For the last two years, the news media has complained about a do-nothing Congress and a broken system. In fact, the 111th Congress, which cast its final vote on Wednesday, will go down as one of the most productive in recent memory. In 2010 alone, it overhauled health care, reformed Wall Street, extended unemployment benefits to record levels and closed the year with a decidedly un-lame "lame-duck" session.
Encore, please?
Making predictions is hard, especially about the future. But here we go anyway -- the 10 stories that will (probably) define 2011:
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Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the Work in Progress newsletter.
Daniel Indiviglio was an associate editor at The Atlantic from 2009 through 2011. He is now the Washington, D.C.-based columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He is also a 2011 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow through the Phillips Foundation.