There are likely many images that spring to mind when considering the "fiscal cliff," but for the dean of Columbia Business School, Glenn Hubbard, the looming austerity crisis brings back memories of summer vacations in Ogunquit, Maine: a scenic coastal walk along a narrow path on a cliff. Hubbard says there is a safe way down the rocky path to reach the beach below, but you just need to find the right way to get there. Hubbard was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. He explains why our system was set up to create a "fiscal cliff" in the first place.

The US Labor Department releases its monthly employment numbers this morning. With every job lost or gained, there’s at least one economist wagging his or her finger about how the value of a college education is more and more important in today's tough job market. But Sharon Virts Mozer, the CEO of FCi Federal who has created over 1,000 jobs, believes that most employers overestimate the power of a four year degree.

The Changing Value of a College Degree | A Map for Finding Our Fiscal Way | Conditions for Syrian Refugees Continue to Worsen | Olympus Whistleblower Speaks Out | Harry Reid's New Year's Resolution? Filibuster Reform | Jim DeMint Exits Senate for Heritage Foundation | Edward Burns on Directing, Acting and the Holidays

Between 1939 and 1944, more than 200 Harvard students – all "physically and mentally healthy" men – were recruited to participate in a study. The 200-some odd students had the privilege of being tracked by Harvard Medical School for the rest of their lives. Dr. George Vaillaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and author of "Triumphs of Experience" has been overseeing the study since his early 30s. He set out to discover what predicts a happy life.

The recently-released ADP September jobs report showed modest growth in the job market. While all of this will certainly be hailed as positive results from the Democrats, Republicans and other detractors will be quick to point out that job growth has been significantly less than what was expected.

On March 16, 1970, 46 of Newsweek’s female employees publicly accused the magazine of gender discrimination in hiring and promotion. It was the first class female class action lawsuit, and Lynn Povich was proud to be a part of it. 

The Takeaway has been meaning to do a story on procrastination for a while — they just haven't gotten around to it. But philosophy professor John Perry assures us that this is not unusual. Not only that — Perry says procrastinating isn't as bad as we think.

As Mitt Romney continues to hammer President Obama over the stagnant economy, the former Massachusetts governor's own time in the public sector, as the CEO of Bain Capital, continues to come under scrutiny. When a Bain-invested company began shutting down American plants and sending those jobs overseas, employees who had spent their entire lives at one company suddenly found themselves out of work — and wondering what would happen if Romney were elected "America's CEO."

Facebook has forever changed our real-world interactions. The social media company keeps us connected, but what happens with that connectivity comes at the expense of our privacy? At what point do these virtual friendships start to replace — or hamper — our real friendships?

From the Jetsons, to Star Wars, to the adorable WALL-E, robots have long been part of the American imagination. But as reporter Rachel Emma Silverman recently discovered, robots are becoming a part of the American reality in the workplace.

While our counterparts have national vacation policies guaranteeing thirty or more vacation days a year, the United States doesn’t even have a national vacation policy.

Throughout the summer, The Takeaway has covered parenting and the notion of “having it all” from a number of approaches — from women, from men, and from those who think having it all is the wrong thing to shoot for. Today, The Takeaway looks at it from the perspective of children.

'Having it all' is the phrase of a generation who fought for equal rights in the workplace. Earning an income, raising a family, and maintaining a social life became the ultimate standard of balanced success in the modern era. But who's to say when you have it all? And what standard are we measuring against?

Could cities soon change the way their governments work, and become self sufficient businesses? The city manager of an incorporated city in Georgia explains how his city could serve as a model for many others.

For the many millions in London this summer, today is perhaps the first real test for the Olympic organizers. How do you move millions around an already busy, old and crowded city on a Monday morning, getting millions to their place of work and ferrying players and spectators to their various venues?

When Sally Ride took off for the stars in 1983, everyone thought we were entering the Age of the Female Scientist, but 25 years after her first mission women comprised only 20 percent of computer science, engineering, and physics students in Bachelor's programs.

New residents fresh out of medical school are said to be the cause of the "July Effect," where a drop in the quality of care and an increase in medical errors are reported. How do nurses fit in?

The 18th century saw the threshing machine; now, it's the 3D printer and the self-driving car. Then, it was brute force; now, it's problem-solving skills and artificial intelligence. So how do we save our jobs from the impending robot workforce?

Last week, Anne-Marie Slaughter published an article called “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” It speaks to those men and women who would like to see more women on the Supreme Court, and in the State Department, and at the head of major corporations — and who would also like those women to be able to have families.