Eric Zuesse

Investigative historian

What we needed when a new President was sworn in on 20 January 2008 was another Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What we got was just mush.

Richard (RJ) Eskow

Writer; Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

This week two Senate budget amendments could affect the future of everybody reading these words -- presuming we live long enough to reach our retirement years. That's not an overstatement.

Linda Bergthold

Health policy researcher

What is actually going on with health reform? Is it really going to happen? Yes it is. But it will mean different things for different people. Here's what it might mean for some of you.

Pearl Korn

Advocate for Improved Medicare For All

It is the GOP's extreme vision of what they think our country should be -- with a weak government and a free ride to corporations and the rich at the expense of the rest of us -- that has put them at odds with the electorate, which is made up of primarily hard-working and struggling Americans.

Robert Reich

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

We are the richest nation in the history of the world -- richer now than we've ever been. But an increasing share of that wealth is held by a smaller and smaller share of the population, who have, in effect, bribed legislators to reduce their taxes and provide loopholes so they pay even less.

Sandi Bachom

Filmmaker, Author, Digital Journalist

I'm not a Boomer, I'm a War Baby, born in October of 1944, the end of WWII. My generation survived everything, drugs, sex AND rock and roll. Hell, we invented them! We refuse to age; we will be dragged kicking and screaming into senility.

Jim Jaffe

Washington observer

While much of Washington worries about how to constrain Medicare costs, two contrarian legislators want the program to spend $1 billion more annually to fund residency training for new doctors.

Ethan Rome

Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

Ryan's proposal seems more like sleight of hand than legitimate cost control. It's about weakening Medicare, not strengthening the program for future generations.

Michael Hodin

Executive Director, Global Coalition on Aging

The Ryan budget -- love it or hate it -- at least recognizes that we can't afford anachronistic financial plans. If we try to, we do exactly what we must not: deplete the programs and leave those most in need without a safety net.

Joe Peyronnin

Hofstra Journalism Professor

Monday will be a big day for Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party. He will announce the results of a task force he convened, following last November's election, which he asked to "figure out what we can do to grow our party and win more elections."

Mike Lux

Co-Founder, Democracy Partners

I am thankful each and every day that Barack Obama won the 2012 election, and that he is our president instead of Mitt Romney. The current version of ...

J.D. Kleinke

Medical Economist & Author

Consumers need protections only when they are turned into consumers. And that is what Congressman Paul Ryan's budget seeks to do for -- or do to, depending on your feelings about medical capitalism -- future Medicare beneficiaries.

Sarah Anderson

IPS Global Economy Project Director

Next time you see one of these CEOs on TV lecturing about belt-tightening, keep in mind who's talking. The stakes in this debate are extremely high for ordinary Americans who work hard every day but still have to worry about their retirement security.

Alex Knepper

Student at the Graduate Institute, St. John's College - Annapolis; Board member, Republican Reason Caucus

I still admire Rep. Ryan and hope that he continues to make strides toward making serious entitlement reform possible. But if he wants to govern then he needs to bow to reality and accept that elections have consequences -- even elections that he lost.

Norman Solomon

Author, 'War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death'

If you don't see the name of your Congress member on that list, you live in a House district without a representative standing up for economic decency.

Amy Chen and Amy Guan

Medical Student, Harvard Medical School

New instances of preventable medical errors continue to occur every week. It is clear that we as a country must address the looming problem of preventable medical errors.