In this recovery the distribution of economic gains has clearly been upside-down. While business profits are soaring to record levels, income growth is extremely slow and wage and employment gains have lagged significantly.

Growing international fears about Iran's nuclear capabilities have raised critical questions for regional and global security. The growing nuclear crisis comes amid a series of troubling developments: Iran's emergence as the dominant regional power as Iraq and Afghanistan decline; a tighter conservative grip on politics after flawed parliamentary elections; and a steep decline in U.S.-Iranian relations.

Consolidation in the media has emerged as a major threat to American democracy. As fewer media companies determine what hundreds of millions of people see, read and hear, public opinion and debate are shaped in profoundly important ways.