John Isaacs

The Military Sector

It has been 35 years, more than a generation, since the first nuclear explosion was released over the New Mexico desert. The most we can say is that mankind has continued to survive the increasingly ominous chain of moves and counter-moves that have flowed from that war-born measure. But at what cost?The whole world is increasingly afflicted by the threat of nuclear war. An insane and ever-intensifying arms race has bred violence in every lesser form, carried hunger and disease in its train as needed resources were devoted elsewhere, and has deepened the insecurity even of those who were arming themselves to the teeth. Are we condemned to a race in which the only conceivable end is assured mutual destruction today or tomorrow?As Americans enter the decade of the 1980s, they may expect to spend over one trillion dollars in the first five years on their defense. In the name of national security, the U.S. Congress has permitted the military a stranglehold on an immense sector of government expenditure.In thi...

Right says arms control wrong

This article asserts that the conservative right wing of the Republican party is in the midst of an attack on arms control in general, intent on sabotage of the treaties at the core of the program - the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and the 1991 and 1993 START treaties, and treaties in negotiation at present. The author argues that this part of the political party is far right of other conservatives, and is intent on unravelling all progress made to this pont in time.

Right turn ahead

On national security issues, expect major fights on marginal issues, and marginal fights on the major ones.

The defense budget in an election year

The Reagan Administrations military requests might have survived the 1983 congressional budget debate, but further ambitious requests and the upcoming elections may enliven the 1984 debate.

Nervous about nerve gas

Will Congress approve a new generation of nerve gas weapons? There seems to be a moral aversion to chemical weapons.

Echoes of Vietnam

As the costs of the Iraq War—in lives and money—continue to rise, public and political support continue to drop. Now is the time to find a way out.

The elephant in the closet

The cost of health care is a major societal issue. We now are consuming some 15 percent of our gross national product on health care, with perhaps no com mensurate increment in health quality. Given that our society has to do other things like feed people and other wise pr ovide for the gener al welfar e and defen se, it is incumbe nt upon us to find w ays to contr ol costs. This unfortunately has led to a culture of cost containment in health care modeled after successful efforts to increase efficiency in the non healthcare industries. Industrial cost containment proceeds on principles of Pareto Economics which follows cost benefit theory as depicted in Figure 1. (Figure 1 is in a separa te file on the web site.) If a form of medical care ha s value, then small ad ditional incre ments at po int A will have large increases in outcome benefit. As care is maximized, the benefit curve flattens. Conve rsely, the cost containm ent mana ger assum es that cost cutting at point B will result in minimal or no change in measurable benefit and a net acceptable decrease in costs per unit of production (“widgets” in management science). Unfor tunately, widgets ar e not patients possessed of biologic var iability and contrac tual health car e rights to existent human and legal standards of care.

Fortifying Fortress America

Throwing more money at Defense will only postpone a solution to the problems at the Pentagon.

A bouquet for Bush

George Bush left office on January 20 with his head held high. He did not brood for long over his devastating defeat on November 3. He refused to be immobilized by self-doubt. After a brief period of grieving over a botched election campaign, the former president returned to his first love, foreign policy, and produced significant accomplishments in his waning days of power.

What happened to the Ninety-eighth Congress?

Despite expectations to the contrary, the Ninety-eighth Congress has been less than consistent on arms control measures, first voting for a nuclear freeze and then releasing funds for the MX