Over the next several decades the largest fiscal challenge facing the federal government is the aging of the population, which will drive up costs for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. When smaller numbers of workers must support larger numbers of retirees, public policy should encourage individuals to do three things.

To establish Social Security as a sustainable, solvent program, changes are necessary. A wide range of reforms have been proposed in recent years, and many of those proposals include changes both to future benefits and to payroll taxes.

Global economic recovery will depend on whether the Obama administration reverses his campaign rhetoric and early governance signals on trade issues.

Trade policy has traditionally been considered an extension of foreign policy, but in truth trade policy today is intimately intertwined with domestic policy.

What we're likely to find in this year's mayoral elections is that urban politics has changed; it's no longer a matter of black and white.