MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.

Love it or hate it, Medicare is driving itself and our country broke. The president’s proposed policy and that of Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, are viewed as miles apart. The reality is different. And the silly name-calling is obscuring their considerable common ground. It’s even confusing a major presidential candidate.

In a far-off land called I’m Right, You’re Wrong, a fierce drug-legalization debate is raging. Half the people, libertarians, say drug use should be legal. The other half, moral purists, insist it shouldn’t. They disagree even on what to call it when those who buy or sell drugs are led off to jail. The libertarians call this a form of taxation — specifically, a tax on the time of the buyer and seller. The moral purists prefer the term criminal penalties.

The worst case. Those three words have been at the back of everyone’s mind ever since the Fukushima reactors began malfunctioning after being swamped by a tsunami. Remarkably, these reactors have been at the front of few experts’ mouths. Many experts have shied away from describing worst-case outcomes, which are terrifying to contemplate and risky to mention. The risk isn’t just panicking the public. Crying wolf can threaten one’s expert status.

President Barack Obama’s administration and Congress continue to ignore the primary cause of our financial debacle and to propose reforms that badly miss the mark. The cause was first and foremost financial fraud, of which the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ...