Perhaps in a foreshadowing of his $3.8 trillion budget proposal coming down the pike, President Obama last week proposed—and the Congress rejected—a bill to create a special commission to address the federal deficit. Yesterday (Monday), he effectively increased that deficit to $1.6 trillion for this fiscal year, leaving our national debt hovering somewhere around $13 [...]
Which amortization rate is right for me? How much of my income should I allocate toward retirement? Jane Bryant Quinn wrote the book on personal finance, and now she’s back to address rebuilding savings after financial disaster in a new edition of “Making the Most of Your Money Now.” From spending plans to whether gold [...]
He spent his childhood at the White House while photographers flashed pictures of him playing—not the normal childhood, but then again, he didn’t have normal grandparents. Curtis Roosevelt was the grandson of President Franklin Roosevelt, which offered many positives, but also presented a slew of negatives. Patt talks to the Curtis about growing up in [...]
In the winter of 1960, three brilliant scholars and one ambitious undergrad- Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil- came together around the Harvard Psilocybin Project, a series of experiments with psychedelic drugs. The group sought spiritual enlightenment but ended up transforming America. In his new book “The Harvard Psychedelic Club,” author Don [...]
In the winter of 1960, three brilliant scholars and on ambitious undergrad- Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil- came together around the Harvard Psilocybin Project, a series of experiments with psychedelic drugs. The group sought spiritual enlightenment but ended up transforming America. In his new book “The Harvard Psychedelic Club,” author Don [...]
This week, by a margin divided along party lines, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to encourage companies to disclose the effects of climate change on their business. Hold up—so that means global warming is real?? Some Republican commissioners equate the vote with a kind of political endorsement of an environmentalist agenda, but social [...]
Producer Irving Thalberg was called the Boy Wonder of Hollywood. By age 20 he ran Universal Pictures, and at age 24 he co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His status was so large, in fact, that F. Scott Fitzgerald used Thalberg as the inspiration for the main character in his unfinished novel "The Last Tycoon." In Mark Viera's new [...]
Is Wikipedia smarter than you? Does Facebook promote the wisdom of mobs over the intelligence of the individual? Jaron Lanier, one of the pioneers of Silicon Valley and the father of virtual reality, argues that the Internet has fallen short of its early promise by becoming a place where those doing intellectual work are getting [...]
World War II officially ended in 1945, but with a power vacuum in Germany and increasingly aggressive Soviet Union, in 1948 President Harry Truman ordered fighter pilots back to Berlin—this time with food, not bombs. Richard Reeves profiles the Americans who flew over Soviet blockades, shuttling supplies in a mission known as the Berlin Airlift. [...]
Take the poll and share your reactions: which were the most significant themes addressed tonight? Job creation strategies, alternative energy (including new nuclear and clean coal), budget freeze beginning in 2011, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and a brief mention of immigration reform–we break down President Obama's State of the Union address with [...]
