Fame is worth less than service.

The difference between recession and depression is simple. Recession, goes the saying, is when you lose your job; depression is when I lose mine.

To investors, job creation is a second-order effect. Market participants care first about interest rates, exchange rates, bond prices and the one great factor that affects all three: the long-term solvency of a bond company called the U.S. government.

The 1920s are the decade that signaled the arrival of a gift that still means a lot to us: Saturday.

Right now we're concerned about budget. Right now we're concerned about the prospect of interest rate rise. We're concerned about government corruption, government handing out deals to specific groups. Coolidge fixed a problem like that. He came into a rough time and he, and Harding before him, fixed that by budgeting.

Our conscience, our faith, our local community, even our online hobby clubs - all civilize us.

Today many politicians suggest that where the federal government does not act, there must be anarchy. That view is odd, blinkering out the work of state and towns, which until recently did much of our charitable and cultural work. That view also blinkers out the role of mutual societies and churches.