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 Why does Obama well lag behind Clinton, who he has far outstripped in legislative accomplishments, and find himself only eight points higher than Nixon, a president heading fast toward resignation? 

“Job security, with good wages and durable industries. A good education. A home to call your own. Affordable health care when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich.”

The New York Times reported last week that New York State’s health plans are set to fall 50 percent in cost, which prompted a fierce debate between right wing critics of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its defenders. But missing from the conversation was the fact that insurance companies, who are driven not by the public’s interest but by profits, still control the market.

Job security, with good wages and durable industries. A good education. A home to call your own. Affordable health care when you get sick. A secure retirement even if you’re not rich.

What's the best way to rebuild America's battered middle class: redistribute wealth downward from the top 1 percent? Or grow the overall economy? In fact, both strategies are crucial, but it will be interesting to see which path President Obama stresses tomorrow when he pivots back to economic issues with a major policy address. 

Location, location, location. It’s a real estate cliché, but also, according to a new study by a team of experts from Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, one of the most important factors for predicting intergenerational economic mobility in America. When it comes to the whether a poor child born in America can climb up from the lowest rungs on the economic ladder, place matters.

And you thought the government didn’t have a jobs program. It does. The problem is that the pay and benefits are lousy, and in many cases the working conditions ain’t so great either.

Employer-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s are workers' best hope for a secure retirement. Critics of the 401(k) system contend that the plans weren't designed to be the foundation of a secure retirement and should be scrapped in favor of something tailor-made, while supporters of the system say it just needs fine-tuning. While regulators, academics and the financial industry tussle over the best way to get everyone to retirement, investors have to keep saving as much as possible and, just as importantly, keep expenses low.

Ian Ayres of Yale University has the 401(k) marketplace fuming.