ANALYSIS & OPINION

A solution for underwater mortgages: Eminent domain

Tue, Jun 19, 2012, 5:57 PM EDT

To revive the nation's sluggish housing market, principal writedowns are going to be necessary. But who is best positioned to do them? Cities, using their power of eminent domain.

Christopher Papagianis

Why not enact an ‘intelligent’ national infrastructure plan?

The future of infrastructure in the U.S. is about achieving system performance rather than always adding raw capacity. Technology is leading the way to what could be a plan for intelligent reform.

Steven Brill

Votes and dollar signs, cancer cure-rate claims, present at the euro’s creation

Why not post relevant campaign contribution tallies whenever any politician is written about as taking one position or another on an issue?

Ian Bremmer

The good, the bad and the global economy

Barring some kind of radical decoupling, the correlation in fates between the U.S., Europe, and the developing world is a phenomenon we had better get used to, and understand, because it’s not going away.

Hugo Dixon

Greek vote is a cause for relief but not rejoicing

The Greeks have bought themselves a breathing space by voting for pro-bailout parties. But the resulting coalition may be weak and the economy is still shrinking. Greece must make the most of this window and the rest of the zone must brace itself. The crisis hasn’t gone away.

Jack Shafer

Who jumped first from the newspaper sinking ship?

Newspaper owners who spied the newspaper bubble early were the small fry at Harte-Hanks and Park, who got out of newspapers in the late 1990s, and the multibillionaire Canadians who issue my paycheck, the Thomsons, who started selling their 140-plus chain of newspapers in the mid-1990s.

James Ledbetter

What public unions and gay marriage have in common

It turns out that killing off public-sector unions is a lot harder than most people imagine. And, curiously, the reason is related to recent court decisions about gay marriage.