Ezra Klein

GREAT LEDERS. One of the little biographical secrets that I keep from most of my friends is that I actually went to journalism school. The very first week, they taught us how to write a lead. (This was the first course in the four-year curriculum of How To Write Badly.) Anyway, I can tell you […]

CHENEY SPEAK, YOU LISTEN. The Washington Examiner’s Bill Sammon provides some fascinating details from an exclusive interview he conducted on Air Force Two with Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney predicts the Republicans will hold both chambers of Congress, says Dennis Hastert is a “great Speaker” who should not step down, and claims that Republicans don’t […]

FOR THEM BEFORE HE WAS AGAINST THEM. The National Labor Relations Board, currently stacked with anti-worker Bush appointees, ruled today that about 8 million workers are actually of supervisor status, and thus cannot form unions. Charming. Exactly one month ago, Bush spoke at a union’s Center for Maritime Training and Education, saying: Michael, I didn’t […]

THE WAL-MART EFFECT. So long as I’m talking books, I’ve been trying for days now to figure out how to recommend Charles Fishman‘s The Wal-Mart Effect, which is by far the most important, enlightening, and judicious examination of the new economy I’ve yet seen. Since all I’ve got for the tome is unadulterated, schoolgirl-like praise, […]

BOOKS. David Brooks argues that one indicator that conservatism is running out of steam is a distinct paucity of “big, impactful books” on the right. He reminisces about the good ol’ days, the 80’s and 90’s, when George Gilder, Alan Bloom, Charles Murray, and others were writing books that fundamentally shifted how conservatives viewed the […]

DOW DOWNER. Speaking of stock market stuff, expect to see the GOP trumpeting the Dow’s ascension to a new high of 11,727.34 yesterday. While it’s a good number, it’s a bit illusory. The Dow is reported in terms of absolute values, but as with everything else in economics, those are rarely so absolute. Indeed, if […]

THE INVISIBLE RIGHT HAND. It’s a hoary truism that markets favor Republican rule, though one that, till now, lacked much evidence. Stock prices, after all, have consistently done better under Democratic administrations than Republican rule. But Justin Wolfers at the Wharton School of Business and Erik Snowberg and Eric Zitzewitz at Stanford University found a […]