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An article in the Chicago Tribune January 7 offers New Year's tips on how to live more healthfully by making small changes in diet and exercise habits, as opposed to massive lifestyle-altering changes. Nutritionists recommend that people have five servings of fruits and vegetables every day because they help protect against cancer, high blood pressure, and obesity. SAR Health Sciences Professor Joan Salge Blake says in the piece, "The easiest way to reach the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables is to habitually incorporate one or two at every meal and afternoon snack. For example, adding extra tomatoes and lettuce to a sandwich equals one serving." Blake's other suggestions include topping breakfast cereal with blueberries and tossing mandarin oranges and raisins into rice at dinner.

President-elect George W. Bush is advocating tax cuts to jump-start the sagging economy. But some economists feel that one of the headline provisions of his tax-cut package -- the removal of the estate tax -- would do little to get the economy moving again. Estate-tax elimination is one of the more popular elements of the plan and enjoys support in both political parties, even though only the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans now are affected. Some experts say that repealing the tax probably will not do much to boost consumption because most of those benefiting are relatively well-to-do. CAS Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff says in the January 8 Wall Street Journal, "It's not likely they'd modify their consumption behavior much. The short-term effect is small potatoes." Supporters of Bush's plan argue that over time, elimination of the tax would boost business and capital investments and encourage start-up companies.

Lena M. Lundgren, SSW assistant professor and director of BU's Center on Work and Family, responded to a letter that appeared in Kenneth Bredemeier's "On the Job" column in the Washington Post January 10. The letter was from an employee concerned about special treatment colleagues with children receive when they leave work to take care of family matters that are not emergencies. The writer felt that such colleagues subsequently do not make up for time lost. Lundgren's response was that she knows of no research showing that parents are less productive workers. "If anything, they have a greater capacity to schedule, because that's what they're forced to do. Parents hold up more than their end of the bargain. Take a life-cycle look. Our roles change. It's important to remember, since this person may one day be caring for a sick parent, or quite unexpectedly caring for a sibling's child. The American workplace recognizes workers are part of families, and some recognize it better than others."

The New York Times published an editorial January 7 by Bruce Schulman, CAS history professor and director of the American and New England Studies Program, entitled "Learning the Wrong Lessons -- Again." Schulman compares past political party defeats to what Democrats in Washington are doing now: "Since losing the White House last month, many prominent Democrats are now looking to Bill Clinton as the party's savior. Capitol Hill Democrats and many state party chairmen have declared that President Clinton will remain a powerful political player after he leaves office. Tony Coehlo, Vice President Al Gore's campaign chairman, predicted that Mr. Clinton 'will be the one the party will depend on to raise money and to be a major force in whatever they're doing across the country.'. . . By turning to President Clinton, the Democrats draw a dangerous lesson from electoral defeat. Yet this same political blunder has recurred throughout American history. Losing parties have regularly looked to old leaders and established strategies, and this kept some parties out of the White House for generations, and even led to their demise. . . . To remain potent, the Democrats must acknowledge the shifts in the political landscape. They should think like the Bill Clinton of 1984, and forget the Bill Clinton of 2000."

"In The News" is compiled by Mark Toth in the Office of Public Relations.

19 January 2001
Boston University
Office of University Relations