Year: 2014

Every year we are subjected to lists. Forbe’s magazine lists the world’s wealthiest individuals. Time magazine lists the most “influential” people, though real influence is difficult to define or quantify. What I’ve never seen is a list of satisfied people, much less stories about how they attained satisfaction. Arianna Huffington is trying to fill that […]

For years, conservatives have puzzled over President Barack Obama’s continued personal popularity in the face of his dramatically uninspiring performance as commander-in-chief. Obama seems to inspire a bizarre personal loyalty among his advocates, particularly among young people who should by all rights be concerned with their fading futures and collapsing prospects. Why do his numbers […]

Back in September, our family received an Obamacare-induced health insurance death notice. We joined millions of other Americans whose individual market health plans died after Democrats lied about our ability to keep the plans and doctors we liked. President Obama tried to “fix” the mess he created. But as usual, the federal government’s solutions have […]

You’ve probably heard that Democratic Party leaders decided that a way to win votes this November is to shout loudly that Republicans wage “war on women.” Politico calls this a “proven, persuasive argument.” Give me a break. The idea of a conservative “war on women” is as silly as propaganda I was taught in college: […]

Establishment Republicans always remind us of how the tea party cost the Party crucial seats in 2010 and 2012; seats that might have delivered control of the Senate to the GOP. And, they have a point. If tea party candidates had not won primaries in Delaware, Nevada, Colorado, Indiana, and Missouri, these states might now […]

PARIS — Later this month, U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Here’s hoping he decides to stay home and help his daughters with their homework instead. America’s decreasing influence in the Middle East and Eurasia might be the result of deliberate strategic policy. Or it’s simply ineptitude — in which case it’s […]

Not every child can be saved. Not every kid who grows up broken can be steered away from bad choices by caring adults toward some new life, one with a purpose. But Valerie Groth, a veteran Chicago Public Schools social worker at New Sullivan Elementary School on the South Side, believed she had found that […]

It’s on! Ostensible allies for the last couple years, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have commenced the battle for the unofficial title of conservative front-runner. That’s no surprise, but what is remarkable is their choice of weapons: foreign policy. For the last several years, there has been a lot of overblown hype […]

Obamacare is collapsing. Only 10 percent of uninsured Americans who qualify for Obamacare exchange plans are signing up. Even with subsidies to soften the sticker shock, 90 percent of the people these plans were intended to help are saying “no thanks,” according to a survey released last week by management consultants McKinsey & Company. A […]

For those investors who have grown used to the relatively minor geo-political crises of the past few years, the developing situation in the Ukraine and the Crimea must come as an unexpected communiqué from the early 20th Century.There can be little doubt that the drama will impact financial markets. While President Obama is doing his […]