Katherine S. Newman is the Interim Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, the Torrey Little Professor of Sociology, and author of Downhill from Here: Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality.
It's still unclear what motivated the Newtown shooter, but the small towns where such deadly outbursts tend to occur have some things in common.
The distribution of damage done by the Great Recession is not equal. African-Americans, men and low-skilled workers have been hardest hit.
Just as Americans came to appreciate Medicare and Social Security, so will they come to value publicly funded healthcare.
Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty in his State of the Union Message exactly forty years ago.