I found "The Forgotten Man" disappointing. A much better treatment of the Depression is "New Deal or Raw Deal?" by Burton Folsom. Robert Sobel's 1998 biography, "Coolidge", is excellent. I doubt Amity's new book can improve on it.

Before Ike, Truman loaned the French $1.2 billion to finance their war. And before that Truman failed to heed MacArthur's advice to stop the French from reimposing colonial rule in Vietnam. Our venture in Vietnam was minor under Truman, a little worse under Ike and JFK, and a catastrophe under LBJ.

What makes a president great? I suggest building the country should be an important consideration. If so, then the three greatest were Washington, Jefferson, and Polk, because each one gave us about one-third of the country.

Doesn't Calabria's chart merely reflect the fact that affordable mortgages became much more available after 1950 than before?

Corbett, why is it so difficult for you to understand that the Fifth Amendment (except the eminent domain part) provides only for procedures in criminal cases, and has nothing to do with people who wage war on this country? War and crime are very different, in case you don't know.

The sequester requires total spending cuts of only about 100 billion per year, half in defense and half in domestic spending. Given a trillion dollar deficit every year, that means a reduction in the deficit of only about 10%. I say, let the sequester begin, and no more tax increases of any kind.

About 50% of us on Social Security don't really need SS benefits. Means-testing (i.e., reducing benefits as income increases) would go a long way to solving the SS financial problem. However, the greater problem is political: too many seniors say "I paid in for 40 years, and I am entitled to the money," even if they don't need it.

Social Security can be saved by means-testing. But "means-testing" is a term which does not make a good sales pitch to the sheeple. Frame it in terms of soaking the evil rich and you will have a winning sales pitch.

The biggest problem with our government is that it is infested with Ivy League graduates. Those clowns could screw up chicken soup. In over 30 years of law practice I would occasionally run into Ivy Leaguers. They were always mediocre or below average in ability. The notion that Ivy Leaguers are smarter than the rest of us is the opposite of the truth.

Correctomundo, PT! After graduating from a Jesuit university where I was an average student I took some "edumacation" courses at a state college. What a joke! The students were simpletons, the PhD. professors were worse, and the courses were utterly devoid of content.

As Will Rogers said, "We have the best Congress money can buy." Serious budget cuts are unlikely because spending serves the self-interest of politicians. It's all about the money. When politicians grant a tax break or subsidy to a company, the politician profits too, whether in the form of campaign contributions, payoffs to family members who are lobbyists, insider trading, or some other scam. Greed and corruption rule the system.