One of the lessons I learned in my first management course is you can't improve something unless you can measure it. Let's apply that to government.

As ambitious government programs go, it's hard to top the "Great Society," which recently marked its 50th anniversary. President Lyndon Johnson, after all, vowed "to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty."

That's a tall order. Five decades, nearly $22 trillion and roughly 80 welfare programs later, it's fair to ask how we're doing. The short answer? Not well. more >>

Tomorrow, state officials in California will review a petition to gain a vote in November that would reduce prison sentences for non-violent felonies. Backers claim that there are more than 800,000 signatures already, which exceeds the 504,000 signatures needed. If passed, the law would reduce the long sentences for minor drug possessions, shoplifting, check forgeries, and other such non-violent felonies to misdemeanors.

Allow felons to vote? Watch this clip from Making Money with Charles Payne discussing the issue of allowing convicted felons to vote. Be sure to watch Charles' new show! It is on Fox Business Monday - Friday from 6 - 7 PM ET.

This is a curious turn of events for several reasons: more >>

WASHINGTON – For the conservative movement to succeed it must reach out to "average working Americans," says former United States Senator Rick Santorum.

In a speech at the "Road to Majority 2014" conference on Friday morning, Santorum stressed the need to appeal to what he has in the past called "blue-collar conservatives."

"As a movement we have not been connecting with the people who are hurting in this country and providing them a message and a plan for them to embrace and live the American dream," said Santorum. more >>

Dr. Cornel West is a leading liberal public intellectual. He gave an interview to NewsOne immediately following the 2012 Election that was nothing if not provocative. Dr. West said he was happy Romney didn't win, but far from satisfied with the Obama record and especially with the just-ended presidential campaign:

So we end up with such a narrow, truncated political discourse, as the major problems-ecological catastrophe, climate change, global warming. So it's very sad. I mean, I'm glad there was not a right-wing takeover, but we end up with a Republican, a Rockefeller Republican in blackface, with Barack Obama, so that our struggle with regard to poverty intensifies.

Say that again? If one of my conservative colleagues had dared to say anything remotely like that, he (or she) would have been charged with racism of the worst sort. Still, it is worth considering the merits of Cornel West's argument. more >>

It seems that every day a new review of Thomas Pikkety's book, Capital in the Twenty First Century, appears on the scene. I've certainly gained new insights about political economics from reading these essays, both pro and con. Thankfully, as a result, I feel safe in using the time I would have needed to read the 700-page tome for more productive activities.

But I do want to share an insight gathered from reading those commentaries. For those readers who have not been following the Pikkety phenomenon, his book is about wealth inequality, whether it is inevitably going to get worse, which presumably is bad for society if it does, and therefore Pikkety has a global wealth tax idea to save civilization from the grip of too few wealthy people, leaving even fewer of them surviving. Predictably, those on the left are enamored of the book, while those on the right are at best skeptical.

The main insight I gathered was a strong suspicion that the real reason for lusting after a wealth tax was simply a case of covetousness and envy. I was not the only person to be struck by the envy of the left; several other commentators also remarked on the unseemliness of the apparently envious motives (not necessarily on the part of Pikkety, but from some of the commentators enthralled with the idea of trashing the currently wealthy). more >>

Summer is officially upon us, and millions of American families will soon be embarking on their annual trips to the beach, the mountains, the lake, grandma's house, or any other of the fantastic destinations our country has to offer.

The beginning of "summer driving season" is also a time when many Americans turn even greater attention to the price of gasoline. After all, traveling several hundred or more miles in a loaded up minivan can rack up an awfully large fuel bill.

But what about this year? Everyone knows that domestic oil production has been surging, and that this has created tens of thousands of jobs and improved our balance of trade. Doesn't the Great American Oil Boom also mean that families won't have to spend as much on the Great American Road Trip? One might be inclined to think that, but summer fuel prices tell us otherwise. more >>