Business & Economy

Smith is host of a popular PBS television program and author of the best-sellers The Money Game, Supermoney and Paper Money. His new book, titled The Roaring 80s, looks at the previous decade, which he says has been characterized by easy debt, easy spending and an amiable hands-off attitude by Washington. Smith says a camparison with another era of high living - the roaring 20s - is unavoidable.

MIT professor of political economy Bennett Harrison co-wrote The Great U-Turn with Barry Bluestone. The book explores how and why the United States is creating fewer full-time, well-paying jobs. He points to the deregulation of industry and the financial system as the primary culprit.

Investigative reporter Howard Kohn has covered stories like the Patty Hearst kidnapping and the death of Karen Silkwood. When his father's health started to fail, Kohn decided to move back to the family farm in Michigan. His new memoir, The Last Farmer, documents that experience, and considers the relationship between parents and their adult children.

Father Ralph Beiting's ministry serves the poor of the Appalachian region, which he says was overlooked by the reforms and social programs of the 1960s. He links poverty to the degradation of family life. Despite the difficulties associated with his work, Beiting has fallen in love with the area and its people.

TV critic David Bianculli is in Los Angeles for a press tour. Now that the five-month long writers' strike has come to an end, he discusses the upcoming television season -- which he finds largely unimpressive -- with Fresh Air guest host Sedge Thomson.

TV critic David Bianculli still needs to deliver a column each week, even as the ongoing writers' strike affects programming. He shares some of his more inventive ideas of what to write about.

Journalist John Hoerr's new book, And the Wolf Finally Came, looks at the collapse of the steel industry in the Monongahela River region. He points to the breakdown between union-management relations post-World War II as the central cause for the closing of plants throughout Pennsylvania.

Celebrity financial advisor hosts the investment show Wall Street Week, which also features a number of colorful guests.

Financial writer Connie Bruck. Her first book, The Predators' Ball: The Junk Bond Raiders and the Man who Staked Them, is a profile of the controversial junk bond financier Michael Milken, and the junk bond department of the investment firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert. Milken's financing schemes, and Drexel Burnham's resources, have been the engine behind many of the hostile takeovers and mergers that have rocked Wall Street over the last six years. Bruck is a reporter for The American Lawyer magazine.

John Rothchild. His new book, A Fool and His Money is a personal account of his adventures as an average investor trying to figure out the complexities of the stock and commodities markets.

Television critic David Bianculli discusses how the writer's strike has benefitted "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," and what the show's revival means for the concept of a weekly variety show.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Milagro Beanfield War," based on the popular New Mexico novel by John Nichols and directed by Robert Redford.

The first of a two-part interview with comedian and political satirist Al Franken. Along with partner Tom Davis, Franken has written for and performed on "Saturday Night Live" since 1975. This first part focuses on Franken's political satire, which is in full bloom during the current presidential primary season.

New York Times reporter Martin Tolchin. His new book, Buying Into America: How Foreign Money Is Changing the Face of Our Nation, documents the massive infusion of foreign capital in America, and analyzes its ramifications. Written with his wife, professor Susan Tolchin, the book highlights America's growing dependence on foreign investments.

Lewis H. Lapham, Editor of Harper's Magazine. His new book, Money and Class in America, explores the worship of the dollar - what Lapham calls our "civil religion."

Author Jonathan Kozol. His new book, Rachel and Her Children, is about The Martinique Hotel, one of the largest welfare hotels in New York City. Kozol spent two years interviewing the families who lived there. Kozol's previous work has focused on inner city education and illiteracy.

William Greider, political reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine, former assistant managing editor of The Washington Post and author of Secrets of the Temple - How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Wall Street," the new film on ambition and greed in the world of high finance. The director is Oliver Stone, who won an Academy Award last year for "Platoon."

Jack Gillis, director of public affairs for the Consumer Federation of America and author of The Car Book. He will release consumer test results on how the 1988 cars scored for safety, fuel economy, comfort, etc.

Film director and actor John Sayles. His films include "The Return of the Secaucus Seven," "Baby It's You" and "Brother From Another Planet." His new film is "Matewan," about a coal miner's strike in West Virginia.