Pilgrims Planted the Seeds of America's Abundance
"There came a smell off the shore like the smell of a garden." -- John Winthrop, off the New England coast, 1630 If John Winthrop was in clined to find godly favor in the wilds of New England, other newcomers didn't see the signs the same way. William Bradford landed a decade before Winthrop. "What could they see," he wrote of the Pilgrims confronting the new land, "but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men?" Half of them died that first terrible winter in Plymouth, and if it weren't for constant human reinforcements, New...

A Skeptical Biden's Role
WASHINGTON -- With President Barack Obama finally ready to announce his decision about Afghanistan, it's a good time to examine the role played by Vice President Joe Biden, who emerged during the policy review as the administration's in-house skeptic -- the "questioner in chief," as one insider puts it. Biden has been the point man in challenging some premises of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategy, according to civilian and military officials involved in the review. He was dubious about committing more troops when the administration announced its initial strategy in...

On Foreign-Policy Front, Consider Obama Lucky -- So Far
Barack Obama has had an exceptionally lucky first year. All newly elected U.S. presidents arrive in office hoping to avoid the unforeseen foreign-policy crises that upend their domestic agendas. In John Kennedy's first year, he stumbled into the Bay of Pigs, and the Soviets built the Berlin Wall. Lyndon Johnson landed the Gulf of Tonkin incident and China's first atomic test. Gerald Ford got the fall of Saigon. Ronald Reagan got martial law in Poland and the assassination of Anwar Sadat. George H.W. Bush got Tiananmen Square. Bill Clinton got the first World Trade Center bombing, a...

We Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet." High unemployment, the recession and a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are bad enough. But there are a number of problems on the horizon that could dwarf President Obama's first-year trials. Why the pessimism? In short, we are doing nothing to prepare for the crises to come. A global recession has led to low oil prices. Yet in this window of opportunity, America has not decreased its foreign-oil dependence. We are not encouraging domestic exploration. And we...

Scroogenomics
WASHINGTON -- Another huge value-destroying hurricane is about to slam America, destroying billions of dollars of value. Another Katrina? No, another Christmas. This voluntary December calamity is explained in a darkly amusing little book that is about the size of an iPhone. "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays" comes from a distinguished publisher, Princeton University Press, and an eminent author, Joel Waldfogel of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school. He says that the crux of Yuletide economics, which common sense suggests...