Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

Over at Equitable Growth: Must- and Should-Reads:

• Liz Hipple: Understanding the importance of antitrust policy for U.S. economic competitiveness and consumer choice: "John E. Kwoka... documents the rise in industry concentration and examines the evidence for one possible explanation... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/understanding-the-importance-of-antitrust-policy-for-u-s-economic-competitiveness-and-consumer-choice/
• Nisha Chikhale: A glance at pay inequities for African American women’s Equal Pay Day: "We’ve updated Equitable Growth’s interactive tool with new data... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/a-glance-at-pay-inequities-for-african-american-womens-equal-pay-day/
• Timothy Noah: @TimothyNoah1 on Twitter: "@rortybomb @jonathanchait: It simply isn't true... https://twitter.com/TimothyNoah1/status/887406956994064384
• Matt Bruenig: The Success Sequence Is About Cultural Beefs Not Poverty: "The Success Sequence is back!... http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-about-cultural-beefs-not-poverty/
• Paul Krugman: Who Ate Republicans’ Brains?: "Senator Lindsey Graham was entirely correct when he described the final effort at repeal as 'terrible policy and horrible politics', a 'disaster' and a 'fraud'. He voted for it anyway... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/opinion/republicans-trumpcare-obamacare-lies.html
• Robert C. Feenstra and David E. Weinstein: Globalization, Markups, and US Welfare: "We work with symmetric translog preferences... http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/692695
• Chris Dillow: Cronyism, & the demand for redistribution: "Is actually-existing capitalism a fair or a rigged game?... http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2017/07/cronyism-the-demand-for-redistribution.html
• Cameron Joseph and Tierney Sneed: After Obamacare Repeal Collapse, GOP Weighs Whether To Help State Markets: "Most Republicans have been happy to watch some state-level individual health insurance exchanges sputter... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/after-obamacare-repeal-collapse-gop-weighs-whether-to-help-state-health-exchange-markets
• Ian Millhiser: What it’s like to watch the Senate debate whether your life is as valuable as a tax cut for Trump: "Every other Saturday morning, I inject $2,269.61 worth of pharmaceuticals into my leg... https://thinkprogress.org/chronic-condition-trumpcare-scares-me-b2192446ea64

Should-Read: Liz Hipple: Understanding the importance of antitrust policy for U.S. economic competitiveness and consumer choice: "John E. Kwoka... documents the rise in industry concentration and examines the evidence for one possible explanation... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/understanding-the-importance-of-antitrust-policy-for-u-s-economic-competitiveness-and-consumer-choice/

Should-Read: Nisha Chikhale: A glance at pay inequities for African American women’s Equal Pay Day: "We’ve updated Equitable Growth’s interactive tool with new data... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/a-glance-at-pay-inequities-for-african-american-womens-equal-pay-day/

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/universities-in-the-age-of-trump-by-j--bradford-delong-2017-07: Let me take a break in this column from our usual economics to worry about our institutions: What have we to say—to hope and fear—about the role and the future of the independent—ideologically and intellectually—university?

Should-Read: The way I now think about it, there are:

1. Hard neoliberals: Mont Pelerin—the market giveth, the market taketh away, blessed be the name of the market!
2. Soft neoliberals: Washington Monthly—harness market means to attainable social democratic redistributive ends where those can be accomplished at low cost, and otherwise to focus on growth to lift all boats.
3. Cultural neoliberals: New Republic—we don't like Blacks, especially young Blacks, and extra especially Jesse Jackson. We don't like women much when they move out of their place. We think unions are yucky. We think Arabs are bad.

These groups overlap, to say the least...

Timothy Noah: @TimothyNoah1 on Twitter: "@rortybomb @jonathanchait: It simply isn't true... https://twitter.com/TimothyNoah1/status/887406956994064384

Should-Read: Almost every time I read something Matt Bruenig writes on a blog, I come away very impressed: very smart, committed, snarky, insightful, and thinking very differently from me so that I learn about things that, because his values are similar to mine, I really care about:

Matt Bruenig: The Success Sequence Is About Cultural Beefs Not Poverty: "The Success Sequence is back!... http://mattbruenig.com/2017/07/31/the-success-sequence-is-about-cultural-beefs-not-poverty/

Four Worth Hoisting and Highlighting:

• Negative: Michael Kinsley's admission that he is a no-trick pony: Michael Kinsley: Review of Christopher Hitchens http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Kinsley-t.html: "A statement that contradicts everything you have ever said before is considered for that reason to be especially sincere, courageous and dependable. At The New Republic in the 1980s, when I was the editor, we used to joke about changing our name to 'Even the Liberal New Republic', because that was how we were referred to whenever we took a conservative position on something, which was often. Then came the day when we took a liberal position on something and we were referred to as 'Even the Conservative New Republic'. As this example illustrates, among writers about politics, the surprise technique usually means starting left and turning right. Trouble is, you do this once and what’s your next party trick?..."

Must-Read: Ten years ago tomorrow it started:

Jacqueline Bell (2007): Bear Stearns Hedge Funds File For Bankruptcy: "New York (August 1, 2007, 12:00 AM EDT)—Two Cayman Islands-based Bear Stearns hedge funds... https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/31291/bear-stearns-hedge-funds-file-for-bankruptcy

Must-Read: And where was the phalanx of Republican health care experts united in condemnation of the McConnell approach? If you didn't sign a public letter calling for a very different process, why should you have standing to participate in any future reality-based policy debate? Just asking:

Paul Krugman: Who Ate Republicans’ Brains?: "Senator Lindsey Graham was entirely correct when he described the final effort at repeal as 'terrible policy and horrible politics', a 'disaster' and a 'fraud'. He voted for it anyway... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/opinion/republicans-trumpcare-obamacare-lies.html

So after a pep talk from Noah Smith Saturday night about how it is time to become kinder and gentler—to look for opportunities to praise for being smart people who in the past I have criticized for being really really really dumb—I wake up Monday morning, and I wince because Duncan Black has been reading the once-thoughtful Clive Crook again.

"People is weird... 'let's shoot ourselves in the face just to prove our gun works'..." is really four standard deviations kinder and gentler than this deserves:

Duncan Black: National Humiliation: "People is weird. [Clive Crook:]... http://www.eschatonblog.com/2017/07/national-humiliation.html

Should-Read: Robert C. Feenstra and David E. Weinstein: Globalization, Markups, and US Welfare: "We work with symmetric translog preferences... http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/692695

Must-Read: Very important, I believe:

Chris Dillow: Cronyism, & the demand for redistribution: "Is actually-existing capitalism a fair or a rigged game?... http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2017/07/cronyism-the-demand-for-redistribution.html

Should-Read: "Unconstitutional but need to be made in a legal way..." is a very interesting category of congressional action.

Let us be very clear: the exchanges in blue states are in much better shape, and state governments can do a lot to shore them up and are willing to step in if the federal government drops the ball. It's red states where the insurance exchanges are in trouble and where state governments lack the technocratic knowledge and the free cash flow needed:

Cameron Joseph and Tierney Sneed: After Obamacare Repeal Collapse, GOP Weighs Whether To Help State Markets: "Most Republicans have been happy to watch some state-level individual health insurance exchanges sputter... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/after-obamacare-repeal-collapse-gop-weighs-whether-to-help-state-health-exchange-markets

Comment of the Day: Charles Steindel: Weekend Reading: Dean Acheson on that Triangulating Bastard Grover Cleveland: "Cleveland also refused to annex Hawaii after the planter-led coup overthrew the monarchy. Native Hawaiians come to his birthplace (near me, in suburban Caldwell New Jersey) every year to honor him for this..." http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/07/weekend-reading-dean-acheson-on-that-triangulating-bastard-grover-cleveland.html?cid=6a00e551f08003883401b8d29b4df1970c#comment-6a00e551f08003883401b8d29b4df1970c

From November 2008: Why I Was Wrong... http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/11/why-i-was-wrong.html: Calculated Risk issues an invitation:

Calculated Risk: Hoocoodanode?: Earlier today, I saw Greg "Bush economist" Mankiw was a little touchy about a Krugman blog comment. My reaction was that Mankiw has some explaining to do. A key embarrassment for the economics profession in general, and Bush economists Greg Mankiw and Eddie Lazear in particular, is how they missed the biggest economic story of our times....

Also apropos of the three neoliberalisms: (1) Mont Pelerin; (2) Charlie Peters; and (3) anti-Black, anti-woman, anti-Arab, anti-union—and anti-French:

With the opening of "Dunkirk", time to hoist and highlight this:

2006: Nick Gillespie Has Had It with Marty Peretz ("Lafayette! Nous Sommes Ici!" Department) http://www.bradford-delong.com/2006/09/nick_gillespie_.html: He writes, accurately and correctly:

Hit and Run: They're starting to shit themselves in public... TNR owner and "Spine" blogger Marty Peretz is enacting the cyberspatial equivalent... with posts such as this one on French jokes:

Should-Read: Ian Millhiser: What it’s like to watch the Senate debate whether your life is as valuable as a tax cut for Trump: "Every other Saturday morning, I inject $2,269.61 worth of pharmaceuticals into my leg... https://thinkprogress.org/chronic-condition-trumpcare-scares-me-b2192446ea64

Over at Equitable Growth: Must- and Should-Reads:

• Bridget Ansel:: : Weekend reading: “#hipsterantitrust edition”: http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/weekend-reading-hipsterantitrust-edition/
• Bridget Ansel: Has the momentum around paid leave reached a tipping point in the United States? http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/has-the-momentum-around-paid-leave-reached-a-tipping-point-in-the-united-states/
• Austin Clemens: Will the United States give up on data collection? http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/will-the-united-states-give-up-on-data-collection/
• Andy Slavitt: @ASlavitt on Twitter: "Trump plans to sabotage the ACA this week... https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/891722458855866369
• Simon Johnson: Trump’s Growth Charade by Simon Johnson - Project Syndicate: "Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration frequently talk about getting annual economic growth in the United States back above 3%... https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-administration-growth-assumption-by-simon-johnson-2017-07
• Avik Roy: An Autopsy of the GOP Effort to Repeal and Replace Obamacare: "Moderate Republican senators, often representing purple or blue states, were reluctant both philosophically and politically to endorse legislation that increased the number of Americans without health insurance... http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449943/autopsy-gop-effort-repeal-and-replace-obamacare
• Craig Garthwaite: Why replacing Obamacare is so hard: It’s fundamentally conservative: "As a life-long Republican... I’ve come to an answer that will be hard for many conservatives to swallow... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-replacing-obamacare-is-so-hard-its-fundamentally-conservative/2017/07/10/c5d64634-6351-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html
• Antonio Fatas: On Twitter: "Healthcare is complicated but Greg Mankiw should criticize policy proposals that are incoherent or just lie about their benefits..." https://twitter.com/AntonioFatas/status/890979381719511044
• Josh Barro: John McCain saved Republicans from themselves by killing Obamacare repeal bill: "Lindsey Graham made a demand: He would vote for the terrible healthcare bill being offered before the Senate, a bill he thought would cause health insurance market disaster... http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-vote-health-care-obamacare-bill-2017-7
• Simon Wren-Lewis: UK slowdown is a result of Brexit and austerity: "Those who argued that Brexit would bring a short term slowdown have been proved right: they just got their timing slightly wrong... https://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-uk-slowdown-is-result-of-brexit-and.html
• Martin Longman: A Glimpse Back at the Old Senate: "two stories I found last night while researching my Murkowski-Collins defection piece... http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/27/a-glimpse-back-at-the-old-senate/
• Neera Tanden and Tophir Spiro: The bipartisan way to strengthen health care: "Provide greater certainty for insurers by guaranteeing continued payments of ACA subsidies, a step that could help reduce average premiums by as much as 19 percent... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bipartisan-way-to-strengthen-health-care/2017/07/18/b2e2b444-6bef-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html
• Dylan Scott: The Obamacare repeal debate is now a completely bonkers game of chicken: "On Thursday evening, mere hours before the Senate is supposed to vote on a health care bill, the United States Capitol is in chaos... https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16053268/senate-obamacare-repeal-chaos
• Josh Marshall: Trumpism Distilled: "Scaramucci has managed to become a compressed, crystallized version of all the ridiculousness of Trumpism... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumpism-distilled
• Mike Bird and Christopher Whittall: The Speech That Transformed European Markets—Five Years Later: "European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.... 'Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro and believe me: It will be enough'... https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-speech-that-changed-european-marketsfive-years-later-1501061404
• Martin Feldstein: How Would Health-Care Reform Affect Patient Health?: "People who qualify for Medicaid do receive substantially more care than those without formal insurance... https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/us-health-care-reform-medicaid-cuts-by-martin-feldstein-2017-07
• Kenneth P. Brevoort, Daniel Grodzicki, and Martin Hackmann: Medicaid and Financial Health https://www.fdic.gov/news/conferences/consumersymposium/2016/documents/brevoort_presentation.pdf:
• Joe Rago (2010): The ObamaCare Crossroads: "Once the health-care markets are put through Mr. Obama's de facto nationalization, costs will further explode... https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704207504575130321235660474

Should-Read: Bridget Ansel: Has the momentum around paid leave reached a tipping point in the United States?: "Some Republicans have also joined the fray... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/has-the-momentum-around-paid-leave-reached-a-tipping-point-in-the-united-states/

Should-Read: Bridget Ansel: Weekend reading: “#hipsterantitrust edition”: "John Kwoka... on how changes in U.S. merger enforcement policy have contributed to rising concentration and reduced competition... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/weekend-reading-hipsterantitrust-edition/

Should-Read: Austin Clemens: Will the United States give up on data collection?: "The threat of less funding is already hampering the ability of the U.S. Census Bureau... http://equitablegrowth.org/equitablog/value-added/will-the-united-states-give-up-on-data-collection/

Should-Read: Andy Slavitt: @ASlavitt on Twitter: "Trump plans to sabotage the ACA this week... https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/891722458855866369

Live From California's Southland: Paging Janet Napolitano. Is there any reason not to give U.C. Irvine a new and very different top administration tomorrow?

Teresa Watanabe: UC Irvine is under fire for rescinding 500 admission offers two months before fall term begins: "Ashley Gonzalez's admission to UC Irvine was rescinded... http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-uc-irvine-rescissions-20170728-story.html

Must-Reads:

• Simon Johnson: Trump’s Growth Charade by Simon Johnson - Project Syndicate: "Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration frequently talk about getting annual economic growth in the United States back above 3%... https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-administration-growth-assumption-by-simon-johnson-2017-07
• Neera Tanden and Tophir Spiro: The bipartisan way to strengthen health care: "Provide greater certainty for insurers by guaranteeing continued payments of ACA subsidies, a step that could help reduce average premiums by as much as 19 percent... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bipartisan-way-to-strengthen-health-care/2017/07/18/b2e2b444-6bef-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html
• Dylan Scott: The Obamacare repeal debate is now a completely bonkers game of chicken: "On Thursday evening, mere hours before the Senate is supposed to vote on a health care bill, the United States Capitol is in chaos... https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16053268/senate-obamacare-repeal-chaos
• Matthew Yglesias: Senate Republicans’ approach to health care is bizarre and appalling: "Nobody can tell exactly what Senate Republicans are doing with Americans’ health care, largely because they keep lying about it... https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16040284/senate-republicans-health-care-lies
• Martin Feldstein: How Would Health-Care Reform Affect Patient Health?: "People who qualify for Medicaid do receive substantially more care than those without formal insurance... https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/us-health-care-reform-medicaid-cuts-by-martin-feldstein-2017-07

Hoisted from Ten Years Ago: More on the Kaiping Mines: Jonathan Spence's Asides, and Albert Feuerwerker's Review of Ellsworth Carlson http://www.bradford-delong.com/2007/07/more-on-the-kai.html: China specialists see and can almost touch an alternative history in which late-nineteenth century China managed to match the political and economic achievements of Meiji Japan, and in which China stood up economically, politically, and organizationally at the same pace of the Japan that won its short victorious war against Russia in 1905, negotiated as an equal with Britain and the U.S. over warship construction in 1921, and was perhaps the eighth industrial power in the world by 1929.

Worth Remembering:

• Iraq Coverage Right-Wing Slime Machine Watch (Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps?) http://www.bradford-delong.com/2007/07/iraq-coverage-r.html: "Fighting in a war does not take you into Red Badge of Courage territory... looking into the abyss by fighting in the war allows the abyss to look into him.... The person I know of who has put it best is science-fiction/fantasy writer David Drake, a good chunk of whose work is best classified as horror and is really about his experiences as an interrogator in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 'Blackhorse', when it went through the Cambodian market town of Snuol..."

Dean Acheson: A Democrat Looks at His Party: "From Dean G. Acheson: "At the end of the [nineteenth] century there was a lesser, but serious, missed opportunity... http://www.bradford-delong.com/2007/07/dean-acheson-on.html

Apropos of Simon Johnson's, Charlie Steindel's, and my... distaste... for the 3%/year growth fake forecasts of Cogan, Hubbard, Taylor, and Warsh...

Let me say that in Taylor's case, at least, this type of bullshit misrepresentation of what we know and what the evidence says has now been going on for a very long time:

I, at least, am as tired of it as are the more senior real economists who are John Taylor's peers.

Why John Taylor thinks he is still entitled to call himself an "economist" is beyond me. It has been beyond me for eight years:

Must-Read: The smart and honest Simon Johnson likes the Trumpists' and Cogan, Hubbard, Taylor, and Warsh's 3%/year real national product fake forecasts even less than I do:

Simon Johnson: Trump’s Growth Charade by Simon Johnson - Project Syndicate: "Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration frequently talk about getting annual economic growth in the United States back above 3%... https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-administration-growth-assumption-by-simon-johnson-2017-07

Worth Hoisting and Highlighting: Paul Krugman is wise; Ezra Klein points out that those who claim having health insurance is not important (a) have health insurance, and (b) are not telling the truth; Robert Samuelson of the execrable Washington Post is an embittered, evil, strange man; the execrable Stuart Taylor, Jr., of the Atlantic Group is one as well; and neither Robert Pear of the New York Times nor David Broder of the Washington Post either do now know enough or do not care enough to do their proper jobs:

Comment of the Day: Sanjait: Avik Roy told a lot of lies in his vain attempt to get BCRA passed...: "Sure, because removing hundreds of billions from insurance programs and subsidies... http://www.bradford-delong.com/2017/07/should-read-avik-roy-told-a-lot-of-lies-in-his-vain-attempt-to-get-bcra-passed-now-here-he-is-calling-for-the-corrupt.html?cid=6a00e551f08003883401bb09b3c897970d#comment-6a00e551f08003883401bb09b3c897970d

Should-Read: Avik Roy told a lot of lies in his vain attempt to get BCRA passed.

Now here he is calling for the corruption of the Congressional Budget Office.

Every single former Director of the CBO regards its independence as an extremely valuable national treasure. And Roy's claim that the CBO was in the pocket of the Democrats is hogwash. In almost the next breath after saying that Democrats had "a deliberate strategy to stack the CBO", he admits that President Obama "opposed the individual mandate"—if there was an alternative strategy that would have gotten coverage. CBO judged that there wasn't—that Obama's preferred bill would not work.

The difference between CBO scores of the Democratic and Republican health care bills is not because the CBO is stacked in favor of Democrats, it is because the Democrats were willing to listen to the CBO and craft bills that the CBO judged were likely to work, while the Republicans were unwilling to listen to the CBO and so crafted bills that the CBO judged were unlikely to work:

Avik Roy: An Autopsy of the GOP Effort to Repeal and Replace Obamacare: "Moderate Republican senators, often representing purple or blue states, were reluctant both philosophically and politically to endorse legislation that increased the number of Americans without health insurance... http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/449943/autopsy-gop-effort-repeal-and-replace-obamacare

Should-Read: Craig Garthwaite: Why replacing Obamacare is so hard: It’s fundamentally conservative: "As a life-long Republican... I’ve come to an answer that will be hard for many conservatives to swallow... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-replacing-obamacare-is-so-hard-its-fundamentally-conservative/2017/07/10/c5d64634-6351-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: Emily Smith: Anthony Scaramucci’s wife files for divorce: "Deidre Ball, who worked as a vice president in investor relations for SkyBridge Capital... http://pagesix.com/2017/07/28/anthony-scaramuccis-wife-files-for-divorce/

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: But, Donald, the question is: do you think John Kelly is a Dear Leader? Or a Brilliant Comrade?

Donald Trump: Reince Priebus Pushed Out After Rocky Tenure as Trump Chief of Staff: "I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff... https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/us/politics/reince-priebus-white-house-trump.html

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: Josh Marshall asks for theories of Hero McCain. I have three:

1. After 10 years of being a largely-destructive Republican—most notably in his injection of Sarah Palin into our public sphere—he simply decided: f--- it, it's time to be an American and a senator again.

2. Roid rage: steroid doses to reduce brain swelling after surgery put him in a temper.

3. There are fourteen Republican senators—Susan Collins, R-ME, Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, John McCain, R-A, Dean Heller R-NV, Lamar Alexander R-TN, Shelley Moore Capito R-WV, Rob Portman R-OH, Bob Corker R-TN, Tom Cotton R-AK, Lindsey Graham R-SC, Mike Lee R-UT, Jeff Flake R-AZ, Ben Sasse R-NB, Jerry Moran R-KS—plus 50 Republican representatives who would rather that this ObamaCare repeal thing crash. Murkowski and Collins could oppose repeal and strengthen their local political standing. The question was who else would join them—and would it be better to oppose it in a group or to simply put up one of their number so that McConnell could say "I really tried hard", and they decided that it was better for it to barely fail, and then McCain wanted the Mr. Smith role.

Opinions?

Josh Marshall: Taking Stock Of Trumpcare’s Epic Collapse – Talking Points Memo: "I had a very hard time believing the result would be what it turned out to be... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/taking-stock-of-trumpcares-epic-collapse

Should-Read: Antonio Fatas seems annoyed with Greg Mankiw. I think I understand where Antonio is coming from: one has a moral obligation, I think, not just to say "health care is a complicated issue", but to go on and say what kinds of "regulatory relief" and what kind of "expanded government role" you believe would do more good than harm—and also (we are still looking at you, Marty) not to misreport and misconstrue the solid empirical literature, and also (here we are looking at you, Greg) to say more than that the issues are "hotly debated":

Antonio Fatas: On Twitter: "Healthcare is complicated but Greg Mankiw should criticize policy proposals that are incoherent or just lie about their benefits..." https://twitter.com/AntonioFatas/status/890979381719511044

Live from the Journamalists' Self-Made Gehenna: "We did and are doing great work, and the Washington Post management is shutting us down". The Washington Post moves in the anti-Vox, anti-Ezra Klein direction, moving away from explainer journalism. Back to "opinions of shape of earth differ!" (which never went away)? Inquiring minds want to know:

Max Ehrenfreund: Wonkbook: This is Wonkbook's final issue—for now: "This is the last issue of Wonkbook you'll see for a while, but we'll be back soon...

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: The twelve not completely crazy Republican senators who might be open to some form of not-insane health care legislation over the next fifteen months:

• Susan Collins R-ME
• Lisa Murkowski R-AK
• John McCain R-AZ
• Dean Heller R-NV
• Lamar Alexander R-TN
• Shelley Moore Capito R-WV
• Rob Portman R-OH
• Bob Corker R-TN
• Tom Cotton R-AK
• Lindsey Graham R-SC
• Mike Lee R-UT
• Jerry Moran R-KS

Live from the Journamalists' Self-Made Gehenna: Apropos of: Gillian White: Emerson Collective Acquires Majority Stake in The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/07/emerson-collective-atlantic-coalition/535215/

My two cents is that Laurene Powell Jobs should move editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg out of the Atlantic as fast as possible.

It would give it a chance of becoming a trustworthy information intermediary.

Just saying:

Jeffrey Goldberg (2010): Yes, Yes, I Know I Started the Iraq War http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/yes-yes-i-know-i-started-the-iraq-war/58780/: "I'm getting a bit of the Two Minutes' Hate from the usual suspects...

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: Should Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) leave office, who does Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) appoint to fill his Senate seat until the 2016 election? And what does whoever Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) appoints think of health care?

Should-Read: Josh Barro: John McCain saved Republicans from themselves by killing Obamacare repeal bill: "Lindsey Graham made a demand: He would vote for the terrible healthcare bill being offered before the Senate, a bill he thought would cause health insurance market disaster... http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-vote-health-care-obamacare-bill-2017-7

Brad DeLong: （経済教室）グローバル化を巡る攻防(下)偏りない成長で不安払拭　市場経済の経験を生かせ　Ｂ・デロング　カリフォルニア大学バークレー校教授　　：日本経済新聞 http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGKKZO19272800W7A720C1KE8000/

(Battle over globalization (down) Uneasy with unbiased growth Leverage the experience of market economy)

Should-Read: Simon Wren-Lewis: UK slowdown is a result of Brexit and austerity: "Those who argued that Brexit would bring a short term slowdown have been proved right: they just got their timing slightly wrong... https://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-uk-slowdown-is-result-of-brexit-and.html

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: Ogged: Unfogged: "What drugs isn't the Mooch using?... http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2017_07_23.html#016119

Should-Read: Martin Longman: A Glimpse Back at the Old Senate: "two stories I found last night while researching my Murkowski-Collins defection piece... http://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/07/27/a-glimpse-back-at-the-old-senate/

Must-Read: A good way forward on health care:

Neera Tanden and Tophir Spiro: The bipartisan way to strengthen health care: "Provide greater certainty for insurers by guaranteeing continued payments of ACA subsidies, a step that could help reduce average premiums by as much as 19 percent... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-bipartisan-way-to-strengthen-health-care/2017/07/18/b2e2b444-6bef-11e7-b9e2-2056e768a7e5_story.html

Must-Read: Dylan Scott: The Obamacare repeal debate is now a completely bonkers game of chicken: "On Thursday evening, mere hours before the Senate is supposed to vote on a health care bill, the United States Capitol is in chaos... https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16053268/senate-obamacare-repeal-chaos

Live from the Orange-Haired Baboon Cage: Ryan Lizza: Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon: "He started by threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff. It escalated from there... http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon/amp

Should-Read: Josh Marshall: Trumpism Distilled: "Scaramucci has managed to become a compressed, crystallized version of all the ridiculousness of Trumpism... http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumpism-distilled