Topic: Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Playing the IRS card: Six presidents who used the IRS to bash political foes

Since the advent of the federal income tax about a century ago, several presidents – or their zealous underlings – have directed the IRS to use its formidable police powers to harass or punish enemies, political rivals, and administration critics. Here are six infamous episodes.
Top 5 bull markets since 1929

The bull market that started in 2009 is currently the fifth most spectacular rise in stock prices since at least 1929. Can you guess which bull markets have been even more impressive?
Presidential libraries: from Boston to Honolulu ... or maybe Chicago

Presidential libraries can be found coast to coast, and may even go beyond that once a site is selected for President Obama's future repository of documents and artifacts. To quickly hopscotch around to the 13 official presidential libraries and museums overseen by the National Archives, plus that of Abraham Lincoln, check out this library list.
Inauguration 2013: 10 highlights from previous second-term addresses

Barack Obama will be the 17th American president to deliver two inaugural addresses. Here are 10 highlights from such speeches by previous two-term presidents, including the shortest one ever.
Harry Truman: 7 quotes on his birthday

May 8, 2012, marks Harry S. Truman's 128th birthday. His folksy sense of humor and political grit are exemplified by a selection of aphorisms in 'Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists' by James Geary.

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Obama-Clinton ticket in 2012? Why Democrats are talking about it now.

Working-class whites – a group that Hillary Clinton resonated with in the 2008 primaries – are rushing to the Republican camp.
Eliot Spitzer on CNN: Does he deserve a second chance?

Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former New York governor, co-hosts a high-profile new talk show beginning Monday.
Republican 'tough love' economics: Social Darwinism for the 21st century

Like Herbert Hoover's treasury secretary, House Minority Leader John Boehner thinks tough-love spending cuts will end the recession. It didn't work in 1929 and it won't work today. What it will do is hurt the poorest even more.
Five stages of grief over the 'great recession' (officially 2007-2009)

Economists have declared the recession over. Now the grieving begins, one stage at a time.
New Deal's legacy responsible for today's economy?

As the economy created by government entitlement programs collapses, economists of the Austrian school should speak out.
Opinion: Final exams at Harvard are so 20th-century

Harvard University is moving further away from final exams. And that’s a good thing.
Why doesn’t Obama wear his religion on his sleeve?

What will it take for Obama to convince the world that he’s a Christian, or at least not a Muslim? Teaching Baptist Sunday School like Jimmy Carter? Putting a 'My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter' bumper sticker on Air Force One?
Boomers spend less. The economy exhales.

Some economists blame boomers for the continued economic downturn, but relax. We're still in the early stages of the correction.
Architects of Power

How Roosevelt and Eisenhower transformed the United States into a global superpower.
In Pictures: Presidential weddings
Hoover's dam folly: Why Keynesian New Deal policies failed

Politicians cannot calculate the economic profits and losses of government interventions.
Gallery: Presidential vacations
Stimulus vs. austerity: the perennial debate

To avoid a repeat recession, should President Obama spend more, or less?
Is Obama a socialist? What does the evidence say?

Some critics cite government 'takeover' of business and 'giveaways' to the poor as signs that President Obama is a socialist. Members of the Socialist Party are among those who disagree.
G20 meddlers at it again

The message emphasized throughout the G20 Summit was to cut government deficits in half by 2013 and stabilize the ratio of dept to GDP by 2016. But at the rate we're going, is it possible?
Elena Kagan: Would she turn Supreme Court into We the People?

Elena Kagan, if confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice, would shift the balance dramatically – with three women and a Jewish-Catholic bloc. So would the high court look like We the People?
Obama speech on BP oil spill a call to action for clean energy

Obama's speech Tuesday night on the BP oil spill gave the president a platform to urge a 'national mission' to create a 'clean energy future.' The address was long on big picture and short on detail.
The Icarus Syndrome

How hubris – in various shapes and forms – played a role in America’s decision to go to war in Iraq.
Lyndon B. Johnson

This biography of LBJ is the latest in the well-received American Presidents Series.
Gulf spill: Where's the outrage, Mr. Obama?

In the Gulf spill and other recent scandals, President Obama has shown corporate America too much deference.
Rand Paul and the limits of the 'tea party' revolution

Rand Paul, Republican candidate for US Senate from Kentucky, is perhaps the closest thing there is to a 'tea party' candidate. In that light, his recent controversial comments are telling.
Opinion: A new way to blend Republican and Democratic values

Americans trust community approaches, not pure individualism or big, federal government.
Last Call

How dry was Prohibition? Some say the law did much to spike sales of alcohol.
Winston's War

This excellent biography turns a laser-like focus on five years in the life of Winston Churchill.
Gallery: Supreme Court Justices with no prior judicial experience