The Great Twentieth-Century Foreign-Aid Hoax
The Marshall Plan is going down in history as the great savior of a war-devastated Europe. The history books are wrong.
Features
A Yanqui in Managua
If you don't go on the Potemkin-tour of Nicaragua's projects and smiling peasants, if you talk to ordinary people, pro-and anti-Sandinista, what do you learn about life in Nicaragua? REASON's "revolutionary tourist" reports.
All Revved Up and No Place to Go
How the state has ruined a venerable rite of passage.
Money Talks with the Stock Cops
Does Pia Zadora know a spreadsheet from a bedsheet? It doesn't matter to the SEC, where securities-law elitism reigns.
Hornswoggled!
How Ma Bell and Chicago Ed conned our grandparents and stuck us with the bill.
Foreign Exotica
Revelations from a CIA manual.
Japan's Secret
What explains Japan's success in the international marketplace? Hint: "industrial policy" is not the right answer.
Buying Out of Socialism
The Thatcher administration has found a sure-fire way to reduce big government—sell it to the people.
If the Founding Fathers Were Alive Today…
Jefferson, Madison, and Washington gave us our freedom and independence. Our supercomputer brings them back to life-but they don't like what they see.
Brother, Can you Spare a Sack of Money?
Ever pay 50,000 pesos for a candy bar? Bolivians did.
Know Thy Worth
Wife left you? Boss fired you? Don't worry—some bureaucrat thinks you're worth a million bucks.
Gun Control: White Man's Law
Gun control is really people control. And guess which people the power elite wants to control.
Desperately Seeking Solutions
Soul-searching among the Dems has New Deal liberals pitted against "new ideas" pols, with some-dare we hope?-encouraging results.
From Rovuma to Maputo: Mozambique's Guerrilla War
In the 1960s, the Mozambicans threw off Portuguese colonialism. Now, guerrillas are fighting to free their country from Soviet imperialism and an insane ruler.
Fear and Loathing of Biotech's Bright Future
Genetic engineering promises wonder drugs, miracle cures, and safe alternatives to deadly pesticides-so why does Jeremy Rifkin want to outlaw designer genes?
Snail Beats Subway
In the brave new world of urban mass transit, anything's possible. Just look at that escargot go!
Deep-Six 55
Isn't it about time we repealed the most ignored and abused federal law since Prohibition?
Seizing Assets Slow and Subtle
A case study in "nationalization," US-style.
Doing Good Makes Cents
Social problems can be solved-but only when they are turned into profitable business opportunities.
Humanities' Ills
You can hardly blame students for shunning the humanities when graduates can't get a job. But the real solution isn't more "required courses."
Porn Busters
Radical feminists are turning their backs on the First Amendment in a crusade to clean up America.
Return of the Invisible Hand
Why the market really does work, and why more people are realizing it. An excerpt from An End to Allegiance: Individual Freedom and the New Politics.
Marxists: They Love a Man in a Uniform
Marxist regimes have larger military forces-but not for the reason you might think.
Justice Goes Private
From neighborhood disputes to corporate lawsuits, people are discovering the merits of private alternatives to the government's overloaded courts.
Broadcasters in Bondage
Free speech is a fundamental right? Not when it comes to TV and radio broadcasters, it isn't—and an odd coalition of liberals and conservatives want to keep it that way.
A Down-to-Earth Guide to Star Wars
You don't have to be a scientist to understand the real issue in the debate over a space-based defense.
The King of America
Poor Ben Franklin. He may have fought the redcoats and helped write a constitution, but he's no match for a civil rights coordinator (what's that, you ask?).
Wireless Tapping
The new communications technology has brought us mobile phones and two-way wrist radios-and new threats to our privacy that will require innovative solutions.
Delivering the Goods to Hitler
Forty years after World War II, the Kremlin is boasting about the Soviets' valiant struggle against Hitler. But when it really counted, the Soviets fueled the Nazi war machine far more than most people know.
A Dubious Debt Doubt
Do you believe, with many economists, that Uncle Sam will have to "inflate away" the ballooning national debt? Well, think again.
Flouting the Law, Serving the Poor
The underground economy is alive and well in Pittsburgh, where enterprising "jitney" drivers ignore the law to bring taxi service to poor neighborhoods.
Fighting the Soviet Imperialists: The New Liberation Movements
The Third World rejected Western colonialism in the '50s and '60s. Now it is trying to throw off Soviet colonialism, with "wars of liberation" in eight countries on three continents.
How to Ride the Dollar
It's up for now, but can it last?
Deflation—Here Now, More Coming
Gold under $300, oil under $10-you'd better bet on it.
Inflation or Deflation—Who Can Tell?
Whatever the future, you can protect yourself with an "armadillo strategy."
Profits On-Line
Your personal computer could be your best investment tool.
Melt Down: The Deak Saga
A precious metals empire in decline.
Nuclear Winter: How Much Do We Really Know?
A well-publicized study predicts that even a limited nuclear war would plunge much of the earth into darkness and freezing, threatening the very survival of mankind. Many are taking the prediction as fact, but uncertainties abound.
Don't Let Amtrak Con You
President Reagan is trying to cut Amtrak's billions in subsidies, but the great train bureaucracy is fighting back-with a lot of flimflam.
The Budget Revolution That Wasn't
If you believed candidate Ronald Reagan in 1980, you should have seen federal spending of $760 billion last year. Instead, it was $842 billion. Any guesses about 1988 spending?
Ciskei's Independent Way
Critics at home say this black "homeland" is a traitor to the anti-apartheid cause. Critics abroad say its hopes for prosperity are a pipedream. An investigative reporter goes to Ciskei to find out what's really happening.
How to Short-Circuit the Utility Monopoly
The road from utility regulation to a free market is strewn with consumerist objections. A futuristic scenario shows a way through.
The Ovals
Make way, Hollywood! It's time to hand out awards for the real entertainment of 1984-the race for the Oval Office
Congress's Conservative Young Turks
A group of brash young representatives calls itself the "Conservative Opportunity Society" and speaks glowingly of free enterprise. Is it genuine, or another case of political opportunism?
It's Effective—But Is It Safe?
Sidney Wolfe's Health Research Group has taken on health issues from food coloring to cold remedies. But the diagnosis is often hasty and the prescription has serious side effects.
Socialism with a Pragmatic Face
Spain's socialist revolutionaries are now politicians, and that means even freedom can prosper here and there.
Cab Scam
Even taxis are controlled by Chicago's corrupt political machine. Now pressure is building to dismantle the city-supported cab monopoly.
Calling the Shots
The American public is largely uninformed about guns and crime, because the American media largely ignore the facts and figures.
