Perspectives

Think voting discrimination is largely a thing of the past? Think again.

The insurgents are not only in a struggle against what they see as oppression by a largely Shiite government in Baghdad and its security forces, but also over who will control and benefit from the nation's oil.

Should we really be listening to Washington's "armchair warriors" who were wrong before, during and after the Iraq war -- and never admitted their wrongdoing?

Businesses are realizing they cannot succeed over the long term without the purchasing power of the middle class.

Critics worry that the retail giant will "Wal-Mart" organic food, pushing farms to relocate to unregulated regions abroad.

More than two trillion dollars later — without figuring in post-war costs still to come — Iraq is a catastrophe. And the cost of the war for Iraqis is beyond calculation.

Andrew Bacevich asserts that the "impoverished state of US foreign-policy discourse is laid bare" in a recent New Republic essay by historian Robert Kagan.

Creating 217,000 new jobs is not a sign of economic health. Measuring the job market by quantity — with no regard for quality — devalues workers themselves.

Historian and essayist Eric Alterman says neocon pundits are using the press to resell us the same damaged goods on Iraq.

Thanks to the efforts of people like Anat Admati and Sheila Bair, there is some good news in the area of financial reform, focused on greater equity in the financial system.