One of the annual rituals of Washington's health policy calendar involves the release of projections for the next ten years of national health spending. It then is followed immediately by desperate efforts by various interest groups and advocacy "analysts" to spin the new numbers to their advantage.

It is five years since the 2006 peak of the great housing bubble and time to re-state the repetitive lessons of financial history. Our recent financial adventures are memorable, but will they be sufficiently remembered?

The Cold War is an increasingly distant memory in American military minds, except in the minds of the arms control community, and in particular those who seek the elimination of nuclear weapons. Alas, our president is a member in good standing of this community—indeed, an organizer.

There are important differences between the current situation in Afghanistan and that in Somalia in 1993, but Somalia remains a cautionary tale.

And this time, I don’t think Putin is going anywhere. As they say, history doesn’t repeat, but sometimes it rhymes.

A vital federal program is about to put millions of American pensions at risk.

On financial market reform, Obama should adopt the successful Swedish model rather than the failed Japanese one.

The current financial crisis is not unprecedented, but rather a repetition of basic patterns found throughout financial history.