Ezra Klein

It’s indicative of a meaningful shift in the national discourse that the President of the United States is personally expressing support for a union’s sit-down strike. “When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” […]

Rick Hertzberg has written an amusing, and surprisingly restrained, account of what it’s like to have Bill O’Reilly decide to pick a fight with you. It’s an interesting post, if only for its insight into the bullying tactics of the O’Reilly Factor and its increasingly unhinged host.

The Washington Post has a nice piece on the wars being waged at the appellate court level, where liberal appointees are now locked in pretty consequential battles with conservative appointees. As Steven Benen summarizes, “When Bush took office, seven of the 13 appellate courts had Republican-appointed majorities. Now, that number has increased to 10, with […]

Henry Blodgett’s article on why bubbles are recurrent phenomena in markets is very good, and gets at something I’ve been struggling to articulate. So I’m going to quote a substantial portion of it: Being bullish in a bull market is undeniably good for business. When the market is rising, no one wants to work with […]

Like everyone else, I “know” that American auto makers produce very bad cars. I believe this even though I have a Ford Focus, and it’s been a very good car. Writing this, presumably, will lead the drivetrain to disintegrate tomorrow, but I’ve had the vehicle since 2000, and it’s had very few problems, and almost […]

Steve Hildebrand, one of Obama’s top organizers and advisers, took to Huffington Post this week to call for calm among Obama’s more liberal critics. The argument is much as you’d expect, but one graf deserves a bit more notice: As a liberal member of our Party, I hope and expect our new president to address […]

Barry Ritholtz has some interesting ideas for paying for national health insurance…

Heartening staffing news today as Joe Biden’s office announces that Jared Bernstein, of the Economic Policy Institute, will be serving as Biden’s Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser. The obvious question is what it means to be the veep’s econ guru, but the answer is that Bernstein will be in on all high level economic […]

At least according to Bill O’Reilly, who sent a camera crew to ambush Hendrick Hertzberg. The best part, by far, is the way O’Reilly says Rick’s name. Eyebrows raised, voice heavy with sarcasm, he makes “Hendrick Hertzberg” sound like “Gayey McFaggerson. Classy work, Bill. And beyond that, it looks like O’Reilly lied about inviting Rick […]