Democracy or breakdown in Syria would change the whole Middle East overnight.

Social Security is a social insurance program - it is not designed to be the same thing as a 401(k).

The party of ideas has become the party of Beavis and Butthead.

Middle-class societies don't emerge automatically as an economy matures, they have to be CREATED through political action.

There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama’s handling of the economy. Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr. Obama’s mistakes but the scorched-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way - and who now, having blocked the president’s policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed.

What our economy needs is direct job creation by the government and mortgage-debt relief for stressed consumers. What it very much does not need is a transfer of billions of dollars to corporations that have no intention of hiring anyone except more lobbyists.

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.