David Leonhardt does his usual excellent job explaining why the economy is lagging: People are still more concerned about working down their debts than in buying new things (and running up new debts). As candidate Barack Obama told me in October, 2008, “The easy credit economy is over and we have to find what’s going to drive the economy in the future.” This idea isn’t new. As Leonhardt notes, the difference between this recession and most–and the reason why it will continue to fester–was described in a book by the economists Carmen Rhinehart and Kenneth Rogoff. But it is good, every so often, to do what Leonhardt does on a regular basis–cut through the vast amounts of politics and theoretical gas surrounding our current economic woes and remind ourselves about the heart of the matter. The recovery is going to take time.
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Obama’s Persuasive Powers on Gay Marriage Manifest in Maryland
When President Obama endorsed gay marriage earlier this month, the media grappled with two basic political questions: Was his personal “evolution” a case of a politician transparently following a national trend toward accepting same-sex unions (accelerated, perhaps, by his chatty No. 2), and would it hurt his re-election chances by alienating socially conservative voters like black churchgoers? Sure, there was a recognition that it marked a gratifying moment for gay-marriage advocates — as well as some grumbling about the President’s view that it remains a state issue, not a federal one. But by and large, there were few suggestions that one man, even the President, would shift public opinion on the issue or affect public policy. Based on a new Public Policy Polling survey out of Maryland, it seems this possibility was underestimated.
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Cherokee Zero
Apparently, Massachusetts voters don’t mind that Elizabeth Warren foolishly identified herself as a Native American early in her academic career–it was, apparently, a case of family pride and wishful thinking about a Cherokee ancestor. That’s good. Warren may be the best public figure when it comes to explaining the depredations of the financial industry and [...]
