Was this the best year in human history? “Obviously not,” says Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer. He and the other “Left, Right & Center” panelists debate the positives and negatives of 2012 both for Americans and humanity as a whole.

They also look at ways life is improving across the globe — and compare that to the challenges at home, as jobs remain scarce and the economy improves at a slow pace. How do we ensure that the middle class here in the United States continues to thrive, even as people in India, China and parts of Africa begin to raise their standards of living? And is 2013 a year for compromise, or will we continue to see the partisan splits and culture divides that plagued our politics in 2012?

Newsweek columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, Thomson Reuters Digital Editor-at-Large Chrystia Freeland and “Left, Right & Center” host Matt Miller join Scheer on this week’s program.

— Adapted from KCRW by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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