All Things Considered

The bankruptcy of MF Global — and the mismanagement of its clients' money — is causing trouble for a lot of ranchers and farmers. They were major clients of MF Global, buying futures contracts to hedge against swings in the value of their crops and livestock. MF Global cannot account for more than a billion dollars of its customers' cash. Lynn Neary speaks with cattle rancher Tim Rietzke of Coldwater, Kan., about his lost money.

The Iowa caucuses — the first contest of the 2012 presidential nominating season — take place in three weeks. That means there's precious little time for candidates to make their case and close the deal with Hawkeye State Republicans.

But candidates were tough to find in Iowa on Tuesday. Only former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — a big underdog in the race — was there. In fact, many Iowans note that this year candidates have spent fewer hours in the state than before recent presidential caucuses.

With three weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses kick off the Republican nominating contest, the candidates are not registering much of a presence in Iowa.

Scratch just a little below the surface of American writing, and you'll find a substratum of stories that revolve around an impostor, a figure at once sinister and fascinating. This charlatan moves fluidly between personae, and in doing so, proves that identity is — especially in America — up for grabs. The impostor thus is everything we insist we are not. But he's also, I think, everything we wish we could be as the inheritors of our open, yet easily manipulated, American culture.