at Rutgers, warn of the dangers of letting the American dream of home ownership die.
The foundations for the 50-year spree were laid during the New Deal. The federal government, by offering insurance on both deposits...
Peter D. Skaperdas, in
Of the States Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quar-
terly Review (Winter 1983/84), 33 Liberty
St., New York, N.Y. 10045.
Most economists' eyes now are on the river of budgetary red ink gush- ing from Washington, D.C. Forgotten is the fiscal importance of Amer- ica's state and local governments.
In 1983, their combined outlays totaled $430 billion, as compared to Washington's $796 billion, notes Skaperdas, a New York Federal Re- serve Bank economist. While the federal gov...
IODICALS
ECONOMICS. LABOR. & BUSINESS
"State and Local Governments: An As- The Fiscal olicy 'sessment of their Financial Position and
Fiscal Policies" Peter D. Skaperdas, in
Of the States Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quar-
terly Review (Winter 1983/84), 33 Liberty
St., New York, N.Y. 10045.
Most economists' eyes now are on the river of budgetary red ink gush- ing from Washington, D.C. Forgotten is the fiscal importance of Amer- ica's state and local governments.
In 1983...
national product in 1950 to 10.5 percent (or $322 billion) in 1982. On a per capita basis, that amounts to a fivefold increase (in constant dollars). He blames the cost explosion on the rapid "monetariza- tion" of medical care.
Before World War 11,medicine in the United States was "quasi- eleemosynary": Hospitals relied heavily on charitable donations, young interns worked at hospitals in return for their room and board, and physicians who sought admitting privileges at a...
gardening and rural embellishment" as evidence of America's growing refinement. He also saw it as an antidote to the characteristically American "spirit of unrest": Growing plants in a way encouraged men to put down their own roots.
Between 1818 and 1857, some 40 horticultural societies had sprung up in towns and cities across the youthful republic. It might be said that the gardening movement bloomed-and has never withered.
"Trying Higher Education: An Eight
A Failing Grade...
Daniel C. Hal-lin, in The Journal of Politics (Feb. 1984), Dept. of Political Science, Univ. of Fla., Gainesville, Fla. 32611.
American television journalists turned against the U.S. government during the 1960s, "lost" the war in Vietnam, and have been systemati- cally undermining public trust in American institutions ever since.
That view enjoys wide currency today. But Hallin, a political scien- tist at the University of California at San Diego, found little support for it in a survey...
PERIODICALS
PRESS & TELEVISION
not challenging Washington's policies. And in fact, TV reporters pre- paring stories on the Vietnam War (excluding antiwar protest in the United States) relied just as heavily on government spokesmen after Tet as they had earlier and rarely questioned their reliability.
Beyond mirroring changing events, Hallin contends, newsmen re- flected the dissolution of consensus, particularly among national lead- ers, behind the U.S. war effort. As Max Frankel of the...
Mar-
tin Benjamin, James Muyskens, and Paul
Saenger, in The Hastings Center Report
(Apr. 1984), 360 Broadway, Hastings-on-
Hudson, N.Y. 10706.
Americans routinely turn the latest tools of medicine into instruments of vanity. Indeed, some doctors have become virtual sculptors, per- forming cosmetic face-lifts, hair transplants, and orthodontic work. Soon, thanks to laboratory genetic technology, they will also be able to control children's height.
Human growth hormone (hGH) has long been available...
Mark Lilla, in Partisan Review (no. 2, 1984), 121 Bay State Rd., Boston, Mass. 02215.
Since the turn of the century, philosophers in the United States and Great Britain have been preoccupied with increasingly esoteric studies of language. In the process, they have become "peripheral to American intellectual life," writes Lilla, executive editor of the Public Interest. But he sees signs of a "postmodern" revival in American philosophy.
Anglo-American philosophers first focused...
Mark Lilla, in Partisan Review (no. 2, 1984), 121 Bay State Rd., Boston, Mass. 02215.
Since the turn of the century, philosophers in the United States and Great Britain have been preoccupied with increasingly esoteric studies of language. In the process, they have become "peripheral to American intellectual life," writes Lilla, executive editor of the Public Interest. But he sees signs of a "postmodern" revival in American philosophy.
Anglo-American philosophers first focused...