If hocus-pocus is the order of the day, the American dream may become an illusion.

FORBES: The Crisis of America's Uncounted Unemployed

But besides the carnival and hocus-pocus, this book also considers deeper questions about life and fate.

ECONOMIST: When hocus-pocus is all but child's play

Here is a bit of hocus-pocus courtesy of Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

BBC: Will 2013 be a bull year for shares?

Hocus-pocus a wave of a wand and millions of unemployed and underemployed workers vanish.

FORBES: The Crisis of America's Uncounted Unemployed

The howls and hand-wringing over global capitalism and its trapdoors of "hot money, " hedge fund hocus-pocus and derivative meltdowns have won headlines for shouters like George Soros.

FORBES: The Upside Of Optimism

Sephora debunks the hocus-pocus that still surrounds make-up and perfume something that is cultivated both by branded luxury-goods groups and by department stores to justify the prices they charge.

ECONOMIST: Selling make-up

No question that some measurements require a bit more interpreting than others, but that does not automatically relegate them to the dust bin of hocus-pocus, as many who lack understanding believe.

FORBES: Antarctic Temperatures Are Rising Twice As Fast As Previously Predicted

When great wealth is generated instead by making smart buy and sell decisions in the markets, it smacks of inside knowledge, arcane financial instruments, opportunities that aren't accessible to ordinary people, and hocus-pocus.

WSJ: Charles Murray: Why Capitalism Has an Image Problem