Shannyn Moore, 01/07/13

Just a girl from Homer, Alaska

Shell risked some of the worst sailing weather in the world in an attempt to avoid millions in taxes. Just because most of our legislature bends every time an oil company exhales, it doesn't mean Mother Nature will.

Bill Frezza, 01/07/13

Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute; Venture Partner, Adams Capital Management

We have learned nothing. The Dodd-Frank bill enacted to make sure "this never happens again" has accomplished nothing. The Sarbanes-Oxley bill enacted after the last crisis to make sure "this never happens again" accomplished nothing.

Brian Penny, 01/06/13

Occupy activist

For my New Year's resolution, I want to understand the banks. I have a scientific curiosity about how these banks work. The only way I can think of to truly understand the banks is to dissect one of them.

Jared Bernstein, 01/04/13

Fmr. Obama administration economist; CNBC and MSNBC contributor

We're growing at a steady pace and the last thing we'd want to do is screw around with the debt ceiling... right?

Raymond J. Learsy, 01/05/13

Author, 'Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption Continues'

This torrent of money flowing into OPEC, especially into the Persian Gulf States, raises the question how this massive windfall is being put to use other than providing fresh capital for the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, as those of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 01/04/13

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

The December employment report released this morning confirms that the labor market continues to heal. This is good news. The challenge now is to consolidate the improvement. For that, politicians need to overcome self-made problems; also, and critically, they need to stop creating new ones.

Harlan Green, 01/06/13

Editor and Publisher, PopularEconomics.com

What will bring U.S. back to full employment is a big question among economists. The problem is that the 155,000 new jobs per month in 2012 isn't enough to either absorb new entrants, or those that have lost jobs. Only the investment of more money grows a sluggish economy.

Mike Lux, 01/04/13

Co-Founder, Democracy Partners

President Obama knows he can't afford to blink, and progressives should back him 100 percent: no negotiation whatsoever on the debt ceiling.

Robert Reich, 01/04/13

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Beyond Outrage'

The typical American worker's paycheck will drop this week because his or her Social Security tax will rise, from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. That's nonsensical. We need to put more money into the pockets of average workers, not less.

Hemanshu Nigam, 01/04/13

Founder, SSP Blue; Former NewsCorp/MySpace CSO; Former federal prosecutor

Privacy-based fears and concerns, legitimate or not, fueled many of the big privacy events in 2012. New technologies mean new privacy risks, and as technology continues to advance this coming year, we will see 2013 as the year of privacy on steroids.

Pablo Eisenberg, 01/04/13

Senior Fellow, Georgetown Public Policy Institute

A $100,000 grant isn't a big one at the Rockefeller Foundation. But the grant maker's decision to award that much to a thinly disguised effort to give businesses more influence in the New York City's mayor's race is both inappropriate and a waste of philanthropic resources.

Curtis Arnold, 01/05/13

Consumer educator and advocate

This was a great year for customers looking to get great value from credit cards without racking up debt. Since many consumers continued to live lean in the wake of the recession, credit card companies were obligated to provide more tantalizing deals.

Bob Greenstein, 01/04/13

Founder and President, Center on Budget & Policy Priorities

One of the most disappointing parts of this week's budget deal is its disparate treatment of a lavish estate tax break for the nation's wealthiest heirs as compared to several tax credit improvements for low-income working families.

Robert Naiman, 01/04/13

Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy

Why not Paul Krugman? He has a Nobel prize in Economics. He's proven his ability to communicate economic knowledge to the multitude. And he's a fierce opponent of cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, and the austerity dogma more generally.

Robert Redford, 01/04/13

Actor, director and environmental activist

This is a time for climate leadership. So, instead of a shoddy Keystone XL environmental review, the first major climate action for this Administration's second term should be to set limits on climate change pollution from power plants. That is the kind of action that makes sense.

Brian Moody, 01/04/13

Site Editor, AutoTrader.com

Here are five common mistakes shoppers make that you should avoid if you want to get the best deal on your ideal car

David Balto, 01/04/13

Antitrust attorney

In a unanimous vote, the Federal Trade Commission announced it has closed its investigation into Google's search practices, concluding that the evidence "does not support" an antitrust case. The FTC cannot stop here.