Tom Silva

So, what's on your mind these days? Maybe you're looking ahead to the general election or pondering the nature of judicial activism. Whatever the case, recent events make me pause, as I do often, to think about how much time we spend reading and listening to speculation and predictions from...

President Barack Obama's new budget would almost double spending on U.S. infrastructure over the next six years while slashing the appropriations of most other domestic agencies. The blueprint proposes $476 billion through 2018 on highways, bridges and mass transit projects, funded in part by the savings from...

So much has been written about the death of the principal American industrialist of the last half century, Steve Jobs, that it seems little more can be said; The encomiums have been stirring, emotional and impassioned, comparable only perhaps to those that attended the passing of Thomas Edison. There is...

I've been hearing the phrase "Made in America" quite a bit recently, welcoming the repatriation of jobs back to the US from China, India and the rest of the off-shore parabola. Most reports have focused on the price of oil being the primary driver, but the return of outsourced jobs...

As the August 2nd deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling looms and much of the media attention turns towards prospects of a U.S. default on paying its bills, it may be worth remembering the debt problem that no one is talking about -- one that may have even more...

The arts have fallen victim to budget cuts in Kansas. Governor Sam Brownback recently signed legislation eliminating all state funding -- about $689,000 -- for arts programs, "leaving the Kansas Arts Commission without a budget, staff or offices." Nearly 200 local arts organizations and...

In the interest of fairness, I think it's important for proponents of reform to take a sober look at the reality of insuring 32 million additional people. Covering people remains the right thing to do but Romneycare in Massachusetts continues to provide a real-life test case for universal healthcare. According...

It is rare that a commentator gets to write a column that is unreservedly rosy and infused with optimism for the future. This kind of positive punditry doesn't sell newspapers, but I think it's certainly salutary given all that we've had to contend with over the last few years.

So now Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly have taken the first significant action to take away collective bargaining rights from most public workers. And lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private-sector unions from forcing workers to pay dues or fees,...

America's interest in China has reached the level of obsession. So much so that growing numbers of Americans now see China -- incorrectly -- as the world's leading economic power. According to Pew Research's January survey, 47% of respondents cite China has a bigger economy than the US....

The recent capitulation of Blockbuster video to Netflix has engendered a lot of ink. Most business writers seem to be getting no end of schadenfreude at the sight of the king of the late fees (Blockbuster collected half a billion dollars in late fees in its heyday) getting...

America is a nation of optimists. Just two years after declaring this the worst financial crisis since the age of Busby Berkeley and speakeasies, it now appears that we are starting to ante up again by releasing our cash. Maybe spending is part of what makes us American--our founding fathers,...

As election season nears, we once again find ourselves in the hot zone of political rhetoric and cable-news hysterics. Many of you will remember the congressman (I've omitted names in this article in order to avoid the invidiousness that is most political commentary) who used a brief speech on the...

The Obama administration - fresh on the heels of its financial regulation reform legislative victory - has now set its sights on the housing market. Proposals will be forthcoming in January, probably to include a continued prop up of mortgage-finance. Republicans, who have come up with the mid-term locution of...

One unexpected side effect of economic hard times is a sharp decline in birth rates. In Illinois, for example, the birth rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1933, the darkest days of the Great Depression. "Many couples are strained and don't want to take on...

The health care reform bill provides millions of dollars to educate new doctors via several programs, but the nation still faces a severe shortage of physicians and it's uncertain if medical schools have the capability or desire to add an adequate number of physicians to fill the void....

Until recently, 70 percent of the United States' GDP was spent on consumer goods and housing, according to Greg Ip, a senior writer for the Wall Street Journal. Because the Great Recession scared Americans to the point where they started saving money for the first time in...