Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

• Yes, the Wall Street Journal Is a Clown Show. Why Do You Ask?
• Robert Farley on Conor Friedersdorf: Repudiate! Refudiate!
• Joe Gagnon on Quantitative Easing
• James Hamilton: Why isn't inflation lower?
• David Warsh: Marriner Eccles

• John Podesta and Neera Tanden: Proponents of austerity are out of ideas. We have the alternative

  1. "It is abundantly clear that a total review of all intelligence programs is necessary so that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are fully informed as to what is actually being carried out by the intelligence community.... Certain surveillance activities have been in effect for more than a decade and that the Senate Intelligence Committee was not satisfactorily informed. With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of US allies--including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany--let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed.... It is my understanding that President Obama was not aware Chancellor Merkel's communications were being collected since 2002. That is a big problem": Dianne Feinstein: Reported by Paul Lewis and Spencer Ackerman
  2. "Comprehensive immigration reform opponent Rich Lowry of National Review can barely hide his contempt for Marco Rubio’s crawl back to the right on the subject: 'I’m not sure it has ever happened before that an architect of major legislation in the Senate has basically opposed its passage in the House. But that’s where Marco Rubio is…. The politics of this aren’t great.... He has already, rightly, taken a political hit for crafting and promoting the Gang of Eight bill... now he is going to take another hit, understandably, for his inconstancy. But his stance marginally strengthens opponents of a conference, and we need all the help we can get.' So Rubio is erasing the credit he got for sponsoring comprehensive reform without getting a whole lot for abandoning it at the most crucial moment. Nice work": Ed Kilgore: Rubio’s Crawl Back To Right Continues by Ed Kilgore
  3. "The most obvious way around the problem caused by the zero lower bound is to use... fiscal policy.... We can do it by temporarily lowering taxes and increasing government spending. However, as someone who played a role in crafting the Recovery Act... I am acutely aware of how hard it is to get adequate fiscal stimulus through Congress and out into the economy in a timely fashion.... But fiscal stimulus does work. Study after study has been done on the Recovery Act and the impacts of fiscal stimulus more generally. Though the studies find that some fiscal actions are more effective than others, almost all conclude that tax cuts and spending increases do help spur the economy in the near term.... We may want to consider ways to use fiscal stimulus faster and more effectively": Christina Romer: Monetary Policy in the Post-Crisis World
  4. "First Law: It is almost impossible by rational argument to persuade people to believe what they do not want to believe. Second Law: Almost any argument, no matter how feeble, will convince people of what they do want to believe. The third law is the non-obvious one; I learned it the hard way, by making mistakes. Third Law: If you think your opponent's position doesn't make sense, or that he or she is stupid or uninformed or irrational, think again. Almost certainly, YOU are the one who does not understand": Ralph Gomory: In This Crisis It's Not Stupidity, It's the Money: Three Relevant Laws

Plus: Long:

Sally Hills and Ryland Thomas: The UK recession in context--what do three centuries of data tell us? | Richard Grossman: WRONG: Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn from Them | Tim Harford: The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run-or Ruin-an Economy | Megan McArdle: The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success |