Leo W. Gerard, 11/28/11

International President, United Steelworkers

Americans don't like debt, including bills owed by their government. It weighs on them, even when it's to create jobs and speed recovery. That's why there was a deficit Super Committee. But for the majority of millionaires, incurring debt does not evoke anxiety.

Ben Affleck and Cindy McCain, 11/28/11

What do presidential and parliamentary elections in one of Africa's largest democracies have to do with you and with us? A lot.

Jeffrey Sachs, 11/28/11

Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University; Author, 'The Price of Civilization'

Across the ideological spectrum, we all agree on the need to end crony capitalism. But let us also work together not to cripple government but to make it work for all Americans.

Barry Levinson, 11/28/11

Academy Award-winning director, screenwriter and producer

If that great comedy team were still alive, the routine on our unemployment woes might go something like this.

David Frum, 11/27/11

Editor, FrumForum.com

A Gingrich presidency, if such a thing can even be imagined, would be a chaotic catastrophe. A Gingrich nomination would yield an Obama landslide. So that leaves us with the two governors, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

Elena Haliczer, 11/28/11

Product development for HuffPost Social News

We're excited to team up with Facebook to bring you the latest in HuffPost Social News: The Huffington Post Social Reader.

Raymond J. Learsy, 11/28/11

Author, 'Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption'

Sometimes it is not just the numbers. The human factor and historical imperatives need play their role in policy formation. For Germany and for Europe, much more is at stake than simply the balance sheet of the European Central Bank.

Douglas Anthony Cooper, 11/28/11

Novelist

Vampire science is already poaching some of the best. The woman who teaches vampires at Harvard is a serious scholar of Romantic English literature. Now, Lord Byron did in fact invoke the undead in "The Giaour." But don't kid yourself: it's still a huge and weird notional leap to go from Byron Studies to Vampire Studies.

Jared Bernstein, 11/27/11

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The more we learn about this one, the better. No one knows the likelihood of, say, Greece, to pull an example out of the air, pulling out of the Eurozone and reverting to the drachma. I'd guess not, but the potential is obviously real and growing.

Grant Thatcher, 11/28/11

Founder and Publishing Editor of LUXE City Guides, www.luxecityguides.com

I live in Hong Kong, where according to the tourist board there are more than 11,000 restaurants. That's a lot of choice.

Vicki Larson, 11/26/11

Journalist, mother, thinker

Whether you like his politics or not, there are two things about Newt Gingrich that almost all of us aren't too happy about: he's a cheater and he's twice-divorced.

Nikhil Goyal, 11/28/11

16-year-old junior at Syosset High School in Syosset, New York

It's time for America to embrace its inner Steve Jobs and live up to Apple's credo, "Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

David Katz, M.D., 11/28/11

Director, Yale Prevention Research Center

Good health is perennially on the list of reasons any family has to be thankful, and food is among the most potent of influences on health. The differential effects of pizza and a mixed green salad on health don't change just because politicians play around with the lexicon.

Michelangelo Signorile, 11/27/11

Editor-at-Large, Huffington Post Gay Voices; SiriusXM radio host

I wonder if Chait would think it "unreasonable" for black pundits to be disillusioned with a white president inviting a supporter of Jim Crow laws to speak at the inauguration. So why is pandering to homophobia still treated as something we should accept?

Al Checchi, 11/27/11

Author, 'The Change Maker'; chairman, Join Together America; former chairman, Northwest Airlines; former candidate for Governor of California

Debating tax policy now is putting the cart before the horse. The real issue is what the government should be doing. Then we can worry about how we should pay for it.

Peter Depp, 11/27/11

Nashville-based gay comic; co-star, 'Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys'

It's not easy being gay in America, and even harder in Nashville, due to the homophobic climate. So I've been asked by several people in Nashville, "Why would you do a show like Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys?"

Rana Florida, 11/28/11

CEO, Creative Class Group

Maria Lin, 11/27/11

Editor-in-chief, LearnVest

There is something to be said for not unwittingly losing the "warmth and conviviality" in our lives as we grow in our financial prosperity.

Jamie Lee Curtis, 11/26/11

Actress and children's book author

I like knowing names. We each have one of our own, and our parents obviously thought about our moniker and its meaning and import, and rarely do we each use them. So, I am proposing name tags for everyone.

Daoud Kuttab, 11/26/11

Palestinian journalist

Few in Washington may realize that the issue of U.S. funding for Palestine is the talk of the town in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities. And the talk is not pleasant.

Margaret Paul, Ph.D., 11/27/11

Bestselling author and relationship expert

Congratulations! You have succeeded in creating a terrible relationship! Now you can miserably and righteously leave your partner and do the whole thing again!

Vince Barabba, 11/27/11

Member, California Citizens Redistricting Commission; author, 'The Decision Loom'

Reforming the way district lines are drawn is critical to giving more power to our citizens by producing a fairer and more level playing field. In doing so, we can begin restoring the public's faith and confidence in its elected leaders.

Christina Patterson, 11/27/11

Writer and columnist, 'The Independent'

I find it hard to disagree with Helen Wright that when little girls wear "Future WAG" T-shirts, and make-up, and high heels, there's "something intensely wrong." But parents, she said, aren't to blame. Schools, she said, had "a key role to play" in providing guidance.

Barry Lando, 11/26/11

Author, 'Web of Deceit'

Real civilian rule could spell an end to the system of corruption and patronage that has gone on for decades, a system that has given the military unimpeded control over a huge sector of the Egyptian economy.