Volume One, Number Four

Departments

From the Editor

Editor-in-Chief James K. Glassman introduces this month's issue of The American.

The American Scene

Paris Hilton, Shaquille O'Neal, and other overpaid stars; poorer countries like bigger business; plus doughnuts, Dorganism, and more.

The Young Economist

Justin Wolfers of Wharton, expert in prediction markets, searches for a bettor world.
By Caren Chesler

Interview

Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, says U.S. policies on taxes, litigation, and especially energy are driving his factories and others offshore.

DataPoints

Fact and opinion on energy and the environment.
By Karlyn Bowman

Geopolitics

The costs, economic and otherwise, of staying in Iraq are terrible. The costs of leaving are much worse.
By Victor Davis Hanson

Techno-Ideas

Greener than wind or solar, geothermal energy gets little attention. A remedy.
By Nick Schulz

Q&A

The truth about the “energy independence” hoax.
By Steven Hayward

Futurology

The future of business, as seen by Bruce McCall.

Features

The Upside of Income Inequality

The widening income gap reflects the rising payoff to higher education. Overall, that’s healthy and beneficial, conclude a Nobel Prize winner and his colleague.
By Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy

All the Coal in China

Cheap and abundant, but also dirty and dangerous, the coal that powers China’s economy may be the world’s biggest environmental problem. How to set it right.
By Rowan Callick

Looking for Mister Micro

Everyone, right and left, loves microcredit, tiny loans to entrepreneurs in developing nations. Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank even won the Nobel Peace Prize last year. But is it all a scam?
By Tom Bethell

Down with Corporate Democracy

Corporations should not operate as democracies, but maybe union pension plans should.
By Peter Wallison

Biofuels Bubble?

Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and Cambridge are pouring cash into biofuels, such as ethanol made from corn and rougher stuff like switch¬grass. But if oil prices drop and political subsidies disappear, will the bubble collapse?
By Laura Vanderkam

A Dirty Myth

America’s air is cleaner and healthier than ever. So why doesn’t the public think so? Blame the media, regulators, and many scientists.
By Joel Schwartz

It’s a Sheep, It’s Super-Wool!

The cloth that goes into men’s suits keeps getting finer and softer. But are the clothes really better?
By Nicholas Antongiavanni

Economic Freedom, Political Freedom

You can have the first without the second. In fact, politically unfree countries are growing faster than politically free ones. There’s a reason.
By Kevin Hassett

COVER STORY

Club Dread

For the growing ranks of white-collar criminals, short, comfortable prison terms at Club Fed are a thing of the past. Listen to the chilling story of Prisoner No. 20532-050, who spent five years in Allenwood and Lewisburg.
By Luke Mullins

Water, Water Everywhere

But often, most of it is the wrong kind, in the wrong place. How to allocate scarce water? Heed Australia, which is suffering the worst drought in 1,000 years.
By Roger Bate

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