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The article discusses the paper "When Should Public Debt Be Reduced?" by Jonathan Ostry, Atish Ghosh, and Raphael Espinoza of the multinational organization International Monetary Fund (IMF) in relation to U.S. public debt. Topics include the impact of the Great Recession on U.S. public debt, Kenynesian aspects of government spending and taxation, and the relation of economic growth to paying down public debt.

This article presents information on some recent socio-political developments. It is informed that U.S. President, George W. Bush is continuing his policies of economic growth even after the steep resistance the policies met especially after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. September 11 was supposed to change everything, but despite war and recession the President remains wedded to the same reactionary agenda he pushed before the attack. Invoking his wartime popularity and authority, he is driving his old agenda through a reluctant Congress and forcing party-line votes on a range of fundamental issues. It is informed that the terrorist attack revealed glaring domestic security and public health needs and the spreading recession has exposed gaping holes in the safety net for workers and the poor.

The article comments on economic developments in the U.S. Beef, pork and poultry packers have been aggressively recruiting the most vulnerable of foreign workers to relocate to the U.S. plains in exchange for $6-an-hour jobs in the country's most dangerous industry. Since permanence is hardly a requirement for these jobs, the concepts of promotion and significant salary increase have as much as disappeared. That as many as half of these new immigrants lack legal residence seems no obstacle to an industry now thriving on a docile, disempowered work force with an astronomical turnover.

Focuses on the socio-economic development of Phoenix, Arizona as of December 1979. Efforts of the city to attract more national and multinational companies; Companies which shifted their headquarters in the city due to favorable tax laws; Social problems faced by the city; Standard of living of the people of Arizona.

Discusses the frequency of Presidential veto in the United States and its implications for the local economy. Economic bills vetoed by U.S. Gerald S. Ford; Failure of U.S. Congress to override presidential vetoes; Opposition's aim to raise the issue of Presidential obstructionism in the November 1976 elections; Reasons veto power is not frontally attacked; Constitutional provisions concerning veto power; Founding fathers' position toward the veto; U.S. presidents' exercise of veto power.

Focuses on the island Guam as a hub of America's presence in Asia as of October 26, 1974. Overview of the stature of tourist trade in Guam; Role of the U.S. Navy and Army in improving the economic condition of this island; Reason behind the sudden prosperity of this island; Account of political restrain of the U.S. over Guam; Relationship between the U.S. military and Guam's economic indicators; Efforts made by the U.S. to emancipate Japanese control over Guam.

In this article the author examines the Community Stabilization Program (CSP) promoted in Iraq by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is explained that the CSP was USAID's major contribution to a solution in Iraq that was made up of civilian employment and economic development. The measure, which was supported by U.S. government funds, was actually financing corrupt Iraqi officials and the anti-American insurgency, leading to U.S. casualties according to the author.

Until recently, it has been commonplace to see Japan's emergence as a great power almost exclusively in economic terms. When talk of U.S. Japanese "joint hegemony" became fashionable only a few years ago, for example, cynics envisioned Japan as the banker of the new capitalist world order, while the United States remained its policeman. Armchair historians, for their part, solemnly observed that Japan had achieved superpower status at half the cost that prewar leaders thought necessary-that is, by building a rich nation without a strong military.

The article presents information about political developments taking place at the international level. According to a snippet, the efforts of the I.R.A. were assisted by the economic policies of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Private security firms now bid on the job of guarding many of Great Britain's military installations. This is hardly the first time the I.R.A. has attacked military bands. Before they were gunned down, the Gibraltar Three were planning to blow up a band, and there have been other successful assaults. Another snippet presents information about the American press coverage of the strikes by coal miners in the United States and the Soviet Union. The press had systematically neglected the workers' strike at the Pittston mines in Virginia while inundating the citizenry with details of the miners' strike in the Soviet Union.

The article reports on the URPE summer conference held on August 21-24 at Camp Chinqueka in Connecticut. The theme of the conference is "Political Economy, the Environment and Economic Crisis." The conference is devoted to analyzing the nexus of political economy, economic crisis and the environment. The camp offers classrooms, outdoor activities and great food.

The article presents information on various educational events to be held in 1999 in the U.S. A conference on culture and development will be held during June 6-13, 1999. lf the economy has been mystifying you, contact Economy Connection, a project of the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE). They can provide a speaker for a political or educational event, or someone to discuss economic questions informally with a few members of a community organization, union, political group or classroom. The article also provides contact information about URPE.

Presents several letters to the editor on various previous articles and socio-political developments. Opinions of people in the U.S. on nuclear disarmament; Relationship between civil rights and economic development; Comments of the author on the article on late Sylvia Plotz, "More Plathitudes," by Janet Malcontent.

Presents several letters to the editor, on articles, previously published in the periodical "The Nation." Sources of finance, used by Clean Sites Inc.; Factors responsible for an economic upswing of the U.S. in 1980s.

Presents several letters to the editor. Information about policy based on common security; Reasons for economic and environmental crisis in the U.S.; Maldistribution of power in the superpowers and in the Third World.