The more than 500 point drop in the stock market on Thursday shows that neither the public nor investors think lawmakers in Washington have developed a process or the details necessary to solve the national debt crisis. This is despite agreement to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion on...

It is already too late for a lasting agreement on the national debt, as the Aug. 2 default looms. Almost any agreement at a deadline is not a good one, as creativity and information processing plummet. With the parties calling each other names and key people walking out, pushing even...

I have a unique perspective on Japan's continuing nuclear fallout, having covered the Chernobyl accident as a reporter for the New York Times and Three Mile Island as a reporter for Newsday. I also covered thousands of hearings, sources, issues, promises and solutions in the 1970s and 1980s, and my...

Terrorists don't mind blowing themselves up as long as they get the other guy. That precisely describes the U.S. political threats not to raise the limit on national debt.

Republicans have threatened not to raise the limit on the national debt from its present $14.3 trillion unless the Democrats make...

The owners and the players in the National Football League dispute are just $250 million apart in a $9 billion seasonal purse. But they have already lost more than that in TV revenues, lawyers' fees and other costs in their 2-1/2 month fight with each other.

So why would they...

Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Two guys cost a trillion dollars. Is there a better way to spend our money?

Most in the U.S. seems happy we got them. What a celebration! But there's not enough money in the world to hunt down all major terrorists this way, let...

The near-shutdown of the Federal government last week resulted from poor negotiation processes by officials from both sides when better options were available.

It is a continuation of the kinds of unskilled techniques evident in recent controversies such as collective bargaining in Wisconsin, the National Football League and even...

What do Two and a Half Men, Wisconsin and the NFL have in common? Answer: they are all run by bad negotiators.

Simpler, cheaper and easier solutions exist than the emotional confrontations that have resulted in the firing of actor Charlie Sheen from TVs most popular sitcom, the threat to...