Next fall I'll be teaching an introductory course on a variety of different economic topics. The focus will be on the U.S. The course will focus on issues, not on the use/misuse of economic theory of any particular brand. The main problem with such a course is finding good readings. Mansfield's Leading Economic Controversies seems to be the best of the middle-of-the-road approach (here's what a so-called liberal says; here's what a conservative says). Of course, this approach has its weaknesses. What readings for a class mostly of first year college students would people recommend on topics like: the "bankruptcy" of social security, immigration, income distribution/standard of living changes, size of goverment and growth/efficiency, healthcare, debt/deficit, and so on. Does EPI or similar organization put out a reader. I haven't used URPE material ("XXX in the real world") in recent years; does such stuff still exist, is it any good, is it appropriate for a non-principles course, it it up-to-date? Thanks for any leads. Eric .. Eric Nilsson Department of Economics California State University San Bernardino, CA 92407 [EMAIL PROTECTED]