himwhynot

Robert Kuttner says the foreclosure mess may force a solution to the deeper economic drag of underwater mortgages and zombie banks. The banking industry contends that these are isolated problems, but evidence is accumulating that such lapses are pervasive. Robo-signing and other careless practices occurred not just on the back end, when a bank tried […]

Courtney Martin says now that we’ve established that promoting the advancement of women is good policy, we have to stay vigilant as ideas turn into actions. We’ve seen an unprecedented growth in public awareness and acceptance of the notion that the most effective way to change the world is by investing in its most overlooked […]

Gershom Gorenberg says the Israeli army’s ties to the Orthodox right distort Judaism and make peace harder to achieve. The bashful general was speaking at a cornerstone-laying ceremony for what’s known as a hesder yeshivah. A yeshivah is a place where people (well, usually men) study Talmud and other Jewish religious texts. Hesder means “arrangement.” […]

Matthew Yglesias says Richard Holbrooke represents a bygone era when America was represented primarily by diplomats, not generals. Indeed, in some ways Holbrooke seems almost like the last statesman, a figure plucked from a time when diplomacy really mattered and America was represented abroad primarily by diplomats rather than generals. But no one who was […]

Paul Waldman says that for Democrats to win on taxes, they need to propose substantive reforms — not just battle over the existing Bush tax cuts. When Barack Obama took office two years ago, four far-reaching problems stood above all others he had to face: the free-falling economy, the war in Iraq, the health-care crisis, […]

Tim Fernholz asks whether the nation’s largest community bank collapsed because of its social-justice mission — or its financial ambitions. ShoreBank became a symbol of community-development finance — politicians associated themselves with the bank, and other financial institutions modeled themselves after it. Federal legislation sought by progressives during the Clinton administration gave government support to […]

Mark Schmitt says the Republican majority intends to underplay its hand rather than take responsibility for governing. There’s a malady that Washington liberals and media types are particularly susceptible to. I’ve got a chronic recurring case of it myself. Call it policy literalism — the persistent belief that policy should have a rational, direct relationship […]

Jacyln Friedman says the Assange sexual-assault allegations shouldn’t be dismissed just because they’re politically motivated. I have no way of knowing whether Assange is guilty as charged. It’s also obvious that the timing and ferocity of Interpol’s prosecution of Assange is politically motivated. That Interpol should randomly build up such a head of steam about […]

Scott Lemieux says that during his years on the Court, John Paul Stevens emerged as its foremost critic of unequal treatment under the law. When John Paul Stevens was nominated by Gerald Ford to replace William O. Douglas, few could have predicted that the moderate Republican Stevens would in many respects fill Douglas’ role as […]

Tim Fernholz says a new group of Democratic senators is poised to challenge the filibuster in the next term. It’s been well observed in Washington that it doesn’t cost much to filibuster: Senators don’t have to speak or stay on the floor of the Senate. They only need to say a few words to their […]