Can we talk honestly for a minute? Prescription drug prices are exorbitant. Drug companies defend their high prices–in particular, for the brand-name drugs they advertise incessantly on our televisions –by […]
Argument
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Tim Cahill targets pols pensions
INTRO TEXT Nobody likes getting fired. Well, almost nobody. For long-time state workers, getting the heave-ho or having their position eliminated can be a pension bonanza under a controversial provision […]
Posted inEconomy
The state considers carrots for smart growth
With Massachusetts home prices continuing to soar, the housing crisis has begun to sound like the old Mark Twain saw about the weather: Everybody talks about it, but nobody does […]
Posted inPolitics
David Bartley takes some parting shots
INTRO TEXT David Bartley is rarely at a loss for words, and this cool autumn afternoon is no exception, as he spins tales from a lifetime of public service and […]
Posted inEconomy
Commonwealth Forum ponders middle-class debt crisis
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about federal and state governments spending beyond their means, but many middle-class American households are also awash in red ink. At the Commonwealth Forum “Going for Broke: […]
Posted inPolitics
Popping the Question
One almost certain consequence of Goodridge, et al v. Department of Public Health, the decision by the Supreme Judicial Court last November to allow gay marriage, will be an increase […]
Posted inEconomy
Moving In-or Moving On?
TENY GROSS has never felt better about his work with urban youth. As executive director of the two-year-old Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Gross is building on […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Down but not out
SPRINGFIELD, THE STATE’S third largest city and the metropolitan anchor of western Massachusetts, is in the soup. To say it is on the brink of disaster might be going too […]
Posted inUncategorized
The possible benefits of predictable population growth
Population growth in the Bay State has been relatively predictable over the past half-century: no sudden spurts, no actual declines. The problems associated with population loss–labor shortages, falling tax revenues, […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boston tries to keep a token presence in the magazine publishing industry
Jeremy Brosowsky, age 28 but already a publishing success, thought he had the formula. His Washington Business Forward was 18 months old and going strong. He could imagine Business Forward […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Its time for Romney to reform the correctional system
Pledging themselves to the cause of reform, Gov. Mitt Romney and his team have taken on a number of shibboleths in state government during their first year in office. From […]
Posted inPolitics
Robert Putnams stories of hope for civic life in America
Better Together: Restoring the American CommunityBy Robert D. Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein, with Don CohenSimon & Schuster, New York, 318 pages. In 2000, Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone documented […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Uncategorized
An unsentimental look at teen parents in Pittsfield
Growing Up FastBy Joanna LipperPicador, New York, 432 pages. The Berkshires, or “America’s premier cultural resort,” as the region is referred to by the local Chamber of Commerce, is also […]
Posted inEconomy
Massachusetts comes around to supporting an Internet sales tax
A pair of boots from L.L. Bean. The latest bestseller from Amazon.com. A diamond engagement ring from Blue Nile. Every day, more and more consumers are buying items like these […]
Posted inPolitics
North Andover says the state is nothing but a tax deadbeat
NORTH ANDOVER–With the help of some thoughtful planning, the town of North Andover has been able to enjoy economic development without losing its historic character. About 27,000 residents coexist with […]
Posted inUncategorized
Where the odds favor single men, the Bay States mysterious budget a looming shortage of dentists, homeowners who stay put, a business-climate report card, whos buckling up
Temptation island? Single women who like the odds to be in their favor might consider moving to Nantucket. According to the Web site ePodunk.com, the island is the only county […]
Posted inEconomy
Moving in — or moving on?
TENY GROSS has never felt better about his work with urban youth. As executive director of the two-year-old Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, Gross is building on […]
Posted inUncategorized
Poetic views of good ideas
Play on Words In a good play on words Ideas seem to just emerge, Fully formed long lyrical lines From the chamber of a brilliant mind. Hah! Don’t believe it […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
What Boston needs to do to capitalize on the Democratic National Convention
Political and civic leaders of smart, effective cities use big public events to achieve long-lasting development and social benefits. That’s what I’ve learned from six years of visits to world-class […]
Posted inUncategorized
Letters
I would like to correct some erroneous information about AARP that appeared in your conversation with Theda Skocpol (“Civic Dissociation,” Summer 2003). Skocpol uses AARP as an example of an […]
Posted inEducation
Doubling down
WHETHER USED AS an income bracket, a collection of values and attitudes, or a state of mind, “middle class” is a pretty broad category. But at its core, middle class […]
Posted inEconomy
The Hub has averted economic disaster before and can do so again
What a difference two decades make. In 1980, Boston was a city in decline, the Hub not of the universe but of a middle-income metropolitan area in a cold-weather state. […]
Posted inUncategorized
Counterpoints
The automobile insurance market in Massachusetts is severely stressed. The signs of this stress are readily apparent: an ever-decreasing number of insurance companies writing policies; auto-insurance writers that are successful […]
Posted inUncategorized
Argument
The automobile insurance system in Massachusetts is a mess. Let us count the ways: Massachusetts has the fourth highest average auto insurance rates in the country and the insurance companies […]