Greg Mankiw can afford higher taxes

...but they'll make him work less.

It's not a new tax!

Except when it is.

A little economic realism?

David Brooks seems to make some sense.

Paul Krugman is predictably horrified, as are Steve Benen and someone at Balloon Juice.

Dean Baker goes into detail with a response that seems particularly well argued.

Link blag

Cato has the grim facts on public schooling since 1970.

League: Jason Kuznicki, Austin Bramwell, and Jaybird on gay marriage and Christianity.

MR: What political action are markets demanding?

NYT: Your Brain on Computers: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price

Rand Paul editorializes on the CRA and individual rights in a local Kentucky paper.

Teacher's unions still huge obstacle for education reform

Megan and the NYT explain.

Something good about Kagan?

A free speech absolutist?

It's not at all clear what her current position is. I'm afraid this is being highlighted to please civil libertarians otherwise offended by her nomination. And given that she's such a blank slate... *shrug* I don't think there's enough to form an opinion here.

Especially given some worrisome things she's written:

n our own times, a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States. Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories rather than of socialism's greatness. Conformity overrides dissent; the desire to conserve has overwhelmed the urge to alter. Such a state of affairs cries out for explanation. Why, in a society by no means perfect, has a radical party never attained the status of a major political force? Why, in particular did the socialist movement never become an alternative to the nation's established parties?

In answering this question, historians have often called attention to various charcteristics of American society... an ethnically-divided working class, a relatively fluid class structure, an economy which allowed at least some workers to enjoy what Sombart termed "reefs of roast beef and apple pie"--prevented the early twentieth century socialists from attracting an immediate mass following. Such conditions did not, however, completely checkmate American socialism.... Yet in the years after World War I, this expanding and confident movement almost entirely collapsed....

From the New York socialist movement's birth, sectarianism and dissension ate away at its core. Substantial numbers of SP members expressed deep and abiding dissatisfaction with the brand of reform socialism advocated by the party's leadership. To these left-wingers, constructive socialism seemed to stress insignificant reforms at the expense of ultimate goals. How, these revolutionaries angrily demanded, could the SP hope to attract workers if it did not distinguish itself from the many progressive parties, if it did not proffer an enduring and radiant ideal? How, the constructivists angrily replied, could the SP hope to attract workers if it did not promise them immediate benefits, if it did not concern itself with their present burdens?...

Through its own internal feuding, then, the SP exhausted itself forever.... The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. Radicals have often succumbed to the devastating bane of sectarianism; it is easier, after all, to fight one's fellows than it is to battle an entrenched and powerful foe. Yet if the history of Local New York shows anything, it is that American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope.

That may just be impartial legal scholarship... one certainly hopes. But it's damn suspicious.

Addendum: She also advised the Clinton white house to continue the crack cocaine sentencing disparity. So sounding tough on crime trumps justice, in Kagan's view.

Slogans for things not usually advertised

NYT vocabulists channel their inner Don Drapper...

Gravity: It's not just a good idea - it's the law.

Yesterday: Like today. With fewer surprises.

Geography: It’s everywhere.

Rolling Stone: Guaranteed moss-free!

Free verse: No rhyme for some reason.

Midwives: We deliver.

Congress: For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.

Bipartisanship: Between love and madness lies concession.

Parenting: It’s really fun at the very beginning.

Important sentences

"..a VAT is neither blessed nor evil. It is a tool. We can use it to advance a larger government, a more efficient tax system or some combination of the two."

—Greg Mankiw in the Times.

"...America's not very good at dealing with slow-moving crises, even with slow-moving solutions. We're much better at waiting until a crisis happens, acting quickly, and then putting together commissions to find out why nobody saw it coming."

—Derek Thompson, Atlantic Business.

The limits of Rahmism

Don't miss Peter Baker's profile in the NYT mag.

The sustainability of Obama's budget

Mankiw opines in the Times.

Quote of the day

"I mean, the fact of the matter is, is the president has been on his 60-day tour, and everywhere he goes the numbers just get worse. The American people have essentially voted on this proposal and really what you have is a situation now where I think that the president and the Republican Congress are going to need to figure out a way to save face and -- and step back a little bit. And if -- if they let go of their egos -- listen, I've been on the other side of this where -- particularly with my wife. (laughter) Where I've gotten in an argument and then at some point in the argument it dawns on me, you know what, I'm wrong on this one and it's -- it's -- it's irritating, it's frustrating. You don't want to admit it, and so to the extent that we can provide the president with a graceful mechanism to -- to say we're sorry, Dear, then I think that would be -- that would be helpful."

—U.S. Senator Barack Obama, speaking on President Bush's effort to privatize Social Security, April 25, 2005


Megan croaks "Shoe, meet the other foot" and juxtaposes amusing NYT editorials. Meanwhile...

Headline of the day

NYT: Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

Who knew karaoke could be so dangerous?

Quote of the day

"No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens...allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do."

—Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Good news guys

Y chromosomes are evolving quickly.

Chart of the day

But do note that it's misleadingly based at 25 mil.

NYT: "one in eight Americans and one in four children" receive food stamps.

I suppose that if we were to replace all welfare with a negative income tax, as I advocate, some of the resulting tax credit for low earners could be provided in the form of food stamps if we're worried that too much of the money is wasted on non-food items.

(ht nc)

The surge^H^H^H^H^Hstimulus is working!

NYT gathers projected counterfactuals...

These are not the bombs you're looking for

Iraq's Ministry of the Interior has deployed paranormal bomb detectors at checkpoints...

[..] the ministry bought 800 of the devices from a company called ATSC (UK) Ltd. for $32 million in 2008, and an unspecified larger quantity for $53 million.

[..] ATSC’s promotional material claims that its device can find guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies and even contraband ivory at distances up to a kilometer, underground, through walls, underwater or even from airplanes three miles high. The device works on “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction,” ATSC says.

What'll they think of next?

The problem with health insurance mandates

Tyler Cowen addresses this neglected issue in the Times.

Link blag

DIA: The fierce urgency of whatever

NYT: It's a fork, it's a spoon, it's a...weapon?

ABC: Tennessee woman arrested for poking someone over Facebook

WSJ: Reagan's secretary of state says the drug war is not working

Cato: Paul Krugman continues to be wrong

And the award of "best headline for something I skipped reading" goes to:
"Will Stimulating Nominal Aggregate Demand Solve our Problems?"

Innovation

Don't miss today's David Brooks column.

Update: Ezra Klein response is clever, but his first comment shows the problem.