Ezra Klein

In comments to my post on the absurdity of the infinite-horizon, TJon writes: Why don’t Democrats use this to mock Republicans. Use the infinite model to calculate how much SS will cost between 4050 and 4100. Ask Republicans if they agree with that prediction. Ask them details about it. How many workers will there be […]

Jeanne d’Arc is right. This does raise a lot of questions.

Over at the Agora, they’re running through another round of “why-oh-why are all universities so lefty”, this time with an assist from Howard Kurtz: “[c]ollege faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined.” 72 percent of college faculty describe themselves as […]

While he’s awarding Kim Du Toit the ribbon for “America’s Worst Blogger”, Robert Farley offers an offhand explanation of what a blogger should be: A decent blogger actually introduces new ideas; he does not simply confirm what you already believed but were too ashamed to verbalize. We should print it on a mousepad and send […]

Michael Schreiber writes: I am scared of New York and Chicago. Both are next to large bodies of water and quite a bit more sophisticated than California in a number of ways; but these two pulsating bodies tower over me like Olympian Gods. The names alone sound of cosmopolitan, excitement. sex-appeal and dynamic tones. Of […]

Looks like we should consign that little part of us awaiting answers on the intelligence failures that led us into Iraq to that same purgatory where we still expect a verdict in the Plame case. It didn’t have to be that way. Liberals weren’t happy when Kansas Senator Pat Roberts condemned the intelligence verdict on […]

Matt’s got an excellent post on troop withdrawal in Iraq. Read it.

Over at Sean-Paul’s place, I’m undersigned on a letter protesting The National Press Club’s strange lineup for their upcoming “Blogger? Journalist?” event. Slated to discuss the issue are Wonkette, Congress Daily’s John Stanton, and Jeff Gannon. Yeah, that Jeff Gannon. It’s such a laughably silly slate that you can’t be mad, just amused. Nevertheless, in […]

Apropos of nothing save my annoyance, I did a little research on the “infinite-horizon” modeling today. “Infinite horizon” projections are where we get numbers like Social Security’s supposed $11 trillion deficit. It’s a way of forecasting costs off into the great beyond. It’s also a load of crap. President Bush’s tax cuts, if judged via […]

Grassley’s admission that privatization probably won’t happen — indeed, that no bill is likely to move forward — drives that stake nice and deep into the privateers’ heart. This is like Moynihan’s reluctance to push Clinton’s health care bill and his public disparagement of its chances, the combination of which did much to kill the […]