Roger Martin, 1/14/12

Author, 'Fixing the Game'

Stock-based compensation has produced a volatility machine and that volatility is wrecking the American economy, while it makes CEOs and hedge fund managers rich.

Marian Wright Edelman, 1/13/12

President, Children's Defense Fund

As another political season gets into full swing in the United States, a new crop of candidates are making a lot of promises about their competing visions of America. But how many TV debates are focusing on whether America is a compassionate nation?

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 1/13/12

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

The chatter on Friday's downgrades of European sovereign ratings debt is all over the place. Here is an attempt to provide a guide to the multifaceted implications.

Lee Woodruff, 1/14/12

Co-Author, 'In an Instant'

I'm drowning. Drowning in emails. Each day a new tsunami of sometimes meaningful, mostly useless, trivial, occasionally important and often spammy correspondence washes ashore on my laptop like ocean detritus, and it's my job to pick through it.

Harvey Weinstein, 1/13/12

Film Producer

In today's world of tightly controlled public relations, is there any way to be other than safe? I always find myself rooting for people who stand up for what they believe in, and it always gives me a great charge to see it happen.

Jeffrey Sachs, 1/14/12

Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University; author, 'The Price of Civilization'

For government services that count for the 99 percent, the federal government is shrinking, alas, no matter which phony figures the Wall Street Journal throws our way.

Imam Mohamed Magid, 1/14/12

President, Islamic Society of North America

By using holy texts Martin Luther King tried to awaken the universal values and the principal of equality that is called for by all religions.

James Zogby, 1/13/12

President, Arab American Institute; author, 'Arab Voices'

Arab opinion matters. It clearly matters to the West, which has long ignored Arab sentiment. But the views of the public matter within the region as well. The sooner leaders listen and learn, the sooner change can occur.

Lisa Belkin, 1/14/12

Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family, Huffington Post

The story of the Obamas learning to be politicians is also the story of them learning to be parents. So, how are they doing?

Jessica Norton, 1/14/12

17-year-old Jersey Shore native who loves concerts, blogging, and NYC.

"I've got to say, I was really impressed with [Michelle Obama's] Random Dancing, very few people are willing to go crazy for that. She said her daughters taught her some moves so she wouldn't embarrass herself."

Joe Lapointe, 1/14/12

Segment Producer, 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' on Current TV

There are 22 other states with right-to-work laws, most of them in the South and the West. A victory for reactionary Republicans in Indiana would represent a significant incursion of their ideology into the Northeast.

Tressie McMillan Cottom, 1/13/12

PhD student, Department of Sociology, Emory University

Kaplan's assertion that students' fears and pain should be used to motivate them insinuates what many of us suspect to be true of the people who end up at for-profit colleges: they are lazy and stupid. But the students I worked with were not lazy, unmotivated, or stupid.

Steve Bell, 1/14/12

Senior Director, Economic Policy Project, Bipartisan Policy Center

I enjoy the spectacle of advertisements being run in Florida against Sen. Rick Santorum by the Super PAC funded by Mitt Romney supporters. 'Enjoy" because almost no other ads this season achieve the level of irony and cognitive dissonance of these spots.

Larry Magid, 1/14/12

Technology journalist

I'm not terribly worried about privacy. To its credit, Google has good privacy controls. Still, there is a contextual difference between finding a post in Google vs. finding it in a what may be an unrelated search.

Linda Bergthold, 1/14/12

Health policy consultant

During the health reform debate, there was controversy and disappointment over the failure to include a public option in the Affordable Care Act. Not only did the public option idea not die, it is alive and well in California.

Homa Sabet Tavangar, 1/14/12

Author, "Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World"

I think it's essential that kids of all backgrounds grow up with memories of actively marking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday. Here are 5 simple steps to get started.

Elena Panaritis, 1/13/12

Founder, Panel Group; Author, 'Prosperity Unbound'

We need to prove that the European Union is made of countries with a flexible yet robust productive base capable to innovate, attract new ideas and boost entrepreneurship.

Suzanne Braun Levine, 1/14/12

First editor of 'Ms.' magazine, Writer on 'Second Adulthood'; Author of 'How We Love Now,' '50 Is the New Fifty,' and 'Inventing the Rest of Our Lives'

When I went to work at Ms. in 1972, I wore a matching pink skirt and blouse -- and a girdle. I had just gotten married and was, therefore, not able to get a bank loan without my husband's approval. And I had had an illegal abortion.

Anthony D. Romero, 1/14/12

Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union

Martin Luther King Jr. said "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." For too many of the presidential candidates, the arc is broken.

Mark Goulston, M.D., 1/14/12

Chairman, Xtraordinary Outcomes

Men like having sex much more than they like responsibility. And women don't mind and even like sex, but they can't stand empty promises by men to get it from them.

Anne Wojcicki, 1/14/12

CEO, 23andMe

Currently insurance companies, by and large, pay for targeted carrier status genetic testing if it can be justified and if you are pregnant. But this timing is not optimal and the ancestry guesswork is often wrong. Consumers should have the choice to test before conception.

Ellie Knaus, 1/12/12

Writer and blogger living in Los Angeles

Girlfriends have your back when you're unsteady on your feet. They celebrate your little victories and walk with you through the darkness. Cherish the women in your life. They make it so much better.

Sir Ken Robinson, 1/13/12

Consultant; Author, 'The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything'

One of corollaries on the rise of science has been a schism between the arts and sciences. The sciences are thought to be all about truth and objectivity: the arts about feelings and creativity. Neither stereotype holds up.

Richard (RJ) Eskow, 1/13/12

Consultant, writer and Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

Bain Capital -- and Bain Capitalism -- isn't Mitt's creation. It was sewed together from the corpses of dead ideals and shocked into life in Washington's political laboratories.