Prosperity

Of the social developments of recent decades, certainly one of the most perplexing is the revolt of the working class against workers. Last week's election results only scratch the surface of a trend that destroys social cohesion and makes it harder for businesses - small and large - to prosper. Voters in San Jose and San Diego opted to cut public employee pension programs; on the national stage, Wisconsin's openly anti-labor governor, Scott Walker, handily turned away a recall campaign inspired by his effort to kill collective bargaining rights for public workers.

The television commercial is designed to spark outrage. "Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on green energy went to jobs in foreign countries," it intones. "The Obama administration admitted the truth - that $2.3 billion of tax credits went overseas, while millions of Americans can't find a job…. American taxpayers are paying to send their own jobs to foreign countries. " But the widely broadcast anti-Obama ad, paid for by a conservative group called Americans for Prosperity, is highly misleading - a slick pastiche of untruths, half-truths and exaggerations.

BEIJING — The intersection of money and politics in China has rarely been so glaring as in the case of ousted Communist Party official Bo Xilai and his wife. While her husband was mayor of the booming northern port of Dalian in the 1990s, Gu Kailai represented foreign clients negotiating with the city. But she also represented the city in a lawsuit against a U.S. company, and then wrote a book about her experiences that included photographs of her with U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Dianne Feinstein, Henry and Nancy Kissinger, and others.

Marje Everett, a legendary and controversial figure in the sport of horse racing for more than four decades and the chief executive of the Hollywood Park racetrack for six years, has died. She was 90. Everett's longtime associate, Dorothy Carter, said Everett had been in declining health the last year and died Friday morning at her Los Angeles residence. Everett became a major female force in sports at a time when it wasn't considered a possibility. When she lost a takeover battle with businessman R.D. Hubbard for control of Hollywood Park in 1991 — after turning away several other bids in previous years — she had been a director at the Inglewood track since 1972 and its chief executive since 1985.

Brusque with a 2-day-old stubble and a cigarette dangling from his lip, Zhao Xin is the last guy you'd want waiting on you at the Apple store Genius Bar. But if you need to get your hands on a genuine iPhone immediately, Zhao is your man. Skimpy supplies of the Apple Inc. smartphone gave rise to scalpers like Zhao who prowl the perimeter of the company's flagship store here touting their wares to anyone within earshot. By hoarding and smuggling in the devices, they satisfied an unmet demand and charged a premium.

Orange County and Ventura outpaced Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Bakersfield in a national score card looking at how area hospitals, doctors and insurance companies manage patient care and costs. The Commonwealth Fund, a New York foundation that studies the U.S. healthcare market, ranked 306 communities nationwide on key areas of health system performance, such as whether patients are getting timely preventive care and avoiding unnecessary hospital stays and whether healthcare is affordable.

The rain poured steadily and the sky was gray. But that didn't stop thousands of visitors from hiking up the steps of the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights to welcome the lunar new year. "Prosperity flows with water," said Liang Zhu of El Monte, quoting a Chinese proverb. "It's so rare that it rains on the first of the new year. It's lucky. " Zhu, along with his wife, brother and sister-in-law, pushed up against a stone railing in a sculpture garden where people cheerfully threw coins over the edge, trying to hit a small bell.

Question: What's wrong with Brown Shoe Co.? I am a shareholder. Answer: Sales at its Famous Footwear chain have been as disappointing as the economy. That's why it plans to close about 145 of those stores over the course of this fiscal year that ends in January and into next fiscal year. It will also close its Brown Shoe Closet stores, F.X. LaSalle stores and Sun Prairie, Wis., distribution center. The sale of its And1 athletic shoe brand was recently finalized.

The Democratic Party has been criticized - by supporters as well as critics - for not having the fortitude lately to stand up for its ideas, policies, even its president. That may change with the release of Bill Clinton's "Back to Work," a book with the chutzpah that the Democrats have been missing. Clinton presents a personal, plain-spoken economic picture of where we are, a mile-high view of the three decades that got us here, and how to revive our economy in classic "American Dream growth" style.