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Economist, Jan. 25
(posted Saturday, Jan. 25)
A long story sings the praises of American venture capitalists, the guiding force behind the technology industry. By identifying and nurturing promising companies (Cisco, Oracle, Netscape ... ), these "modern Midases" have presided over the "largest legal accumulation of wealth in history." (And the Economist hasn't a bad word to say about that.) A related editorial tells Europe its venture capitalists must be more daring and more numerous. An article contends that American casino gambling is an economic and social disaster: Casinos don't create good jobs or contribute to general economic prosperity, but they do promote crime, gambling addiction, debt, etc. Also, the cover editorial says that as NATO expands into Eastern Europe, it must conciliate Russia.
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New Republic, Feb. 10
(posted Saturday, Jan. 25)
"Rightward Ho?" asks the cover line about Clinton's second term. Inside, "The Second Rubin Administration" depicts Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin as America's economic czar, the power behind both trade and domestic economic policy. The article applauds his opposition to capital-gains tax cuts but frets that he's otherwise too pro-business. The editorial advises Clinton to adopt three bold policies during his second term: federal jobs for welfare recipients; means-testing for Social Security; and less affirmative action. Several articles mock the inauguration: The funniest describes the horror of being a coat-checker at an inaugural ball.
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Harper's, February 1997
(posted Saturday, Jan. 25)
A long article investigates Executive Outcomes, the firm of South African mercenaries hired to keep order in Sierra Leone. The author is ambivalent. On the one hand, EO has pacified the land and ended a bloody civil war. On the other, it works for greedy diamond corporations, supports a brutal military regime, and employs South Africa's most vicious ex-soldiers. The article predicts that private armies such as EO will become increasingly common. Also, an essayist deplores his own investments in global mutual funds: His money helps repressive governments and exploitative foreign companies (But you can't beat the profits, he admits). And a funny critique of DSM-IV, the standard manual of mental disorders: The manual classifies everything--from bad handwriting to snobbery to clumsiness--as a mental illness.
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New York Times Magazine, Jan. 26
(posted Thursday, Jan. 23)
A worshipful cover story on Bruce Springsteen--"Steinbeck in Leather"--congratulates the Boss for not being spoiled by success: He still sings about the little guy, still chronicles the "hard side of the American Dream," and has moved back to New Jersey from Los Angeles. The magazine profiles the wonderfully eccentric Sister Wendy Beckett, an epileptic British nun who's gained a cult following in her country for her art criticism on television (weirdest of many weird details: she subsists on milk and crackers). Also, an article explains why Daniel Goldhagen, author of Hitler's Willing Executioners, is beloved in Germany: By blaming the Holocaust on those Germans who lived through it, he liberates their descendants
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Newsweek, Jan. 27
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
Newsweek starts the millennial hype with a special issue titled "Beyond 2000: America in the 21st Century." Pegged vaguely to the inauguration, the package predicts that the Clinton-Gore relationship might sour as the next election approaches. It also offers gee-whiz predictions about the next 100 years: Doctors will grow babies in glass vials and devise replacement ears, skin, and eyes; virtual-reality games will be huge; the Web will become a mass medium around the year 2000. Henry Kissinger opines on the future of geopolitics (conciliate China; watch out for the resurgent Russia). A Gen-Xer worries that young Americans don't have any great causes.
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Time, Jan. 27
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
Bill Cosby and his murdered son Ennis are on the cover. "A Death in the Family" reveals Cosby père as a loving-but-tough father and Cosby fils as a difficult kid who straightened himself out to become a good teacher. A sidebar says the death of Cosby's real-life son "violates the cozy barrier between sitcom and reality." An article explains why most mutual funds don't surpass the S&P index: Fees, turnover, and cash reserves lower most funds' returns. Plus, the bull market especially helps the S&P: When the market falls, mutual funds will outperform the index. And Time boards the Green Bay Packers bandwagon.
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U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 27
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
An inauguration cover package (inexplicably illustrated Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band fashion) describes how Clinton is "reanimating" (that is, "expanding") executive power, citing his Utah land grab and his plea of immunity in the Paula Jones case. A Gore profile admires his intellect and ability to explain complex ideas simply, but says his actions rarely match his rhetorical grandeur. Also, "Are Recessions Necessary?" wonders if international competition and deunionization have made companies nimble enough to avoid recession.
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The New Yorker, Jan. 27
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
An article describes what would happen if a huge comet struck Earth: 600-foot tidal waves, massive fires, six months of sulfurous rain, and the destruction of most plant life. Oh, and the end of human civilization. The good news: Major comets hit Earth only every 100 million years or so (cold comfort for dinosaurs). The piece profiles the astronomers who scour the sky for comets and asteroids, and details Edward Teller's plan to retrofit Russian nukes as comet-busters. Also, an article on Dick Morris condemns his love of polling, calling him the "architect of the consensual banality" of American politics.
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Weekly Standard, Jan. 27
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
A cover "symposium" concludes that sports are better than politics. Why? Sports have absolute standards of excellence; they build communal spirit; they break down racial stereotypes (they do?). Fred Barnes, who has written this article at least twice before, tells why some sports are conservative (football) and others are liberal (soccer). Also, conservative scandalmonger David Brock, deploring conservative scandalmongering, says that criticism of Clinton's personal behavior has insulated the president from criticism of his political behavior (i.e., conservatives spew crazy theories about Vince Foster, when they should be criticizing Clinton on partial-birth abortion). And a story on how a federal program called ERISA exacerbates America's "health insurance mess" (it's more interesting than it sounds).
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The Nation, Feb. 3
(posted Tuesday, Jan. 21)
The Nation rehashes a months-old U.S. News cover expos about illegal immigration and the meat-packing plant in Storm Lake, Iowa. The Nation piece reaches the same conclusion as that in "Snooze": The industry skirts immigration laws; its workers live in squalor, without medical care, job protection, or educational opportunities for their kids. An article depicts new Commerce secretary nominee William Daley as a master of "pinstripe patronage," a practice The Nation predicts he'll continue at Commerce. And a columnist bashes the Larry Flynt movie for not having the courage to show Hustler in all its grotesque sleaziness.
--Compiled by David Plotz and the editors of SLATE.
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