Ben W. Heineman Jr.

The book may seem inaccessible, especially when compared with another literary favorite, "The Great Gatsby"… More »

On Veteran's Day many Americans will continue their day without commemorating World War I's fallen soldiers… More »

U.S. war efforts are stymied at every turn by overwhelming corruption in Afghanistan. Is it time to admit the futility of reforming Afghan governance?… More »

How much does screenwriter Aaron Sorkin owe to the facts of Facebook's creation story—and the character of its founder?… More »

Actuaries estimate that even after last year's reform, health costs will rise at a 6.3 annual average over the next decade… More »

The 25 recommendations are crucial in understanding what led to the catastrophe in the Gulf… More »

The tech giant's chief is on his way out after a series of false claims on his expense account… More »

With the failure of the financial disclosure bill, the Senate opens the floodgates for hidden campaign expenditures… More »

Get ready for benignly named front groups, funded by unlimited corporate and union money, to dominate U.S. elections… More »

When Connecticut Attorney General and Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal said at a 2008 rally that "we have learned something important since the days I served in Vietnam," was he lying intentionally or making an unintentional mistake? This is the basic issue in an important political story which has mushroomed over the past week. If he was lying intentionally, that would raise questions of character and be an important campaign issue. If he made an…… More »

BP won't really change its behavior unless the company does its own inquiry into the oil spill… More »

How Europe's air carriers profit from putting dependability at the center of their business model… More »

Former Fed chief says private sector at fault for the financial crisis and adds to the growing consensus for reform.… More »

Obama's health care gamble echoes the decisions of Truman and LBJ… More »

The continuing scourge of international bribery--and the continuing lack of senior international anti-corruption leadership--were reflected in last week's settlement of a massive bribery case against a major international company, British Aerospace (BAE). The story is depressingly familiar. BAE denies allegations of widespread international bribery indignantly and self-righteously. In 2006, Prime Minister Blair and others effectively pressure an "independent" U.K…… More »

The headline in The New York Times story from the World Economic Forum read: "Leaders in Davos Admit Drop in Trust."No kidding! After poor business decision-making in the financial sector was a primary cause of the Great Recession, and after years of board and management mistakes leading to the bankruptcies of industrial icons GM and Chrysler, the business community today faces a crisis of confidence in its own ranks and in broader society. Regard for…… More »

The paradox of the United States Supreme Court is that, from one perspective, it is a traditional judicial institution deciding individual cases. But from another perspective, it makes broad value choices in the name of constitutional interpretation; strikes down acts of democratically elected legislatures; and issues rules with impact on our national life as great or greater than Acts of Congress. This paradox is vividly reflected in the Court's decision in…… More »

A fundamental precept for international companies is compliance with the law of the nation in which they do business. But a recurrent dilemma is what happens when that "national law" (e.g. state censorship in China) collides with the corporation's global ethical standards (e.g. "no censorship" for a media company)? The answers are not easy--or uniform. They depend, greatly, on the corporation's deeply held values and on strongly held views of important…… More »

Sometime in the next two months, the Congress will pass, and President Obama will sign, a health care bill that will increase coverage for approximately 30 million Americans (so that 94 percent of the population has insurance). But, while the legislation will provide means for improving the health of individuals, it fails to deal with the cancer in the health care system and in the economy: rising health care expenditures. (The bill will, in theory, not add to…… More »

For more than 200 years, there has been a great debate about whether elected representatives should be trustees for the whole nation or delegates for the constituents of their district or State. This democratic dilemma -- small "d" -- is now vividly on display as a group of centrist senators determine the final shape of health care reform, indeed decide whether there will be health care reform at all. None is in a more precarious position as "delegate" than…… More »