An old Latin proverb goes "Corruptio optimi pessima," or corruption of the best becomes the worst.

The best government innovation of the past decade, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), is being corrupted by the worst State Department recent announcement.

Only responsible third-world countries are eligible...

Steve Job's death reminds us of how central the Internet has become to life. What didn't exist a short generation ago has become virtually indispensible now.

None of Job's incredible talents and creativity would have come out had the Worldwide Web not enabled his revolutionary devises.

Lest you...

Today's announcement of the HuffPost-AOL partnership is best captured by Shakespeare: "Oh wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all hooping!" (As You Like It).
We long-time AOL users have wondered for years about AOL's viability, and been eager to...

The world's movers and shakers come to Davos with high expectations, feeling, as Shakespeare's character put it: "I am giddy. Expectation whirls me around. The imaginary relish is so sweet that it enchants my senses!" (Troilus and Cressida).

The mega-hype partly comes from the World Economic Forum itself, whose motto...

The announcement by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she will run for House chief honcho -- along with the premise that Harry Reid will remain leader of the Senate -- is good news for us Republicans. There nobody we'd rather feature as the faces of the Democrats in the Congress...

As few of us would, William Shakespeare would relish today's political slugfest. It reveals raw human emotions and reactions, which fascinated the Bard. What's normally sublimated -- at least masked, for the sake of good manners, hangs out for all to see.

The Bard would love political debates, as...

With the wallowing economy, business firms face a tough environment. Uncertainties abound, with vastly differing economic forecasts (none too good) and a political outlook that's just as murky. All which brings to mind that classic comment in Macbeth: "Confusion hath made its masterpiece."

What's a business exec...

There's no better time than Labor Day weekend to contemplate labor in the weekday.

Like us, Shakespeare had mixed feelings. He had high opinion of exciting, challenging work: "To business that we love, we rise betime and go to it with delight" (Antony & Cleopatra)....

Sarah Palin's used "refudiate" in a recent tweet, evidently melding "repudiate" and "refute." (Recall she attended five colleges before getting a degree.) But she quickly re-tweeted, "English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words."

Quite right is Ms. Palin, alas, for once.

...

The death of George Steinbrenner brings to mind -- my mind, oddly enough -- how Shakespeare created such outstanding leaders as Steinbrenner. But, even more oddly, he put many of them in skirts.

The "Women of Will" are the Bard's most amazing leaders. Amazing as this was so unusual...

The passing of Robert Byrd at 92 -- having represented West Virginia in the Senate for a stunning half-century plus -- turns the mind to that age-old obsession of aging.

Byrd was not the sole member of the Senate geriatrics crowd (though he was the sole member...

"Tis deeds must win the prize" says the character in Taming of the Shrew. The global bond market has bestowed no prize upon Argentina, since its president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has performed no deeds worthy of any.

Last month, Argentina put forward its Global 2017 bond offering but...

When appointed to turn around the (seemingly) losing war in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal was greeted in sentiments best expressed by Hamlet:

"The time is out of joint, oh cursed spite! that ever [you] were born to set it right."

McChrystal was known for his selflessness, taking one meal...

"What's the news?" one character asks another in As You Like It. The answer entails "much good sport." Celia then asks, "Sport! of what color?

Nowadays, of all colors.

The Stanley Cup just ended, while the pro basketball NBA finals are continuing. The baseball season is...

"I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than to be one of the twenty to follow mine own advice," says Portia in Merchant of Venice.

She's the cool non-lawyer in lawyer's garb. She delivers the most beautiful tribute to forgiveness -- "the quality...

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions." So says Claudius who, as king in Hamlet, proves to be a gifted crisis manager.

He's the type desperately needed today on the Gulf spill, Israeli front, or facing nuclear/terrorist threats from North Korea and Iran.

Good,...

"We know what we are, but not what we may be," comes Ophelia's flash of insight within her madness.

Uncertainty reigns today. As the ole' non-Shakespearean cliché has it, it's hard to predict, especially about the future.

Granted, there's always an element of uncertainty in...

"We know what we are, but not what we may be," comes Ophelia's flash of insight within her madness. Uncertainty prevails most on Supreme Court appointments. Hence we know what Elena Kagan is, but not what she "may be" as a Supreme Court justice.

Even...

Baseball season has opened with great fanfare and fun. It's a myth that Shakespeare knew about "our national pastime," but it's likewise a myth that Abner Doubleday invented it.
Nonetheless, Shakespeare has gobs to say about the game, as Earl L. Dachslager of Woodlands, Texas revealed a...

"How camest thou in this pickle?" That's the question surrounding the financial reform debate in the Senate this week. If it ever gets settled what sent us into this pickle, we'd know how to avoid it again.
But in our political system, and even among top economists,...