Though by no means all-inclusive, the following are among today’s most intractable problems:

• Global warming. Our planet has a fever, and it’s getting worse
• Distribution of income and wealth: the abysmal inequality in the U.S. and much of the world.
• The Electoral College and its ramifications.
• Political gridlock.

• Sanctions: a policy with unintended consequences.
• Enormous chronic trade deficits.
• The cost of education. Universities welcome foreign students because they pay higher tuition. Are they training our competitors?
• The looming social security crisis.
• The mushrooming national debt.
• The worship of money.
• The skyrocketing cost of medical and long-term care insurance. Who will pay, and how much, for those who cannot afford coverage?
• Derivatives: A Sword of Damocles hanging over humanity, or the greatest source of wealth ever invented?
• Real Estate appraisals -the unappreciated last line of defense.
• The housing crisis.
• Corruption. What are the risks to whistle blowers?
• Privacy -the unauthorized selling of financial, personal and medical information to anyone willing to pay for it.
• The inevitable, ongoing spread of nuclear weapons. What is the end game?
• The risk of accidental nuclear wars.
• The growing probability of intentional nuclear wars.
• A new (unsustainable) arms race with China and Russia.
• The chronic, intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• The ongoing mass extinction of plants and animals.
• Lack of safe, reliable, adequate and affordable mass-transit systems in all major metropolitan areas.
• Low-skilled Immigration. What happens if the source of cheap labor dries up?