Gershom Gorenberg writes about the trip Obama needs but can't afford politically:
Sometime in the weeks ahead, Jerusalem will receive the latest in a long line of American political pilgrims -- Barack Obama. Obama's entire overseas swing will be a tightrope act -- necessary, but unforgiving of a single stumble. Nowhere will the contradictory purposes of the trip be more constricting than in Israel. The visit he should actually make to prepare for the presidency is impossible. But it's worth imagining, if only as a yardstick to measure what politics allows him to do.
Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres argue that Obama's success at small-dollar fundraising shows that their proposed system of "patriot dollars" is a better fit for American voters than our current system of matching funds:
Barack Obama's rejection of public financing for the general election confronts us with a stark choice: Rethink the system or let it die. The current program has failed to generate sustained public support for good reason. It puts citizens on the sidelines and merely involves the bureaucratic transfer of funds from the Treasury to candidates who voluntarily forego private money. Given the lack of direct citizen involvement, it's not surprising that fewer than 10 percent of Americans support the campaign fund by checking off a box on their tax forms.
And Dean Baker has the latest economic news:
We all know about the shortage of oil sending gas prices through the roof. And of course, shortages of rice and corn have sent the prices for these commodities soaring also. But, what about the shortage of Europeans?
Well, if you aren't concerned about running out of Europeans then you obviously didn't read the section of last Sunday's New York Times Magazine. The magazine cover story was a 10-page warning that the populations of most European countries are shrinking, several at what the Times deems an alarming rate.
Subscribe to our RSS feed to receive our articles as soon as they're published.
--The Editors
