2013 Offensive Cliche Winner Is `Skin in the Game'

It's time for pundit New Year resolutions, and I've got one I'd like everyone to consider: Stop using the phrase "skin in the game." The term sometimes fits, although it's still a cliché. But if the context is social policy, it isn't just hackneyed; it's incorrect and offensive.

"Skin in the game" is a useful concept for what economists call the principal-agent problem, in which one party bears the consequences of another party acting on its behalf -- for example, making part of an executive's pay contingent on the performance of the company she's running, aligning her interests with those of company's shareholders.