Commentary by Froma Harrop

If You Like Local Government...By Froma Harrop

A rebounding economy will not be enough to pull state governments out of their fiscal mess, says a new report from the State Budget Crisis Task Force. While health and other costs continue to grow, important sources of revenues are shrinking, the group led by former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch noted. One of those sources is sales taxes. Some states rely on them heavily for revenues. (Only four don't have sales taxes -- Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon.)

Are Some Republicans Ready to Deal on Taxes? by Froma Harrop

Nowadays, few politicians will stray from party orthodoxy without also taking unfair whacks at the opposition. Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican from Oklahoma, is braver and more principled than most. But even he felt obliged to take partisan cover in his most recent blast at activist Grover Norquist, enforcer of the absurd pledge never to let anyone's taxes rise ever.

The Worst Financial Scandal Yet? By Froma Harrop

If only one in four American adults can name his or her U.S. senators, we can assume that even fewer know what Libor is. Libor (pronounced lie-bor) is at the center of another major financial scandal, but that may not improve its name recognition much. This is summer, after all, and making sense of financial manipulation requires effort.

Where They Play, Rich Conservatives Like Zoning by Froma Harrop

The weekend's memorable photo is of Mitt Romney driving his massive powerboat past a privately built castle, not unlike his own, on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee. On Sunday, he moseyed across the Long Island Sound to the beachy pleasure dome of billionaire conservative David Koch, in Southampton, N.Y. -- for a $75,000-a-couple dinner to raise money from like-minded Republicans. Not far away, Koch's brother Bill, a fellow funder of conservative causes, holds court in the exclusive waterfront enclave of Osterville, on Cape Cod.

Executive Women Are Not That Special, Either by Froma Harrop

Two cultural events have caught our attention this season. One is the stern graduation speech at Wellesley (Mass.) High School in which teacher David McCullough Jr. told pampered students, "Do not get the idea you're anything special." The other was an article in The Atlantic magazine by Anne-Marie Slaughter titled, "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."

The War Against Battered and Confused Addicts by Froma Harrop

Rodney King's best statement isn't what he's famous for.

The Long, Hot Summer of Work By Froma Harrop

With summer's arrival comes a journalistic convention that seems more and more dated. It is the "summer reading list" of books, often beside a graphic showing a bathing suit and sunglasses.

The Dream Act Undeferred By Froma Harrop

In helping young illegal immigrants stay in the country, President Obama did the right thing for the wrong reason and in a strange context. Obama decreed that illegal immigrants who came here as children could stay without fear of deportation, if the following conditions are met: They've been in the country for at least five years. They're in school or high-school graduates, or have served in the military. They are under 30 and have committed no crimes. More than 1 million people may qualify.

Why the U.S. Is Not Greece By Froma Harrop

America is not going the way of Greece, and North Dakota has shown us why. Residents were given the opportunity Tuesday to vote their property taxes out of existence, and they chose not to take it.

A Modern Economy Has Universal Health Care By Froma Harrop

For now, let's drop the talk about wanting a liberal America or a conservative America. What we truly need is a modern America. No country can be modern spending twice what its rich competitors do on health care while leaving millions without any coverage.

West of Wisconsin By Froma Harrop

My right-wing friend, ginned up (literally) from his team's impending "victory" in Wisconsin, called me on Tuesday night. I took some of his glow off by noting that I, too, would have been hard-pressed to remove a governor who had committed no crime. Opposition to the recall did not necessarily signal affection for Gov. Scott Walker. Furthermore, I expressed my satisfaction in the electoral reforms being tried in California, changes that would weaken the partisan clubhouse in which my friend found political and social refuge.

Turbulent Tykes Torture Other Travelers By Froma Harrop

The now storied Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Miami has opened debate on unruly children in crowded airplanes. It seems a 3-year-old, having had his iPad removed in preparation for takeoff, threw a tantrum. Sitting with his father, Mark Yanchuk, little Daniel would not be calmed and refused to properly wear a seat belt. His mother, grandmother and a 1-year-old sibling had escaped to first class.

Dumb Money for Dummies By Froma Harrop

In the beginning, there was pump and dump. In the dot-com bubble of the late '90s, the stock-analyzing arms of investment banks would pump up a new stock's price with rave reviews.

The 'Geezers' Are Right This Time By Froma Harrop

Alan Simpson let loose at a group of Californians who charged in a brochure that he and Erskine Bowles were "using the deficit to gut our Social Security." The former Republican senator from Wyoming sent the California Association of Retired Americans a characteristically colorful response, which I quote: "What a wretched group of seniors you must be to use the faces of the very people (the young) that we are trying to save, while the 'greedy geezers' like you use them as a tool and a front for your nefarious bunch of crap."

Bain And Our Screwed-Up Culture By Froma Harrop

We recently saluted Leslie Sabo for giving his life to save fellow soldiers in Vietnam 40 years ago. Injured after shielding a comrade with his body, the Pennsylvanian grabbed his grenade and stormed the foe's bunker. He died in the explosion. For his selflessness, America awarded Sabo the Congressional Medal of Honor.    

The United States of Gambling By Froma Harrop

A surprising fact: Gamblers spent more last year at commercial casinos in Indiana than they did at non-Indian casinos in all but three other states -- not surprisingly, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 11 casinos and two racinos (horse racing tracks with slots) are the Hoosier State's third-largest source of tax revenues.    

Grief Is Not a Mental Illness By Froma Harrop

We moderns seem determined to suppress all unhappiness with one exception: grief. The intense sadness following loss of a loved one still occupies a warm spot in our culture. We want that pain protected from the deadening analgesics of pharmaceuticals.

That explains the American Psychiatric Association's decision to retreat from a plan to categorize ordinary grief as an adjustment disorder. Some wanted to classify a response to significant loss -- deep sadness, insomnia, poor appetite, inability to concentrate, crying -- lasting more than two weeks as a depression rather than normal grief, drawing fire from both mental-health professionals and ordinary folk.

Education Should Have Second and Third Acts By Froma Harrop

On the HBO series "Girls," Hannah asks her boss at a publishing house for a salary. The 24-year-old has been working as an unpaid intern for over a year, and her parents will no longer support her.

Throwing American Tradition in the Cultural Mixmaster By Froma Harrop

The overnight rating for the Kentucky Derby telecast has slipped again, hitting a six-year low. This was despite NBC's best efforts to fill the hours with such celebrities as "Two and a Half Men" star Ashton Kutcher and Debra Messing from "Smash." Or was it because of them? A romantic 138-year tradition grown from the bluegrass soil and Southern gentility becomes a blob of homogenized commercial promotion.

Romney Must Choose By Froma Harrop

You have to wonder why some gay advocates -- like a few believers in birth control, global warming and evolution -- remain loyal Republicans even as the right wing drags their party back to the beginning of the 20th century, if not the 19th. While governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney planted himself mostly in the future.