To the Point

Stimulating a Sluggish Economy

A few months ago, just after the burst of the dot-com bubble, all the noise was about corporate scandals and collapsing stock markets. More recently, that-s been all but drowned out by the drums of impending war with Iraq. The economy was supposed to recover. Instead, corporate earnings are down and the stock markets have plunged again. Is the economy in recovery or continued recession? What about American jobs, lifestyles and retirement plans? We examine the sluggish state of the economy and the prospects for its revitalization with experts from the business and financial worlds, and the chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Newsmaker: Milosevic Enters Second Phase of Genocide Trial The trial of former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic began its crucial, second stage today. He is charged with genocide in Europe-s worst atrocity since the Nazi Holocaust, the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims in Sarajevo and Srebrenica in the early 1990-s. Ian Black, who-s covering the trial for Britain-s Guardian newspaper, reports that Milosevic stunned the court with his astonishing opening statement. Reporter's Notebook: Lewis Lapham, a Clarion Voice against the Clamor of War Since September 11, he-s been called -a dissenting voice amid the clamor of patriotic fervor,- and an -internal threat- to the United States, accusations he vigorously denies. Louis Lapham, a self-defined concerned American, and the veteran editor of Harper-s magazine, discusses deterrence, dissent, the imperial behavior of the world-s only superpower, and his new book Theater of War.