Original reporting

For those aged 45 to 54, there is a range of policy options — beyond the fatalistic prescription to “just work longer” — that has the potential to materially enhance retirement security, if adopted quickly. For those aged 55 to 64 the outlook is bleaker, though there are steps that could be taken to ameliorate the worst of the anticipated impacts on the poorest retirees. Despite the availability of a potential solution for the 45- to 54-year-old group and of an improved safety net for the 55- to 64-year-old group, no one we spoke with suggested that the political will to effect such changes exists today.

Does the notion that every American should be guaranteed a basic level of income sound utopian? In the late 1960s and early 1970s it was mainstream.

As “market values” have replaced “social values,” they've driven a once-popular policy idea out of favor.

We ask every one. See the results.

Little being done to expand training options, and some abortion-rights supporters are reluctant to draw attention to the issue.

Limited debate keeps public from knowing the full scope of the potential health benefits it is being asked to give up.

Market-based prescriptions hawked; focus on quality supplanted by focus on cost.

The rise of “competitive,” for-profit health insurance from the ’70s to the ’90s. Concerns about quality of care lose out. First in a series.

National Grid, which operates the electrical system for LIPA, is a for-profit company, yet Gov. Cuomo's Moreland Commission wants to double down. Is its initial recommendation the best way?

As the number of elderly Americans grows, some suggest that they are going to have to make due with less support. But many older people already face increasing isolation as the years go on; they live in fear of losing their homes. One recent response: a "Village model" where members and non-member volunteers join in an organized system of mutual aid.

The undiscussed benefits had Congress and the President allowed the country to go over the "fiscal cliff."