Charlie Gasparino writes about the coming meltdown in the 'muni' market. Investors are justifiably getting spooked by the possibility that politicians in some states will be unable to come to agreement on balancing their budgets. While it is my understanding that there is no current legal process for a state to go bankrupt, it does seem possible that a state could fall into a grey area of being unable to pay its bills. That could lead to a collapse in the value of that state's bonds, and make it unable to issue new ones at any interest rate.

Robert J. Samuelson points out to those who insist these are the worst times in America since the end of World War II that there was a period, we call it 'the Sixties', when things seemed much worse. From the assassination of JFK in November of '63 to the resignation of Nixon in August of '74, America seemed to be coming apart at the seams. A bloody war in Vietnam (averaging 150 American dead a week), assassinations of our leaders (JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr.), race riots in our major cities, anti-war sit-ins and demonstrations shutting down our universities, a huge upsurge in violent crime, and the collapse of the U.S. Army by the early 70s (not as well documented, but I heard some hair-raising stories from veterans of the Army during that time who saw a total breakdown of discipline, including racial animosity, brawls and riots, rampant drug use, even rape and murder on post). Our current era is tame by comparison.

Robert Kagan writes about the necessity for maintaining our military presence across the globe, and the dangers we face should we succumb to the call for retrenchment and isolation.