Word: accountability
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Sometimes new regulation can be the straw that breaks a company's back. The Lead Industries Association estimates that 45 lead plants, which account for some 80% of total U.S. lead smelting and refining capacity, will be unable to meet the EPA'S strict new air standards. Environmental and safety regulations have forced dozens of foundries and a few older steel plants to close. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) demanded such strict reporting and actuarial record-keeping that thousands of smaller firms dropped their private pension plans for employees rather than try to comply...
These estimates are contested by the pro-regulation lobby, which consists of some consumerists, some labor leaders and many of the regulators themselves. They argue that the costs of regulation are inflated by businessmen. They also claim that such calculations fail to take into account the hidden costs of dirty and dangerous production and do not allow for the social and invisible economic benefits of regulations. How, they ask, can anybody put a price tag on life and health? What is a few billion dollars here or there if thousands more workers will not suffer and die from cotton-dust...
This year Americans will buy a record $22 billion worth of goods through catalogues, brochures and other kinds of mail-order offerings. Such purchases have become the fastest growing area of U.S. retailing, and they now account for fully 18% of all the general merchandise sold. Some experts believe that that percentage will grow much more. Maxwell Sroge, a Chicago-based mail-order consultant, goes so far as to assert that catalogue sales may prove to be the biggest revolution in shopping ever. Says he: "If you have insomnia, you can shop at four in the morning...
...result, all sorts of retailers are stepping up their mail-order activity. Bloomingdale's used to put out catalogues just to draw customers into its stores; now mail and phone orders account for a substantial part of its business. At Montgomery Ward, where mail-order business slumped sharply in the 1950s and early 1960s, catalogue sales are back at record levels...
Which is to say, I am personally struck by the discrepancy between The Crimson's account and what I saw. I'd hardly say that there was at the meeting anything like a rousing discussion of the teaching issue. But on the other hand, there certainly was not a mass exodus and what exodus there was (and many did leave this as they do most long Faculty meetings before they're over) might be attributed to several motives besides lack of interest in teaching...