Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

The Thunderdome… Two enter. One leaves…

How did I miss this?:

*Andrew Gelman: The grasshopper wins, and Greg Mankiw’s grandmother would be “shocked and appalled” all over again.

• Greg Mankiw's Blog: SCOTUS nominee is a spender.

• Nate Silver: Grandmother of World's 23rd Best Economist Posthumously Offended by Sonia Sotomayor's Spending Habits; Will Obama Withdraw Nomination?

• Andrew Gelman: Politics Done Right: Sotomayor Scorecard on Day 1: "In favor: Barack Obama, Lani Guinier, Gerald Torres, Alberto Gonzales, Alan Dershowitz, The American Diabetes Association. Against: Richard Epstein, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John Yoo, Greg Mankiw's grandmother… [had] the strongest reaction… 'shocked and appalled to see someone who makes so much save so little'…. [But] with a job for life, full health care, and... a pension... why save?…. Mankiw's remark is... a comment on his grandmother's charming but naive conception of household economics--even in a case of a childless federal judge, she would've missed the point of spending one's money. I have no comments on the reasoning of Dershowitz, Yoo, and the rest."