There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises.

Surely I'm not the only person to ask the obvious question: How different, really, is Mr. Madoff's tale from the story of the investment industry as a whole?

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

Europe is often held up as a cautionary tale, a demonstration that if you try to make the economy less brutal, to take better care of your fellow citizens when they're down on their luck, you end up killing economic progress. But what European experience actually demonstrates is the opposite: social justice and progress can go hand in hand.

I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law.

The economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working Americans. And now it looks as if it never will.

Outrageous fiscal mendacity is neither historically normal nor bipartisan. It’s a modern Republican thing.