Periscope

Letter From the Editor

The U.S. capital is no stranger to sordid sex scandals. And like the one that consumed the Republican Party last week, each one usually has to do with much more than sex. As Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas writes, the uproar caused by suggestive e-mails from Florida Rep. Mark Foley to underage House pages has hit home partly because the abuse of power and trust they reveal is much more readily comprehensible to voters than the average campaign-finance scandal. At a time when the majority party was already reeling from growing doubts about the war in Iraq, and as political columnist Howard Fineman notes, disenchantment among its evangelical base, disgust over the Foley affair could well be the crystallizing force that shifts power in America's upcoming midterm elections.

-- Nisid Hajari, Managing Editor

FACT OR FICTION

In their efforts to cut corporate costs during times of economic hardship, many CEOs are turning their employees upside down to shake out extra change. In return, they get low morale.

Nickel-and-diming at Credit Suisse is no different from the massive cuts at crisis-ridden Ford.