29 December 2015
28 December 2015
25 December 2015
24 December 2015
23 December 2015
22 December 2015
21 December 2015
One depressing quote perfectly sums up our relationship with gun violence
The regularity of mass killings breeds familiarity. The rhythms of grief and outrage that accompany them become — for those not directly affected by tragedy — ritualised and then blend into the background noise. That normalisation makes it ever less likely that America's political system will groan into action to take steps to reduce their frequency or deadliness.
Those who live in America, or visit it, might do best to regard them the way one regards air pollution in China: an endemic local health hazard which, for deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and political reasons, the country is incapable of addressing.
This may, however, be a bit unfair. China seems to be making progress on pollution.
The Economist, via Christopher Ingraham
Those who live in America, or visit it, might do best to regard them the way one regards air pollution in China: an endemic local health hazard which, for deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and political reasons, the country is incapable of addressing.
This may, however, be a bit unfair. China seems to be making progress on pollution.
The Economist, via Christopher Ingraham
18 December 2015
The Price We Pay for Liberty?
America must not value the liberty to own a gun over the liberty to live free from violence.
Mark Joseph Stern
Mark Joseph Stern
17 December 2015
16 December 2015
15 December 2015
14 December 2015
11 December 2015
10 December 2015
09 December 2015
08 December 2015
Tax the (upper) middle class, please
Taxes aren't punishment. They're part of our shared obligation. Politicians, starting with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, should learn to speak that language.
Mark Schmitt
Mark Schmitt
07 December 2015
04 December 2015
03 December 2015
02 December 2015
01 December 2015
30 November 2015
27 November 2015
26 November 2015
24 November 2015
23 November 2015
20 November 2015
19 November 2015
18 November 2015
12 November 2015
11 November 2015
Bernanke’s Biggest Blunder
This student of the Great Depression repeated a terrible mistake of the Great Depression.
Eric Posner
Eric Posner
10 November 2015
09 November 2015
05 November 2015
04 November 2015
03 November 2015
30 October 2015
28 October 2015
26 October 2015
23 October 2015
The 2015 Nobel Prize for Economics winner, Angus Deaton, explained
Matthew Yglesias
Bonus: Read 2015 Nobel Economics Prize winner Angus Deaton's amazing take on inequality (via Libby Nelson)
20 October 2015
Yes, the CIA Director Was Part of the JFK Assassination Cover-Up
John McCone was long suspected of withholding information from the Warren Commission. Now even the CIA says he did.
Philip Shenon
Philip Shenon
16 October 2015
Slavery Myths Debunked
The Irish were slaves too; slaves had it better than Northern factory workers; black people fought for the Confederacy; and other lies, half-truths, and irrelevancies.
Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion
Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion
14 October 2015
12 October 2015
09 October 2015
A drug company raised a pill's price 5,500 percent because, in America, it can
When drug companies set their American prices, they don't focus on the price of making the pills. Instead, they look at what their competitors already charge for similar products — and try to land their price somewhere in that same range, regardless of production costs or how good the drug actually is. Since most drugs are already expensive, new drugs keep matching those prices.
Sarah Kliff
Sarah Kliff
08 October 2015
07 October 2015
Ben Carson’s anti-Muslim comments are at odds with traditional American principles
But if you're part of the group whose beliefs, traditions, and ideas were for so long taken as the default under which everyone had to live, that inclusiveness feels like a loss of privilege, which can easily be turned into the feeling that you're under attack.
...
Your devotion to ideas like liberty is tested when you have to apply them not just to yourself and people you think are like you, but to everyone — when you have to ask whether you believe in freedom of speech enough to allow books you disagree with, or whether you believe in freedom of religion enough to give all the same rights you have to people whose religious beliefs are different from yours.
06 October 2015
05 October 2015
01 October 2015
30 September 2015
29 September 2015
28 September 2015
25 September 2015
24 September 2015
23 September 2015
22 September 2015
21 September 2015
18 September 2015
17 September 2015
16 September 2015
15 September 2015
14 September 2015
11 September 2015
10 September 2015
09 September 2015
08 September 2015
07 September 2015
04 September 2015
03 September 2015
02 September 2015
01 September 2015
31 August 2015
27 August 2015
26 August 2015
25 August 2015
19 August 2015
18 August 2015
14 August 2015
13 August 2015
12 August 2015
11 August 2015
10 August 2015
07 August 2015
06 August 2015
05 August 2015
04 August 2015
03 August 2015
31 July 2015
30 July 2015
Unlike Jeb Bush, John Kasich is trying something different
The idea that Jeb Bush — grandson of a senator, son of a president, brother of a president, a man who has spent his entire life swaddled in the embrace of power and influence — is some kind of outsider who because he isn't tainted by Washington's ways can come in and clean up the system is inherently absurd.
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman
29 July 2015
28 July 2015
24 July 2015
22 July 2015
20 July 2015
17 July 2015
16 July 2015
This is a great point about Iran's official anti-Americanism
Steve Coll:
Max Fisher
The United States faces, in the Middle East, many Sunni Arab countries with elites that are pro-American and populations that are deeply hostile, whereas in Iran it faces elites that are mostly hostile — or require hostility to maintain their power — and a population that is really ready for change.In other words, America's Middle Eastern allies are mostly countries where authoritarian rulers impose deeply unpopular pro-American policies. Our greatest enemy is a country where authoritarian rulers impose unpopular anti-American policies. It doesn't sound like a situation that's particularly stable, either for us or for the Middle East itself, and indeed it's not.
Max Fisher
15 July 2015
14 July 2015
13 July 2015
09 July 2015
07 July 2015
06 July 2015
03 July 2015
02 July 2015
01 July 2015
30 June 2015
29 June 2015
26 June 2015
23 June 2015
22 June 2015
19 June 2015
18 June 2015
15 June 2015
12 June 2015
09 June 2015
03 June 2015
02 June 2015
29 May 2015
28 May 2015
27 May 2015
The surprising economic principles behind car seats, email scams, and Japanese driving habits
Robert Frank on why allegedly Nigerian email scammers are using the same tired story they did when the scan was run through the mails.
26 May 2015
25 May 2015
For the love of God, rich people, stop giving Ivy League colleges money
"The New York Times' Robin Pogrebin describes Schwarzman's contribution as an "act of philanthropy." It is not. Sure, it's not the absolute worst thing one could do with one's money. I suppose it's a bit better than literally piling $150 million in dollar bills together in one location and then setting them on fire, insofar as building performing arts center employs more people than assembling a massive money pile would. It's definitely better than using the money to set up a private island upon which to hunt man for sport."
...
"But it's not philanthropy. It's not helping people who need help, and it's obscene that Schwarzman is getting a massive tax write-off for it. Giving to Yale is not an act of altruism. It's a gigantic, immoral waste of money and it's long past time we started treating it as such."
Jeb Bush embraces the narrative of Christian victimhood
If you grew up with your religious beliefs being the default setting for society at large — when it's your prayers being said in public schools, when only people who share your religion are elected president, when your holidays are everyone's holidays — then a growing inclusiveness can feel like an attack on you. It seems like you've lost something, even if you can't admit that it was something only you and people like you were privileged to possess.
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman
21 May 2015
20 May 2015
18 May 2015
15 May 2015
14 May 2015
13 May 2015
Americans Get Free Trade's Dark Side
"Essentially, Mankiw is telling you that you don’t believe the simple truth because deep down within you lurks a xenophobic socialist. Call me crazy, but I don’t think this is a beneficial, constructive way for economists to engage with the public."
Noah Smith
Noah Smith
12 May 2015
11 May 2015
04 May 2015
30 April 2015
29 April 2015
23 April 2015
22 April 2015
21 April 2015
20 April 2015
17 April 2015
16 April 2015
15 April 2015
13 April 2015
10 April 2015
09 April 2015
08 April 2015
03 April 2015
7 things becoming a parent taught me I was right about all along
"A beloved baby is a miraculous thing, but pregnancy is at times a truly agonizing and awful one. It's a small price to pay for something a woman truly wants, but an enormous amount to pay for other people's questionable metaphysical notions about personhood."
Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias
01 April 2015
31 March 2015
26 March 2015
24 March 2015
23 March 2015
Amateur Hour
It is a useful thing when a political party reveals itself as utterly unsuited for national leadership.
Fred Kaplan
Fred Kaplan
20 March 2015
19 March 2015
18 March 2015
17 March 2015
16 March 2015
13 March 2015
11 March 2015
10 March 2015
09 March 2015
06 March 2015
05 March 2015
04 March 2015
03 March 2015
27 February 2015
26 February 2015
25 February 2015
24 February 2015
23 February 2015
Christian Soldiers
The lynching and torture of blacks in the Jim Crow South weren’t just acts of racism. They were religious rituals.
Jamelle Bouie
Jamelle Bouie
No Escape From History
Ross Douthat accuses Obama of singling out the crusades, but they are part of the president's own Christian heritage.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates
19 February 2015
18 February 2015
17 February 2015
13 February 2015
11 February 2015
10 February 2015
09 February 2015
06 February 2015
05 February 2015
04 February 2015
Mitt Romney isn’t running, but his specter still haunts the GOP
"In recent GOP races, the winner hasn't been the one who defeated his opponents, just the one who outlasted them, as one chucklehead after another became the flavor of the month and then self-immolated (remember when Herman Cain led the primary polls in 2012?)."
Paul Waldman
Paul Waldman
03 February 2015
02 February 2015
30 January 2015
29 January 2015
28 January 2015
Kludge Not
Obama’s plan for free community college is elegant and forward-thinking—unlike virtually all U.S. policy fixes.
Jordan Weissmann
Jordan Weissmann