It is time that we expose politicians to the same scrutiny we are applying to the private sector.

We're about to enter a very long campaign in which where an apparently squeaky clean Mitt Romney is going to be demonized for his success and dragged through the gutter. Meanwhile, Obama took cash from a true denizen of the gutter.

President Obama launched a blistering attack Tuesday on Rep. Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” economic and fiscal plan and Mitt Romney’s embrace of it — and Romney responded that night by “hugging” Ryan even tighter.

There’s good reason to believe the relationship between Romney and the Tea Party-driven congressional Republicans will be exceptional only in the severity of its uneasiness. This is not an example of passionate matrimony, but a mere wedding of convenience—and it’s safe to say the honeymoon won’t last long.

If you want to copy China because its authoritarian capitalism is better than our democratic capitalism, it seems pretty obvious that what you envy is the authoritarianism. H. G. Wells had a phrase for that.

India's problems do not stem from crony capitalism but crony socialism, the continued hold of an often corrupt and inept political class on economic decision making. Like most countries, India could do with greater competition and fewer barriers to entry for new businesses. But it's India's politicians and bureaucrats who need reining in, not its billionaires.

President Obama's core message in his Wednesday press conference, his first since March, could be found in his advice to Republicans. "Are you willing to compromise your kids' safety so some corporate-jet owner can get a tax break?'"