Chevron has a strong balance sheet, with more cash on hand than long-term debt owed.

FORBES: Juicy Dividend On This Volatile Oil Stock

But what divides it from the invisible-hand approach is its prescriptive content its emphasis on tilting the balance of political costs and benefits in order to bring public and private interests into closer alignment, leading, they hope, to better (but not always less) government.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus: The grabbing hand | The

On the one hand, the Fed has to be feeling pressure relative to their ever-expanding balance sheet that has swelled to disturbing levels.

FORBES: Investing After The End Of QE2

On the other hand, weakening consumer credit in America and uncertainty over its exposure to off-balance-sheet assets will add to the subprime worries.

ECONOMIST: Sovereign-wealth funds

Post-tax prices should be set at a level that would strike a balance between damping down use on the one hand, and discouraging a black market and the desperate acts of theft and prostitution to which addicts now resort to feed their habits.

ECONOMIST: Failed states and failed policies