Rethinking the Economy

From Dana Goldstein in the Nation:
Here’s what you see in Waiting for Superman, the new documentary that celebrates the charter school movement while blaming teachers unions for much of what ails American education: working- and middle-class parents desperate to get their charming, healthy, well-behaved children into successful public charter schools.
Here’s what you don’t see: [...]

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The brouhaha over Arthur Brooks’ book happened back in July, but given just how crazy right-wing rhetoric is getting coming up to the election, I thought it’d be worth reprinting a few quotes.
From Cato vice president Brink Lindsey’s semifamous smack down, which in part led to his departure/purging from Cato a few [...]

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Commenting on a dustup between conservatives over AEI president Arthur Brooks book, The Battle, Economist correspondent W. W. writes:
I strongly favour the culture of dynamism and innovation that thrives when markets are left relatively unfettered, but it is a straightforward mistake to confuse questions of economic freedom and entrepreneurial dynamism [...]

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Steven Rattner, who oversaw the GM bailout, just published Overhaul, his account of what happened. The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn has an interesting interview with him. A few of the highlights:
On why the bailout was necessary: I’d missed this during the initial coverage of the GM bailout. Even though I don’t like GM, I [...]

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I think a critical piece of a framework for talking about the economy is being able to bypass the “government vs. market” muddle that traps a lot of folks. After reading Markos’ posts on being a Libertarian Democrat I thought I might’ve found a way — by using power as a focus. A [...]

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In 2006, Markos of Daily Kos wrote two pieces in which he argued he was a “Libertarian Democrat.” While Markos is clearly a player in the game of politics, I think his posts nicely capture the jumbled mixture of complex, contradictory feelings a lot of “sane people” have towards government. So if I’m [...]

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After a little too much fun on vacation, a little too many crises when I got back to work, and a little too much time reorganizing my condo, my hands have decided to go on strike. So, to let my hands heal I’m not going to do any big posts this week.

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