It is time for the Congress to act on health care. Legislators should stiffen their spines and pass the bill. The legislation produced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House leadership has many critics. Progressives are dismayed at its weak public option. Conservatives rail against paying for it with tax hikes for those earning over $500,000 a year. Many of us worry whether the health insurance that people are mandated to buy will be affordable for working families.

'Enough is enough." "Bust up the big banks." "Too big to fail is too big to exist." All of this and more can be heard this week at the American Bankers Association. ABA conferences are usually pretty buttoned-down events. They feature seminars on investment strategies, young bankers exchanging cards and hoping to make contacts, and reports on lobbying and legislation.

Rare champagne is bubbling on Wall Street. The Dow Jones hits 10,000. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke says the recession is over. Let the good times roll.

Why did the Nobel Committee give Barack Obama the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in his first year in office? Were committee members just expressing their relief at the departure of the bellicose policies of George Bush? Were they simply gaga over Obama's celebrity status? In this country, conservatives jeered, suggesting that Obama had done nothing to deserve the award and would be well-advised to refuse it. Their bitter partisanship was revealing, but many commentators questioned whether the president had accomplished enough to deserve the award.