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February 1, 2002
Editorials
A historic day
In a courageous move, 31 senators approved President John McKay's tax reform plan despite an unceasing assault by special interests.
Prescription problem for elderly
Despite the attention President Bush is giving to a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, the problem won't be easily solved. About a third of retirees -- 12-million people -- have no drug coverage. The president is adding $77-billion to his budget for prescription programs over the next 10 years, but that would reach no more than 3-million retirees. Even Republicans in Congress say a comprehensive drug benefit would cost at least $300-billion, but it's not clear where that money would come from.
Letters
A despicable attempt at guilt by association
Your Jan. 28 editorial Florida's Enron connection is absurd.
Perspective
Taking jobs, alienating customers
For weeks Americans have been told that the outsourcing of high-tech jobs is good for our economy. So said Greg Mankiw, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a recent report signed by President Bush. So, too, writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times in articles praising the rise of call centers in India used for everything from making airline reservations and reading medical X-ray films to providing tech support for American computer firms.
Philip Gailey: Democrats fall off campaign finance reform wagon
Well, what do you know. Soft money is back, and it's making hypocrites of all those Democrats who fervently championed the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, not to mention those Republicans who objected to the law's restrictions on issue advocacy.
Bill Maxwell: Who is for the farm worker?
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is touting legislation to improve the lives of Florida's 300,000-plus farm workers, who endure institutional and systemic injustices each day in our fields and groves and their personal lives.
Robyn E. Blumner: For some defendants, an American gulag
In Bernard Malamud's masterpiece The Fixer, inmate Yakov Bok was subjected to psychological torture in a Soviet gulag through the humiliations of constant shackling and repeated strip searches.
© Copyright 2001 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
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