After the November election, there will be a major effort in Congress to pass a budget deal that will make cuts in Social Security, raise the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age, and perhaps more–unless we act to stop it with a solution that is close at hand. 

There is agreement from the Wall Street Journal’s David Wessel to liberal economists Dean Baker and Paul Krugman that the pressure will be on to reach a Simpson/Bowles type of compromise.  

Pundits from both sides of the aisle have lauded Mitt Romney’s strong debate performance, praising his preparedness and ability to challenge President Obama’s policies and accomplishments. But Romney only accomplished this goal by repeatedly misleading viewers. He spoke for 38 minutes of the 90 minute debate and told at least 27 myths:

Political reporters and pundits lean heavily on the horse race method of coverage, which has badly hurt Mitt Romney for most of the campaign. Last night it helped him. Romney was forceful and articulate and dodged his association with almost all the most unpopular aspects of his platform. But his success at doing so was built upon two demonstrable untruths.

One of the mysteries of life in these curious times is that millions of Americans are enjoying the benefits of government — but are either unaware of it or in denial.

A 2008 study found that 40 percent of Medicare recipients, 44 percent of Social Security beneficiaries, 53 percent of people with student loans, and 60 percent of homeowners with taxpayer-subsidized mortgages answered “no” when asked whether they were using a government social program.

Code Pink activists gathered in Islamabad ready to join march led by Imran Khan into tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Not content with a planned march into one of Pakistan's most dangerous regions, a group of middle-aged American women are considering mounting a hunger strike outside the US embassy in Islamabad as part a campaign against CIA drone attacks in the country.

A cynical foreign policy/campaign strategy bombshell lurks, largely unnoticed, in the full transcript of the now-infamous "47 percent" tape secretly recorded at a Romney fundraiser. The remarks (revealed in the full Mother Jones transcript of the Florida mega-bucks gathering) further reinforce the dangerous gamble that the Romney campaign is making that if Americans were to be harmed or held hostage between now and election day,  the Romney campaign would attempt to use such a nightmare as a "game changer" in the 2012 election.