A Letter From The Publisher, Apr. 21, 1980

This week's cover story on the state of capitalism as the 1980s begin reflects the reporting of correspondents in many of TIME'S bureaus, both in the capitalist world and beyond. But much of the research was done by Associate Editor George M. Taber, who wrote the story as well as an accompanying side bar on capitalism's roots in history.

Taber, who joined TIME'S New York staff last summer after two years as our economics correspondent in Washington, found the assignment absorbing—so much so that at one point he spent a series of eleven-hour days...