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.

 

• Political gridlock.

 

 

• The cost of education. Universities welcome foreign students because they pay higher tuition. Are they training our competitors?

• The looming social security crisis.
• 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 -is it a giant Ponzi scheme?
• The worship of money.
• 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 proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. What is the end game?
• The chronic, intractable Iranian-Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• A new (unaffordable) arms race with China and Russia.
• The ongoing mass extinction of plants and animals.
• The war on drugs.
• Lack of safe, reliable, adequate and affordable mass-transit systems in all major metropolitan areas.
• Immigration. What happens if the source of cheap labor dries up?