Volume Two, Number One

CONTENTS

From the Editor

Editor-in-Chief James K. Glassman introduces the latest issue of THE AMERICAN.

The American Scene

New Jersey tax refugees, baseball throws Chávez a curve, shorting Jim Cramer, etc.

Interview

There’s no contradiction, says David DeLorenzo, CEO of Dole, between making profits and respecting the environment.

The Young Economist

The economics of assassination might surprise you as much as they did Harvard’s Ben Olken.
BY MICHAEL MOYNIHAN

DataPoints

A look at our diurnal and nocturnal habits.
COMPILED BY KARLYN BOWMAN 

Q&A

The U.S. patent system is more important than ever. It’s also a mess. But help is on the way.
BY CLAUDE BARFIELD AND JOHN E. CALFEE

Techno-Ideas

Ten years ago some were calling for the abolition of the FCC. Revisiting an argument whose time may have come.
BY NICK SCHULZ

Geopolitics

Past wars have produced peacetime technology benefits. But the spin-offs from Iraq may be far more disturbing.
BY VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

PANAMANIA

For lovers of infrastructure and free trade, there’s no place like Panama.
BY AMITY SHLAES 

FEATURES

Automobility

Exactly a century after Henry Ford introduced the Model T, Tata Motors of India is set to launch a new people’s car. Is another revolution ahead?
BY RALPH KINNEY BENNETT

Hoop Dreams

With powerful global marketing, the NBA is pushing basketball past soccer in its quest to become the world’s most popular sport.
BY CHARLES EUCHNER

Detroit Lives!

Intransigent unions, declining auto makers, and poor public policy have wrecked both Michigan and its largest city. But there are signs that the worst may be over.
BY TOM BETHELL

Present at the Destruction

An eyewitness story of the 1967 riot: how programs that were supposed to create a heaven turned Detroit into a hell.
BY MICHAEL BARONE

Power Surge

Thanks to worries about climate change and energy security, politicians across the spectrum—and even a few diehard greens—are warming up to nuclear power. But it’s far from certain that reason will prevail.
BY DUNCAN CURRIE

Annual Report, R.I.P.

Remember the glossy, informative corporate annual report? That’s a thing of the past. Blame its demise on cost-cutting and Sarbanes-Oxley.
BY JAMES PETHOKOUKIS

Reality Bites

Too many U.S. businesses are in denial. They engage in wishful thinking when danger looms just around the corner. But there is a way out.
BY RICHARD S. TEDLOW AND DAVID RUBEN

Outsource This

The former mayor of Indianapolis examines the question of whether governments really have “inherent” or “core” functions. He shows how the state of Indiana laid the foundation for outsourcing its social services to IBM.
BY STEPHEN GOLDSMITH