The explosion in collaborative consumption is indeed transformative, but Y Combinator-backed Balanced is a step in the wrong direction precisely because it extends and supports the legacy infrastructure rather than offering a true peer-to-peer payment solution.

FORBES: Payments Startup Balanced Innovates In Wrong Direction

We need to step back for a more balanced view.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Clinton argued the first step toward a solution is a return to balanced budgets and surpluses so the country has the resources to fix Social Security the right way.

NPR: Where Do the Candidates Stand on Social Security?

And recognition of those consequences is hopefully the first step to reevaluating priorities and finding the kind of balanced approach that should be bipartisan in nature, that has been bipartisan in the past, and that will ultimately deal with our deficit challenges, which is something that both Republicans and Democrats agree we need to do.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing by Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest

"The next step would be to give a clear sign that we are heading toward a balanced budget, " said Jose Vistan, associate vice president for research at AB Capital Securities in Manila.

WSJ: WORLD STOCK MARKETS: Philippines Market Might Be Boiling Over

Should we fail to step up to this new national security monitoring effort at the federal level on a balanced, carefully-crafted basis, there is little doubt that it will be taken on at the state and municipal levels in a blunter manner which would likely prove more chilling to our highly successful capital markets.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Testimony of Roger Robinson on market security

This is a huge step forward, but it is still entirely reliant on those individuals providing the care also providing balanced information.

BBC: Antenatal advice 'perpetuates C-section myths'

History: "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam, " by Fredrik Logevall (Random House), a balanced, deeply researched history of how, as French colonial rule faltered, a succession of American leaders moved step by step down a road toward full-blown war.

WSJ: 2013 Pulitzer winners in journalism and arts