Robert J. Samuelson is a weekly columnist for the Washington Post and Newsweek, writing on political, economic and social issues. Samuelson’s awards include the National Headliner Award for Consistently Outstanding Column on One Subject in 1995, 1993, 1992, and 1987; a 1993 John Hancock Award for Best Business and Financial Columnist; the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Commentary in 1993, 1986 and 1983; and a 1981 National Magazine Award. He is the author of "Untruth: Why the Conventional Wisdom is (Almost Always) Wrong," a collection of his columns, and "The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in an Age of Entitlement, 1945-1995." His latest book, "The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence," argues that the rise and fall of double-digit inflation (inflation was 13 percent in 1980) was the most important economic event of the last half-century. From the Series:Policy Watch with Doug Besharov