John A. Barnes, in The Wash- ington Monthly (June 1989), 161 1 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Wash- Of Cable TV ington, D.C. 20077-3865.
If you have cable television in your home, chances are that your local government has granted a franchise monopoly to a ca- ble company. Chances are also good that it made a big mistake, argues Barnes, an edi- tor at the Detroit News.
Since cable television's growth began during the 1970s, some 5,000 U.S. munici- palities have granted franchises. Cable, like telephone...
John A. Barnes, in The Wash- ington Monthly (June 1989), 161 1 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Wash- Of Cable TV ington, D.C. 20077-3865.
If you have cable television in your home, chances are that your local government has granted a franchise monopoly to a ca- ble company. Chances are also good that it made a big mistake, argues Barnes, an edi- tor at the Detroit News.
Since cable television's growth began during the 1970s, some 5,000 U.S. munici- palities have granted franchises. Cable, like telephone...
Vincent Vinikas, in Jo~~rnal
of Social History (Summer 1989), Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213.
During the 1920s, soap suddenly became hard to sell. Paved streets, automobiles, electricity, and gas stoves were eliminating much of the filth and muck that had per- meated American life. To make matters worse, the expanding cosmetics industry was making it hard to peddle Camay, Lux, and other soaps as beauty products.
To meet the crisis, the soap producers created a trade association...
John J. DiIulio, Jr., in The Brookings Review (Summer 1989), 1775 Without Walls Mass. Ave. N.w., Washington, D.C. 20036.
America's jails are bursting at the seams. Nine hundred thousand criminals were behind bars in 1987, up a third since 1983. The number on parole or probation grew even faster, reaching 2.6 million. The price tag for federal, state, and local cor- rections has soared to some $25 billion an- nually; state corrections budgets are grow- ing faster than is spending on education.
Most o...
John J. DiIulio, Jr., in The Brookings Review (Summer 1989), 1775 Without Walls Mass. Ave. N.w., Washington, D.C. 20036.
America's jails are bursting at the seams. Nine hundred thousand criminals were behind bars in 1987, up a third since 1983. The number on parole or probation grew even faster, reaching 2.6 million. The price tag for federal, state, and local cor- rections has soared to some $25 billion an- nually; state corrections budgets are grow- ing faster than is spending on education.
Most o...
1980, blacks' earnings had quadrupled to $20,480, out- pacing the gains of white men, who made $28,212. Then, young black men began falling behind their white peers.
Almost all of the black gains during the 1940- 1980 period resulted from two fac- tors, according to Smith and Welch: eco- nomic growth (which accounted for 45 percent of the gain) and black migration from southern farms to cities, mostly in the North. Migration created better job opportunities, but more importantly it boosted the...
PERIODICALS
vate mass transit would keep costs down. as well as efforts to prevent the growing
Wachs argues that Washington should bus and subway crime that scares urban stop trying to woo suburbanites away from riders away, has been neglected. Better to their cars. Federal subsidy formulas have give cities and states lump sums of transit encouraged construction of costly but du- aid for them to use however they see fit. bious rail systems, notably in Baltimore, The local preference for flat...
a synthetic Dan Rather?
Defenders of the technology argue that machines are not unethical; people are. True enough, says Lasica. But the fine line between what is ethical and what is not is already beginning to blur.
"Danny Gilmore, RIP" Ted Joy, in he Quill (May 1989), 53Racial Hypocrisy W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 731, Chicago, 111. 60604-3610.
On the night of July 17, 1988, 23-year-old Danny Gilmore and two friends were driv- ing in his pickup truck through Cleve- land's East Side slum,...
Christopher Lasch, in This World (Summer 1989), P.O. Box That Kills 448, Mount Morris, 111. 61054.
A century or more ago, the handicapped, the deformed, and the mentally ill were commonly teased and ridiculed on city streets. Some, such as the 19th-century El- eohant Man. David Merrick. were dis-played in freak shows. criminals were pa- raded before angry crowds and pelted with curses and stones; murderers were exe-cuted in public.
It is a triumph of modem humanitarian- ism that such spectacles w...
Christopher Lasch, in This World (Summer 1989), P.O. Box That Kills 448, Mount Morris, 111. 61054.
A century or more ago, the handicapped, the deformed, and the mentally ill were commonly teased and ridiculed on city streets. Some, such as the 19th-century El- eohant Man. David Merrick. were dis-played in freak shows. criminals were pa- raded before angry crowds and pelted with curses and stones; murderers were exe-cuted in public.
It is a triumph of modem humanitarian- ism that such spectacles...