BARACK NEEDS BENJAMINS

Harvey Weinstein, 06/07/12

Film Producer

People know that I have a great love for cinema. Not just for commercial cinema, but for the "cinema d'auteur." But to me, two of the great "auteurs" are actually actors and they both happen to be French.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 06/07/12

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

With an understandable short-term mentality dominating, we should expect markets to continue to bundle what central bankers and others feel should be more differentiated. The likely upshot is continued volatility underpinned by alternating periods of risk-on and risk-off.

Cristina Page, 06/07/12

Author, 'How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America'

This election year, we will decide, in dramatic fashion, the degree of access Americans, particularly the most vulnerable, will have to family planning.

James Franco, 06/07/12

Actor and author

Snow White and the Huntsman looks great and the actors are fabulous. The film gives us everything that it should: beauty, danger, romance, action, fantasy and a rewarding ending. Of course, this movie isn't breaking new narrative ground -- who expected that?

Jim Wallis, 06/07/12

Christian leader for social change

There is a growing consensus from religious leaders about getting our fiscal house in order and protecting low-income people. Many of us are saying there is a fundamental religious principle missing in our political infighting: the protection of the ones about whom our scriptures say God is so concerned.

Cara Santa Maria, 06/04/12

Science correspondent, Huffington Post; editor, Talk Nerdy to Me

The power of positive thinking movement is the cornerstone upon which countless American self-help empires have been built. But does it really have the power it so often promises?

Tor Myhren, 06/07/12

Chief Creative Officer, Grey New York

Here are 18 pre-couch reasons why Tom Cruise is the best actor of the last 30 years. Please be open-minded as you read ahead. Don't be afraid to admit some things about yourself as this list opens your eyes to the big, bright light you've been drawn toward since you were in grade school.

Montserrat Domínguez, 06/07/12

Editor at large, El Huffington Post

Faithful to the spirit that turned the Huffington Post into an essential daily read for millions of U.S. readers, El HuffPost aims to explore the new possibilities offered to Spanish society by a 100% online medium.

Kerry Kennedy, 06/07/12

President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

We in the U.S. must do our part to build a future of human rights and human dignity throughout the Americas, and call on Mexico to protect its indigenous communities and the advocates like Vidulfo Rosales who risk everything to defend them.

Robert Scheer, 06/07/12

Editor, Truthdig.com; Author, 'The Great American Stickup'

By refusing to campaign in Wisconsin before Tuesday's vote, President Obama proved he has no heart for engaging in a real debate about the sources of our economic crisis.

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, 06/07/12

Secretary general, Socialist Party; former vice president, Spanish government

It is no exaggeration to say that one of the defining elements of Spain's current situation is a generalized loss of confidence, both inside and outside our borders.

Sandip Roy, 06/07/12

Culture editor, Firstpost.com; editor, New America Media

When I discovered Ray Bradbury I thought he was imagining the future. Now I realize he is part of my past.

Sarah Leon, 06/07/12

Style News Editor, Stylelist

Confession: I hate white pants. Not on others, but on myself. In fact, you will never, ever see me wear them and here's why.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 06/06/12

U.S. Senator from New York

The fact is that food stamps are an effective investment. For every dollar that's invested into the SNAP program, we get $1.71 back in return.

Alan Grayson, 06/07/12

Former U.S. Congressman from Florida's 8th District

Today marks 11 years since the Bush tax breaks for the rich were enacted, which have yielded the most unequal distribution of wealth in American history, more unequal even than that of 1929, just before the Great Depression.

Elisabeth Gruner, 06/06/12

Associate Professor of English, University of Richmond

Once Upon a Time and the other stepmother tales suggest that, as a culture, we may still harbor deep anxieties about non-biological mothers.

James R. Doty, M.D., 06/07/12

Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine; Director, Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education

As human beings, we will inevitably encounter suffering at some point in our lives. However, we also have evolved very specific social mechanisms to relieve that pain: altruism and compassion.

LearnVest, 06/06/12

The pre-eminent website for women and their money

I refused to feel sorry for myself for too long, despite the fact that my plan of staying home with the kids for only a few weeks had turned into a few years. After all, I was choosing this.

Whitney Beckett, 06/07/12

Business and Dating Writer, DatingDebitsAndCredits.com

The labor market and the relationship market are eerily similar. In the last four years, unemployment has become the ultimate four-letter word, but singleness -- the dating market equivalent to the labor market's unemployment -- doesn't have to be all doom and gloom.

Bob Cesca, 06/06/12

Host of The Bob & Chez Show, Media Producer

No, the economy isn't crashing and burning, even though the Republicans seem to really, really want it to. However, we can only imagine what the recovery might have looked like if half of the country was more tethered to reality.

John Farr, 06/07/12

Editor, bestmoviesbyfarr.com

As Ray Bradbury understood, we humans are innately fascinated by the unknown and by what may lie in the future. With contemporary society in the state it's in, the idea of aliens, time warps and alternate realities can seem downright appealing -- a welcome escape. These ten features provide all that, and more.

Juan Luis Cebrián, 06/07/12

CEO and Chairman of the Delegated Committee, PRISA and president, EL PAÍS

To "start the house from the roof down" is a Spanish expression that roughly translates to "beginning at the end." This is precisely what the architects of Europe's currency, the Euro, did during its design.

Jared Bernstein, 06/07/12

Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

It's unsettling when the fact checkers get something wrong, as occurred in a recent PolitiFact review of the claim that median incomes rose $5,500 while Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts. PolitiFact grades this claim as mostly true, when it is mostly false.

Robert Creamer, 06/07/12

Political Organizer, Strategist, Author; Partner Democracy Partners

Today the surest way to make certain that a piece of legislation is deep-sixed by the Republicans in Congress is to demonstrate that it will help create jobs in the American economy.