What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

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Fears Rise That Recovery May Falter in the Spring (NYT)

Annie Lowrey reports that after an unseasonably warm recovery winter, the spring may bring stormier weather for the economy as analysts fret over the multinational mess that is the eurozone.

Why "We're on the Right Track" Isn't Enough, and What Obama's Plan Should Be for Boosting the Economy (Robert Reich)

Reich doubts that Barack Obama can win reelection by campaigning on a message of "Four more years!... And another four... and maybe four more after that... Then everything should be back to normal."

'Bridge to Work' Will Let States Experiment With Unemployment Insurance (HuffPo)

Arthur Delaney notes that a new Obama administration program modeled on Georgia Works will subsidize businesses that have jobs to fill but wouldn't otherwise deign to hire people who actually need one. (Plus: Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal explains why Georgia Works really doesn't at In These Times.)

Why Romney Loves the States and Hates the Feds (New York)

Jonathan Chait writes that Mitt Romney wants to turn more federal programs over to the states, where conservatives and their rich patrons can more easily dismantle them. Uh, I mean, states' rights!

The Real Face of Stay-at-Home Mothers: Those Who Have No Other Financial Option (Forbes)

NND Editor Bryce Covert points out that the typical stay-at-home mom is a young Latina immigrant who can't afford child care, not a white millionaire who could afford nannies for all her kids and ponies for all the nannies' kids.

Young Women Are More Career-Driven Than Men (NYT)

Catherine Rampell notes that a new study finds young women placing greater value than their male peers in having successful careers and marriages despite the fact that both are in short supply in the U.S.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit  of Insurance (WSJ)

Alan Blinder argues that we get the rights we pay for and the payment system our legislators design -- and if Justice Scalia complains that it's too complicated to rewrite what they come up with, maybe he should stick to doing his own job.

Pretty Much Everything is Now a Bet on the Central Banks of the World (MoJo)

Kevin Drum notes that diversifying a portfolio is hard to do these days as almost all assets move up or down in sync with investors'  hopes that policymakers will at least accidentally stumble onto the right idea.

The Dodd-Frank cuts that don't matter, and the ones that do (WaPo)

Suzy Khimm writes that Republicans' most up-front attacks on Dodd-Frank are going nowhere while Democrats hold the Senate, but as with many of the products it regulates, the real trouble is in the stuff that's technical enough to act as a sleep aid.

CEO Compensation Rose Almost 40 Percent in 2010 and 2011 (Slate)

Matthew Yglesias notes the curious fact that chief executives' pay has continued to skyrocket in recent years despite the fact that nothing else has experienced such rapid growth (aside from their own egos).

With additional research by Elena Callahan.