What should be done about income inequality? That basic question underlies the arguments hashed out in the supercommittee and promises to be a central issue in the presidential campaign.

If the Florida Legislature wants to pound another nail in the coffin of the middle class during this long recession, it can go ahead with the ill-conceived idea of eliminating tax-free Internet shopping.

Congress comes back from its Thanksgiving recess this week to what could result in one of the most jam-packed three weeks of congressional session in recent years.

How come 47 beat-up states can pare their budgets in bad times, but the bloated federal government can't?

"People who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks."

-- Randall Jarrell,

"A Sad Heart at the Supermarket"

A controversial decision this month by Gadsden County, allowing voters to decide whether to have slot machines at the new Gretna horse race track, has prompted several copycat efforts in other counties, despite questions over the legality of slots.

The only winners so far in the effort to allow luxury resort casinos in South Florida, which has widespread implications for every form of gambling in the state, are lobbyists.

Gambling groups from across the nation have spent millions on outside lobbyists since July in preparation for a legislative session that will be dominated by the debate over "destination" resort casinos and their impact on everything from Internet cafes topari-mutuel race tracks,video gaming vendors, and the Seminole Tribe's casinos.

According to some historians, the first feast of thanks took place in St. Augustine in 1565, more than 50 years before what most of us were taught was the first Thanksgiving.