Ezra Klein

Yesterday I mentioned that John F. Kennedy got the idea for the War on Poverty from Dwight MacDonald’s review of Michael Harrington’s The Other America in The New Yorker. And today I learn that thanks to the magic of the internet, the MacDonald piece is freely available to the masses. We live in a wondrous […]

It’s pretty normal to hear our health system compared to that of Canada or England. And it makes sense. Canada is nearby — just hang a right when you hit Michigan. And the UK is considered our closest analogue in Europe. Their English may sound funny, but it’s still English. When comparing policy options, it’s […]

It’s nice to see The Washington Times reduced to running headlines like “Rove: Bush hardly worst president.” What’s that phrase again? The soft bigotry of expectations that you’re history’s greatest monster or something?

Josh Marshall talks to notorious GOP dirty tricks guru Roger Stone about his role in winning the 2000 Florida recount for Bush: Weird world. Weird world.

It’s become common for neoconservative pundits to declare that we’ve “won the war,” as Bill Kristol did the other day in a debate over Bush’s eventual legacy. And of course we haven’t “won the war.” Iraq is not a stable democracy. The Sunni and the Shiites have not come to an enduring reconciliation. We have […]

Being a medical resident is bad job. 80-hour workweeks, single shifts that can stretch to almost a full day, low-pay that can force second jobs or moonlighting on shifts, and intense sleep deprivation are the norm. It’s sometimes justified as a type of hazing, or immersion education, but is in fact a way for hospitals […]

GM has submitted its bailout plan, which you can read here. Much of it looks pretty good. GM will focus on four core brands: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC. Pontiac is getting downsized, Hummer and Saab are probably getting sold, and Saturn is likely on its way out, too. Executive compensation goes down to a […]

Dick Holbrooke is a complicated political figure. To many, he represents the hawkish wing of the Democratic Party, the very type of adviser and outlook that led to the party’s complicity in the Iraq War. But he’s also, by wide acclaim, the most talented diplomat in the party. His work on the Dayton Accords, which […]

What is six months of your life worth? And don’t say priceless. It’s not priceless. Not if you’re not paying. So let’s sharpen the question: What should six months of your life be worth to your insurer, be that insurer the government or Aetna? Which is another way of saying, what should the rest of […]

I don’t have a lot to say about it, but the New Yorker’s exploration of “extreme” beer brewing is really excellent. Print it out, get yourself a six pack of Dogfish Ale, and read it slowly.