Op-Ed Contributor: Dying of Consumption. There is a deeper, potentially positive, meaning to the decline in consumer spending: Americans are now moving back to more prudent income-based lifestyles.

Op-Ed Contributor: What They Hate About Mumbai. Mumbai, India, stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness. And this way of life appalls religious extremists.

Op-Ed Contributors | Transitions: The Challenges of the Economic Crisis. Articles by experts on the challenges facing Barack Obama when the president-elect takes office.

Op-Ed Contributor: How Did That Vase Wind Up in the Metropolitan?. The new director at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a unique opportunity to shift the tone of a hostile debate: Who should own the treasures of antiquity?

Editorial: Save the Economy, and the Planet. If Barack Obama follows through on his commitments, this country will provide global leadership for addressing the dangers of climate change.

Editorial: About Latin America. President-elect Barack Obama should not put off improving ties with Latin America. And given how bad relations are now, it will not take much.

Editorial: Medicare’s Too Costly Private Plans. Congress must remove unjustified subsidies to inefficient private health insurance plans that have added to the cost and complexity of the Medicare program.

Editorial: The Horror in Mumbai. The new fear is that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai could unleash dangerous new furies between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

Editorial: Bailing Away. Officials seem to think urgency to stabilize the financial system absolves them from considering the longer-term implications of the actions they take.

The Wild Side: Resurrection Science. Bringing back the woolly mammoth is an intriguing notion, but perhaps not highest on our list of priorities.

Op-Extra Guest Columnist | Heading Home: A Big-League Brother. The writer learned baseball from his big brother, Ken, and made it to the majors – but it’s Ken who’s still playing ball.

Think Again: 'Paradise Lost' in Prose. A new translation of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (into English!) makes some curious but valuable choices.

Letter: Britain’s Position on Tibet, Autonomy and Rights. To the Editor:.

Letter: A Black Friday Sale Shouldn’t Make Us Barbarians. To the Editor:.

Letters: Yes, Be Tough in the Mideast, but Against the Right Target. To the Editor:.

Letters: After the Reign of Terror in Mumbai. To the Editor:.

The Opinionator: International Retaliations (the Trouble With…). Considering a hypothetical retaliation for the Mumbai attacks.

Op-Ed Columnist: A Team of Whizzes. Will this new Obama team, as brilliant as it appears to be, begin addressing on day one the interests of those who are not rich and who have not had the ear of those in power?

Op-Ed Columnist: Continuity We Can Believe In. Barack Obama and his team should put into action a foreign policy doctrine that builds on some of the ideas developed during George W. Bush’s term.

Editorial: Big Apple Circus. The Big Apple Circus’s new boss, Guillaume Dufresnoy, will ensure the continuity the circus needs, especially in a tough economy.

Editorial: The Gun Lobby’s Loss. After this year’s election, politicians should be far less afraid and far more willing to vote for sensible gun-control laws.

Editorial: Hawaii’s Moon Shot. If Hawaii takes the lead in a clean-energy movement, it could spread those values to the rest of the nation.

Editorial: Mr. Obama’s Team. President-elect Barack Obama will need a strong team to help him with the challenges he will face. The choices announced on Monday are a strong start.

Op-Ed Contributor: Flowers for the Taj. The author’s grandfather bejeweled the rooms of the Taj Mahal hotel with flowers for years. The last thing he would have wanted would be to use them to decorate the dead.

Op-Ed Contributor: Fresh Blood From an Old Wound. Barack Obama has the opportunity to create deeper and more enduring alliances for the United States in South Asia — and he should start with Kashmir.