Can Obama’s second term unleash the power of his first? (Illustration by Saiman Chow | Column by Ezra Klein) 

The votes of the undecideds seem to be roughly evenly split, and if any big news happens between now and the election, they’re likely to be the last to know about it, and the least interested in following up on it. (Illustration by O.O.P.S. | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)

Is this the tax to pass the Grover Norquist test? (Illustration by Jordy van den Nieuwendijk | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View) 

Even after the dominant cultural metaphor for Goldman Sachs became a money-sucking vampire squid, students are still ending up on Wall Street. (Illustration by Keith Shore | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)

This is a crisis first of growth, then of institutions, and only then of debt. And it’s all one, big Euromess. (Illustration by Neil Donnelly | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)

Want to learn about the Great Depression? Head to Amazon.com and order “The Grapes of Wrath.” Want to learn about our own Lesser Depression? Head to Amazon’s warehouse. (Illustration by Office of Paul Sahre | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)

Rick Perry, governor of Texas and Galileo supporter, may be mocked for his stands on scientific issues, but there’s one kind of science that Perry is eager to run on: political science. (Illustration by Tim Lahan | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)

Tim Harford has an unusual fear about government failure. He’s not worried that the government fails too often. He’s worried that it doesn’t fail often enough. (Illustration by Jason Polan | Column by Ezra Klein on Bloomberg View)