Mideast talks: Flicker of light amid the gloom

Sometimes, important news events manage to sneak through under the radar. That has happened many times in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which usually receives far too much media attention, often with damaging consequences.Ambitious efforts to forge peace have often cracked under the red-hot spotlight, where negotiators and politicians make vows and promises they later find difficult to retract. But quieter, behind the scenes activities have a history of producing happy surprises.Of course, quiet ef

Jan. 18, 2012

Courting Episcopalians

In a provocative act with religious and cultural implications, Pope Benedict XVI has created an ordinariate ― similar to a diocese ― for disaffected Episcopalians who are converting to Roman Catholicism. It will be headed by a married former Episcopal bishop, and it will allow congregations that make the switch to retain aspects of the Anglican liturgy, including the majestic Book of Common Prayer. The defection of Episcopalians en masse might seem of interest only to students of religion, but i

Jan. 18, 2012

Look at jobs before you leap on older retirement

Has the ailing economy forced older workers to delay their retirement? The conventional wisdom certainly suggests so. A recent front-page story in the Washington Post was headlined: “Ranks of older workers swelling: Data show employment surged among those 55 and over since recession.” The reality, though, is more complicated. The financial crisis caused more workers to want to delay retirement, but the labor market limited their ability to do it. The net effect of these opposing supply and deman

Jan. 18, 2012

U.S. can nurture Arab Spring’s economic roots

Saturday (Jan. 13) marked one year since uprisings in the Arab world for the first time extirpated an autocrat: Tunisia’s Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisians marked the anniversary by commemorating Mohamed Bouazizi, the young fruit vendor who sparked the Arab Spring when he set himself afire in front of a government office after police confiscated his cart. Today, it’s worth remembering that as much as the region’s rebellions are about the yearning for political freedom, they are also about the d

Jan. 17, 2012

Wall Street’s justice is a kangaroo court

There has been a fair amount written recently about various institutional cartels that are thriving in the U.S. despite antitrust laws designed to prevent their existence. My previous column compared Wall Street’s few remaining investment banks to a cartel, with explicit pricing power over its hundreds of thousands of customers, an advantage that will only grow greater as the economy improves and the number of thriving banks continues to diminish. Likewise, Joe Nocera, a columnist for the New Yo

Jan. 17, 2012

Margaret Thatcher and the plague of fake female empowerment

Two items have recently burst onto the media scene: a movie called “The Iron Lady” about one of the greatest women in history ― former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ― and a growing European recall of breast implants in danger of exploding. I wonder what the former would say about the latter. Did it ever cross Thatcher’s mind that women’s lives could be meaningfully enhanced by surgically strapping gel packs to their chests? How did women get from Thatcher to this?Any such unfortunate

Jan. 17, 2012

You can’t fake youth ― don’t even try

If you’re around my age, which can be defined as “too old for work-study but too young for cremation,” you might already know what I’ve only recently learned: you can pretend to be older but you cannot pretend to be younger.And yet entire industries, magazine empires, advertising conglomerates and the global conspiracy of Spanx manufacturers are trying to convince women otherwise.At one point, I loved looking older than my years. Didn’t we all once love not getting carded at bars when our friend

Jan. 16, 2012

‘Mayonnaise’ Romney needs to spice up his pitch

Mitt Romney, who gets an 85.5 percent probability to win the Republican presidential nomination by the online betting service Intrade.com, is a formidable candidate ― on paper. He is handsome, articulate, has impeccable integrity and a charming, down-to-earth wife. He’s ideologically close to the American center and can boast of success in diverse endeavors. It’s in person where his problems begin. He’s decent and likeable enough, both critics and some supporters agree. They also agree he doesn’

Jan. 16, 2012

Simplifying immigration

The U.S. immigration system is a capricious and convoluted bureaucracy. Take, for example, the rules that children and spouses of U.S. citizens must navigate to legalize their status.Currently, immigrants who qualify for a visa, and ultimately a green card, must return to their homelands to receive it. The problem is that the moment they leave the United States, they trigger automatic sanctions that bar them from returning for up to 10 years. Some can secure waivers to re-enter, but only if they

Jan. 16, 2012

Obama’s personality under the microscope

Barack Obama puzzles many of us. His performance as president has disappointed so dramatically that it prompts me to wonder what makes him tick.The most widely used tool for understanding personality types is a questionnaire called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. So I bought a book called “Do What You Are,” by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger, and read their explanation of the Myers-Briggs classifications to try to understand our president in the broad terms commonly used by professionals.

Jan. 15, 2012

Keep the pressure on Assad to stop Syrian violence

Speaking from what he apparently considers a position of strength, Syrian President Bashar Assad this week condemned the “terrorists,” “traitors” and “outsiders” he said were leading the 10-month-old uprising against him and threatened to strike his enemies with an “iron fist.” Preventing such an offensive by the regime, which has complied only fitfully with a demand by the Arab League that it restrain itself, will be difficult. But the Arab League and the United Nations can and must do more to

Jan. 15, 2012

Pentagon fires at budget targets that can’t be hit

At some point in every negotiation over fiscal policy, once the high-minded speeches and other pleasantries have been delivered, the disagreeable details poison the atmosphere. Everyone is in favor of tax and entitlement reform, after all, until they see the specifics. The reaction to the cost-cutting strategy that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed last week suggests this is about to happen with regard to Pentagon spending. Let me be very clear: Substantial efficiencies can and should be w

Jan. 15, 2012