Yes, over the centuries economic progress has reduced some gross disparities - modern Americans are relatively unlikely to simply starve to death (though it can happen), so in that sense the gap between rich and poor has narrowed. But the question isn't whether society is, in some sense, more equal than it was in 1900. It's whether it is radically more unequal than it was in 1970. And of course it is.

It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy.

Debt is one person's liability, but another person's asset.

I've always believed in expansionary monetary policy and if necessary fiscal policy when the economy is depressed.

The important thing to understand is that the case for pollution control isn't based on some kind of aesthetic distaste for industrial society. Pollution does real, measurable damage, especially to human health.

The science fiction world has a lot of people doing seriously imaginative thinking.