SANTIAGO When the leaders of Mercosur met in Caracas this week, the usual bluster about standing up to imperialism filled the air. But so did the unmistakable scent of decay.

And it's a big family reunion, and yet, like many family reunions, it's not all peace and light.

We'll actually part the water to pull money out of the air, because it's a bright future if you're an algorithm.

There's a beautiful statement on the screen that says, Light creates ambiance, light makes the feel of a space, and light is also the expression of structure.

But much more, to get advices, to give your comments, to spread the word that if it's possible in the air, of course it's possible in the ground.

Despite the gathering s pageant like appearance, the atmosphere was undoubtedly tense. The purpose was to settle a conflict between rebellious barons and their king, a ruler described by a contemporary as brimful of evil qualities.

NEW HAVEN America s Federal Reserve is headed down a familiar and highly dangerous path. Steeped in denial of its past mistakes, the Fed is pursuing the same incremental approach that helped set the stage for the financial crisis of 2008 2009.

But it's a hard hurdle because we got into this legal quicksand because we woke up in the 1960s to all these really bad values racism, gender discrimination, pollution they were bad values. And we wanted to create a legal system where no one could have bad values anymore.