Bank of America Just Reminded Us of Why We Need Postal Banking

Jordan Weissmann

Democrats didn’t cave on the shutdown

Democrats are funding CHIP for six years and reopening the government without losing their shutdown leverage.

Ezra Klein

Are Democrats becoming more like Republicans?

Ezra Klein

These Vibrant Maps Reveal the World’s Hidden Geographies

One man’s journey from GIS specialist to artist.

Sarah Laskow

Trump is making the racist subtext text

Dara Lind

Congressional Republicans think Donald Trump’s sloth and ignorance is a feature, not a bug

Matthew Yglesias

How to deal with the age of celebrity candidates

So here's the proposal: At party conventions, in addition to nominating a president and vice president, party leaders should put together a Cabinet. Party leaders would negotiate over this, a log-rolling process that would give different groups in the party coalition representation in their party's government. The presidential nominee could play an important role in the process, but ultimately it would have to be a negotiation among different groups within the party. Losing candidates might wind up in the Cabinet, bringing their supporters along.

Lee Drutman

Trump’s “shithole countries” comment exposes the core of Trumpism

"Trumpism" is just the politics of white grievance

Zack Beauchamp

Why Republicans Love Dumb Presidents

Jonathan Chait

Beyond the gossip, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury reveals a president in crisis

Ezra Klein

Bitcoin is the new Middle Ages

Bitcoin changes prices too quickly to be a currency and processes transactions too slowly to be a payments system, but it is juuust right for teaching libertarians everything they don't know about economics.

Not that they're paying attention.

Matt O'Brien

Must-Reads of 2017: Debunking Southern Mythmaking

Albert R. Hunt

The Other Terrifying Lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis

George Perkovich

There is no separation of powers without divided government

Lee Drutman

How to Make Metro Great Again

Matthew Yglesias

Incoherent, authoritarian, uninformed: Trump’s New York Times interview is a scary read

The president of the United States is not well.

Ezra Klein

Monopolies May Be Worse for Workers Than for Consumers

Noah Smith

The economy is normal again

Matthew Yglesias

Uber, but for addressing congestion externalities

Matthew Yglesias

The easiest way to tell that bitcoin is a huge bubble

Matt O'Brien

What Elon Musk Doesn't Get About Urban Transit

The most common falsehood about transit, the one that underlies most of the comments transit agencies receive and many of the worst mistakes in transit planning, is this: “Transit would be better for everyone if it were better for me.”  

A special danger arises when relatively wealthy people take this view, demanding that expensive mass transit systems be designed according to their personal tastes. I call this mistake elite projection, and explore it here. Many poor transit investments have arisen from a too-small group of fortunate people assuming that everyone shares their tastes and priorities. They forget that to be elite is to be a minority, and it makes no business sense to design transit around elite tastes if what you really want are lots and lots of riders.

Jarrett Walker

The uninsured are overusing emergency rooms — and other health-care myths

Carolyn Y. Johnson

The real cost of the Republican tax bill

Is Trump’s IRS really going to tighten the screws on giant new loopholes?

If I were undertaking a radical re-write of the tax code, I would also provide the Internal Revenue Service with additional resources to make sure they can enforce it properly.

But does anyone believe the GOP is going to be stepping-up IRS funding?

Matthew Yglesias

Do It Yourself

Trump’s quiet attack on the regulatory state is another part of his broader class war.

Jon D. Michaels

Start Worrying When Investors Borrow to Buy Bitcoins

If the cryptocurrency crashes, big deal. But if speculators went into debt, look out.

Noah Smith

How We Killed Expertise

(And why we need it back.)

Tom Nichols

What “affordable housing” really means

Just increasing supply, or just regulating rents, won’t solve the urban housing crisis.

Matthew Yglesias

Venezuela Is Living a Hyperinflation Nightmare

Noah Smith

The simple reason bitcoin will never be a currency

Just because you call something a currency doesn't mean it is one. It has to be a stable store of value that people actually use to buy things with.

Matt O'Brien

Conservative Attacks Sap IRS Oversight of Charities

Political Wire

States’ Rights No More

The GOP’s new concealed carry bill is as unconstitutional as it is unprecedented.

Adam Skaggs

Trumpism never existed. It was always just Trump.

Jane Coaston

Net neutrality isn’t the only way to keep the internet fair. It’s just the only way in America.

Emily Stewart

Bitcoin: 'This is a casino, not an investment'

Axios

The Roy Moore Debacle Should Shock the GOP Into Changing Its Ways

Reihan Salam

We’re witnessing the wholesale looting of America

Unchecked by norms or political prudence, it's smash-and-grab time for the GOP.

Matthew Yglesias

Baby-Sitting the Economy

The baby-sitting co-op that went bust teaches us something that could save the world.

Paul Krugman

Are Democrats suckers for holding their own to high standards?

David Roberts