The Fed gambled that the benefits of the stimulus of QE to financial markets would offset the adverse effects of oil price developments. We will live with the consequences of that judgment in coming quarters.

Republicans should stay firm in coming negotiations and say that an agreement to increase the national debt should also come with an agreement to reduce the national spending.

Policymakers frequently do not want to recognize problems, especially when there is little that they can do to address them. There is no question that if European countries start defaulting the US economy would be seriously impacted because of the US financial system's large exposure to the European banking system.

Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its latest projections of health spending. These official projections showed that the health share of GDP would rise to 19.8 percent by 2020. But just as official estimates substantially understate the role of government in health spending, they fail to highlight a point that should be of concern to all Americans.

State bankruptcy must serve to break the stranglehold of public-sector unions over state politics and budgets; help restore the federal government's precommitment against bailing out states; and advance, rather than distract from, the far more fundamental federalism reforms that will be required over the coming years.

Obama and Leftist academics are orchestrating an international power play to move outside of our legal systems.

The states' fiscal crisis is structural, not cyclical. Real recovery and reform will require drastic changes to our federal architecture.

Bush deserves credit for boosting relations with New Delhi.