Via Insatpundit, the coming middle-class anarchy. I believe circumstances like the one described in the post is the major driving force behind the Tea Party movement and what is almost certain to be a big Republican surge in November. It will not, in my view, devolve into some sort of anarchy, but it will create big political swings, unless and until one party or the other gets a handle on the situation. In 1932, it was FDR and the Democrats who seized the imagination of the public, creating hope and confidence, at least among a very large segment of the population, which allowed the Democrats to get a stranglehold on the political system that lasted for decades. Will one party or the other do the same in 2012? Or will the situation be muddled so badly that a new party arises, as was the case in the 1850s with the disintegration of the Whig Party and the rise of the GOP over the issue of slavery? Time will tell.

George Will writes about Barack Obama's Seventies show.

Amir Taheri writes about the growing influence of the Iranians on the government of Iraq.

Fareed Zakaria writes about the possible collapse of North Korea.

Robert J. Samuelson wonders if the Federal Reserve can do anything to improve the economy.

Paul Krugman points out the fact that the Chinese have almost a monopoly on rare earth resources, and are throwing their weight around. Krugman is wrong about a lot of things, but he is not wrong about how the Butchers of Beijing are behaving.

Scholars re-discover the 'culture of poverty' and are, at last, starting to spend real time and effort on researching how and why it develops.

Tom Brokaw points out that only a small percentage of Americans are bearing the majority of the burdens imposed by our two wars.

Ross Douthat outlines the comfortable illusions most liberals continue to hold about the Tea Party movement.