In Tuesday night’s presidential debate there was much discussion about job creation, but it was the comments of one of our independent voters in Ohio, Dan Starr, that really set a lot of listeners off. "The government doesn't create any jobs — they really don't," he said. "That's the job of the private sector." Is Dan right?

The severity of income inequality in the United States may have been relatively little known before making national headlines this past year, whether through the protests of Occupy Wall Street, President Obama's calls for the so-called Buffett Rule or dismissals of the whole conversation as a marker of class warfare. But income inequality is not new to the United States. And in his new book "The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It," Timothy Noah explores the history of wealth disparity in this country, and looks into its possible futures.

Timothy Noah, columnist at The New Republic and author of The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It, explains how America's inequality crisis got to this point and offers policy solutions to reverse it.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office says that the country's wealth gap continues to grow, with the richest 1 percent's income larger than ever. The richest of the rich have seen their income nearly triple since 1980. But Americans appear to be getting fed up. After growing up in a society that took steady but stable income growth as a given, a New York Times/CBS News poll shows that two-thirds of Americans feel wealth should be more evenly distributed and that millionaires should be taxed more. 

Is the public option back in because of the opt-out? Timothy Noah, senior writer at Slate.com, evaluates the politics and policy of the latest health care proposals.

Yesterday saw the release of the latest health care bill from Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, intended to be a true bipartisan proposal. But, as Slate's Timothy Noah explains, there are already doubts as to how much cross-aisle support it will gain.

Timothy Noah, senior editor at Slate, and editor of Reputation: Portraits in Power, talks about who Obama shouldn't pick for his cabinet. And Noam Scheiber, senior editor of The New Republic discusses the transfer of power and Obama's decisions so far as President-Elect.

We follow up on a few burning questions that came up this week. Timothy Noah, senior writer at Slate, looks into the dying bloggers.. We take a look at just what the precedent is for US Presidents at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. A primer on jaywalking from Peter ...