Milton on America: Taking the Economic Pulse of the U.S.A.

A 40-year veteran of the insurance business, Milton here inveighs passionately against whole-life contracts as opposed to term policies in this otherwise chatty and good-humored analysis of the public's current mood and economic state. Americans, he stresses, cherish traditional ideals of justice, morality and personal conduct. He observes that part-time work and entrepreneurism seem to be replacing rigid management-vs.-union business patterns and argues that farmers, many now failing, have been ill-served by government and bank pressures to over-expand. Crime is a major worry among the populace, with a feeling that judges and lawyers don't work hard enough, according to Milton. World budget deficits also are of prime concern, adds the author, along with the ""arms juggernaut'' issue, which may be decided by Gorbachev or the American electorate of 1988. (April 21)