(FORTUNE Magazine) – THE SOCIETY/COVER STORIES 42 THE NEW DEBATE OVER THE VERY RICH In a country that reveres material success, there is apparently now such a thing as being too successful. The top 1% of earners did do better than everyone else in the 1980s, but much of the fire they're drawing is off target. Here's how they made it big -- and why new taxes aren't the answer. by Anne B. Fisher

56 SELLING ADVICE TO THE SUPER-RICH The business of managing their money is booming, full of lofty fees and long- term customers. No high-anxiety gambles here. The wealthy are less interested in making money than in preserving it. by William E. Sheeline

POLITICS & POLICY 62 WILL GEORGE BUSH REALLY CHANGE? Dissatisfied Americans want leadership. The President is promising bucketfuls, if he gets a second term. But skeptics, including some Republicans, say don't bet on it. by Ann Reilly Dowd

TECHNOLOGY 68 CD-ROM: THE NEXT PC REVOLUTION CD-ROMs -- compact disks for personal computers -- are finally coming on strong. They look just like a conventional CD, yet offer words and pictures (including moving images) as well as sound. You can use them to choose a hotel, track down a patent, or teach your kids to read. by Mark Alpert

MANAGING 76 A TOUGH SWEDE INVADES THE U.S. Percy Barnevik runs ABB, a Swiss-based electrical equipment giant that is the leanest, meanest multinational around. Bigger than Westinghouse, it's taking on GE. by Carla Rapoport

80 WHAT TO DO ABOUT WORKERS' COMP The costs are killing business. Managers can save plenty by focusing on safety and showing concern for injured employees. How about a call to that laid-up worker? by Mark D. Fefer

CORPORATE PERFORMANCE 84 PIETY, PROFITS, AND PRODUCTIVITY ServiceMaster finds its lucrative calling in doing dirty jobs fast and cheap. by Ronald Henkoff

CORPORATE PERFORMANCE 85 WHEN MERGERS MAKE SENSE Underachievers Manny Hanny and Chemical prove a model consolidation. by Joshua Mendes

86 STUCK IN A RUT? TRY THINKING BIG Enron's visionary CEO has his gas pipeline company on the road to the majors. by Peter Nulty

87 COMPANIES TO WATCH Another muffler chain revs up to replace vanishing full-service gas stations. by Andrew Serwer

THE ECONOMY 88 COPING WITH THE DEFENSE BUILD-DOWN Military cutbacks from master sergeants to nuclear subs pose economic and security risks. So far Washington isn't doing a bad job. But it needs to do better. Here's how. by Lee Smith

TRADE 94 U.S. EXPORTERS ON A GLOBAL ROLL Our annual ranking of the biggest exporters shows how strong sales abroad help companies offset weakness at home. by Therese Eiben

INNOVATION 97 PRODUCTS TO WATCH

FORTUNE BOOK EXCERPT 98 SAM WALTON IN HIS OWN WORDS Behind his exterior as folksy, homespun merchant, America's modern retailing genius was a keen student of management theory. His favorite rule: Break all the rules.

DEPARTMENTS 4 EDITOR'S DESK How FORTUNE senior editor John Huey got the inside story on Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. 8 INDEX 12 NEWS/TRENDS Mercedes skids in the quality race, Ross Perot's campaign chest, what the amazing Japanese are up to now, Murphy Brown's Quayle revenge, what CEOs are reading, workers ''screwed'' in ESOP, chastity as a job prerequisite, and more.

25 ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE A band of optimistic iconoclasts makes a case for a stronger U.S. recovery -- maybe even this year; countertrade heats up as American companies seek business in the developing world; and economist Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institution explains her plan to make government work better.

29 PERSONAL INVESTING Guess what? When profits rise, that can be bad news for stocks. It now may be time to move cautiously. by Terence P. Pare

Also: A gusher in the oil fields, why European stocks could be the stars of 1992, and Portfolio Talk with Gordon Fines, manager of the IDS New Dimensions Fund.

109 FORTUNE PEOPLE An AT&T executive exorcises demons, Yeltsin's deputy prime minister wins boos and bravos, and more. by Laurie Kretchmar

111 KEEPING UP Talking back to trees, making crime pay, great moments in welfare, diabolical discounts, and other matters. by Daniel Seligman

ABOVE: Self-made millionaire Bill Byrne, in a Jacuzzi with wife Lynne, has come a long way from the Iowa hog farm where he grew up. Photo by David Strick (Onyx).

COVER: Strick also took this photograph of the Byrnes at their home in the Colorado Rockies.