Manufacturing is not, as the conventional wisdom would have it, dead. The United States produces more goods than any other country in the world. No. 2, with many more people, is China.

There’s one thing that all Alz-heimer’s researchers agree on: The mind-robbing illness is heartbreaking. But after three decades of study that have produced neither cure nor medications that significantly slow its progress, some researchers are asking: What if it’s not a disease with a cure? What if it’s just an unfortunate but inevitable part of aging, along with wrinkly skin, osteoporosis and heart disease?

Political turmoil in Washington. Economic chaos in Europe. Unemployment everywhere.

As public policy challenges go, this one shouldn’t have been that difficult.

Maybe the recently shuttered Borders bookstore chain did not perish in vain.

While U.S. President Barack Obama puts personal politics ahead of his country’s critical need for oil via the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada’s wooing of the Asian option should move quickly beyond simply courtship.

The National Basketball Association is losing big in the court of public opinion. The damage will be compounded if the 2011-12 season is lost, which appears to be a real possibility after the latest breakdown in negotiations.

Before the end of 2011, Congress will vote on legislation that would essentially nationalize the permits that states issue for people to carry concealed weapons. Lawmakers should reject this bill, which would curtail the rights of states that do not allow or that limit carry-permit reciprocity with other states.

By a vote of 261-165 on Friday afternoon, the House of Representatives fell 23 votes short of the two-thirds majority required for passage of a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have required the federal government to balance its budget.

Americans love their horses, both real and fictional. Not long ago, a book about a beloved Depression-era racehorse, Seabiscuit, became a bestseller and an Oscar nominee for best picture.