The recent deliberations in Washington about the fiscal cliff have triggered a national debate in the United States about the nature, extent and future sustainability of key elements of the U.S. social safety net: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, support for education, the unemployed and the poor.

Call it a case for evolution instead of revolution. While the Arab world continues in the throes of violence and uncertainty, Myanmar is undergoing incremental change -- and almost everyone seems to want it that way.

The government is lightening up: holding elections, freeing political prisoners, abolishing censorship, legalizing protests, opening to investment and tourists and welcoming back exiles. But the people still tread lightly, careful not to overstep or demand too much. Still, the consensus is clear: Change in Myanmar is "irreversible."

Owen Bennett-Jones takes a booth in a diner in New York City to address these questions with three expert commentators - tax historian Professor Joseph Thorndike, Dow Jones economics writer Kathleen Madigan and Michael Lind of the New America ...

They're here to stay, because they're deeply ingrained in the Texas character, says Michael Lind, a native Texan and a fellow at the Washington-based New America Foundation. He suggests that the power of the gun culture lies in the state's rural ...