I really enjoyed this optimistic piece about the future of America by Barry Ritholtz. And it taught me a new term for people who’ve irritated me for decades: the “Zombie Bears,” i.e. the people who always see doom right around the corner. There are serious long-term problems we face as a society, and much that’s going to have to be examined and re-examined by this generation and the coming...

The Latin American reaction to the Sixth Summit of the Americas continues to roll in, and for those of us from the United States, it is not an encouraging one. How much diminished is U.S. influence in Latin America? Has Washington properly processed this dramatic geopolitical change? This analysis from Brazil’s Opera Mundi paints the picture of a Washington that has so far failed to absorb the changed...

By attacking the United States, were Latin American leaders at the Sixth Summit of the Americas seeking to divert attention from issues that they would have found personally embarrassing? For Spain’s El Pais, columnist Moises Naim describes not only the diversion being practiced by many of the region’s heads of state, but how much less influence they have compared to those who attended the Yalta...

Sitting at a picnic table with four couples during a campaign stop outside Pittsburgh, Mitt Romney munched at some cookies donated by a local bakery and — presumably in an attempt at humor — said to one of the women at the table: I’m not sure about these cookies. They don’t look like you made them…Did you make those cookies? You didn’t, did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven...

If Obama loses the presidency this fall, it will probably be because he ran against the wrong opponent. He ran against Mitt Romney. Democrats used to know who and how to demonize Republicans in order to win elections. When FDR ran for reelection in 1936, he didn’t run against his official Republican opponent that year, Kansas Governor Alf Landon. He ran against Herbert Hoover. Against Hoovervilles. Against...

WASHINGTON — Instead of fighting a phony mommy war over what Hilary Rosen said about Ann Romney, we should face the fact that most families these days cannot afford to have one parent stay home with the kids. This is not about “lifestyle” or “values.” This is an economic struggle highlighting yet again the social costs arising from decades of stagnating or declining wages and growing...

Rick McKee, The Augusta Chronicle This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The Paradox of Mobility in America by Tina Dupuy We’re a species that has gotten around; we’ve wandered, pioneered and migrated to every corner of the world. The spear tip of technology is how we can get somewhere else: the wheel, the sailboat, the rocket. In short: we’re movers. We are now as mobile as we’ve ever been as a culture. Our phones are not tethered to any particular location....

The Obama Administration Is Trying To Have It Both Ways on Bank Bailouts by Kathleen McKinley When the Obama administration is not even fooling the most liberal of magazines, you know they have a problem: The Obama administration wants Americans to realize what a good job they and the Bush administration did saving the economy from a second Great Depression. But they’d prefer not to make this case directly....

As of Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at least 1,810 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count, and 15,672 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, since the start of U.S. military operations in that country, according to the Defense Department. Since Osama bin Laden was killed —...

Is Washington paying any attention at all to the demands and interests of its ‘Latin American partners’? According to this editorial from Mexico’s La Jornada, few people south of the U.S. border believe that the Summit of the Americas took into account the wishes of Latin Americans, starting with the issues of the inclusion of Cuba at all hemisphere-wide summits, a change in direction for...

Having immigrated to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream, I was intrigued by the title of the New York Times story “Many U.S. Immigrants’ Children Seek American Dream Abroad.” As the story’s introduction focused on a Mr. Samir N. Kapadia who had arrived in the United States from India as a young child, became a U.S. citizen and was apparently doing very well in his career, I became even...

[Originally posted on January 11, 2011.] It’s that time of year.  Now, as the airwaves are filled with the same silly stories that the same silly people trot out every silly year, it’s timely, and I present it for your consideration, slightly altered and emended: NOTE: Spent all day Tuesday [January 11, 2011] at an update on changes to Federal and Oregon tax law for 2011. This is going to be very...

Is inflation in this country well under control? You might think so if you listen to what’s coming from the Fed on the subject, or even from Paul Krugman, whose analysis of economic matters I usually find quite perceptive. Unfortunately, however, inflation here is not well under control when you look at it more closely and distinguish between “bad inflation” and “good inflation”...

Will the Summit of the Americas, to be held in Colombia this weekend, call for drug decriminalization? Columnist Julio E. Mayaudon of Venezuela’s El Carabobeno writes that despite all the evidence supporting an orderly decriminalization, an alliance of sorts between the U.S. and more authoritarian states will doom plans for legalization: The U.S. opposes it, preferring to put the burden on producing...

Did you know that working moms who don’t watch Fox are socialists? Neither did I. But then I asked some folks on Twitter, who were beating up on a friend of mine who is a left of center lady, not unlike myself, and was on Fox this morning (the national cable version, not the local), if they could link to the clip about which they were razzing my friend, since, being a working parent, I don’t watch...

The Rich Are Different from You and Me – They Pay Less Taxes by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship Benjamin Franklin, who used his many talents to become a wealthy man, famously said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But if you’re a corporate CEO in America today, even they can be put on the back burner – death held at bay by the best medical care money can buy and the latest in...

Could this be the dawn of a new era in the battle against illegal drug use? According to columnist Cristina de la Torre of Colombia’s El Espectador, for the first time in the 40-year history of the drug war, a ‘third way’ is being considered by leaders planning to attend the Summit of the Americas in Colombia next weekend: instead of a ‘shooting war,’ a ‘preventive war’. For...

Time passes and takes with it those who can bear witness, reality becomes history, but in the deep well of national memory, the past holds lessons for the future. On this day 67 years ago, I was in uniform in a sleeping bag on a German farmhouse floor when someone shook me awake to whisper, “Roosevelt is dead.” At 21, I was part of a generation that could remember no other president. FDR had been sworn into...

Disney will help China develop its animation industry, which from China’s perspective helps it develop its culture. China is one of the world’s fastest growing film markets. Details from Newsy.com: