Punishing political enemies? So Nixonian, so last century. Yet, 40 years later, the Obama administration found a good government way to pursue the same objective.

Facebook Inc. took a momentous action last week. And I don’t mean its announced intention to sell shares for $28 to $35 in an initial public offering later this month.

For most of 2012, President Obama has been running in the Democratic primary. I know that seems odd, given that he’s essentially running unopposed. But that's not what I'm talking about.

This year, more than 100,000 Americans will be diagnosed with a potentially deadly blood disease. Among those in need of lifesaving, blood-producing marrow cells, thousands will die because it is so difficult to find a nearly perfect genetic match and marrow donors are in short supply.

Material incentives, from tax credits...

As ingenious, painstaking and justifiably attention-getting as domino swaps are, they should not blot out the dismal news that rates of kidney donation, from both living and deceased donors, fall woefully short of the need.

We must enable more patients in wealthy countries to obtain transplants at home by empowering their governments, under strict regulation, to offer incentives to prospective donors.

Please note: This event has been canceled. At this event, Sally Satel, M.D., will discuss her new book, When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors and the national organ shortage.

Singapore's new law is a positive step toward making the transplant market more transparent.