Climate change — and what to do about it — has been center stage recently.

While expectations are growing for a better year in 2010, analysts are still sifting through the economic ashes of 2009 as figures become available. Personal income in 2009 probably declined nationally.

Consider all of the many ways in which information contributes to the functioning of the economy. Investors need it to assess the quality of the issuers of stocks and bonds. Employers want it to evaluate potential employees.

Three Western states were the nation's fastest growing in 2009, according to new population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The total number of residents in Wyoming, Utah and Texas increased by 2 percent or more, a pace double that of the U.S. as a whole.

A comprehensive discussion of health care reform would include three issues, according to Stephen Shortell, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of California-Berkeley.

As expected, the third quarter rise in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was revised downward by the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis, from 3.5 percent growth to 2.8 percent in late November. And it is likely that the next look (on December 22) will bring yet another downward revision.

As the nation continues to endure troubled labor markets and high unemployment, critics of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have become more vociferous.

Analysts were pleased with the February 26 revision showing that inflation-adjusted Gross Domestic Product had increased at an annualized rate of 5.9 percent in fourth quarter of 2009.

"Polymath" is the Greek word for Renaissance man — one who excels at many things. But if, centuries ago, society needed a Da Vinci or a Franklin, the grand challenges of today call for teams of experts.

Everyone knows that Arizona has been mired in a budget crisis — worse, even, than in many other states — for three years now. But last summer, the Governor's office and the Legislature announced that the budget (for fiscal year 2010) was finally balanced.