J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 275

No, I do not understand why this did not post. So I am po...

No, I do not understand why this did not post. So I am posting it again: John Holbo: Abusive Legalism: "Andrew McCarthy... objects to Mueller���s investigation.... 'There are many wrongs that are not crimes... wrongs should be made right. But prosecutors do not operate in a cosmic-justice system..... The only wrongs they are authorized to address���the only wrongs it is appropriate for them to address���are crimes'.... If awful stuff comes to light in l���affaire Russe... anyone who is upset about corruption is just some kooky, wild-eyed cosmic justice warrior. The position is self-undermining within the scope of the piece itself. McCarthy is indignant that Mueller is violating prosecutorial norms���not breaking laws. But McCarthy doesn���t, therefore, chalk Mueller���s wrongdoing up to the cosmos��� injustice tab and shrug it off...

...I think probably the most effective tack, rhetorically, is to force the likes of McCarthy to own the apparent perversity of the allegedly principled result. Namely, the right thing to do is to not expose serious Presidential corruption, since, weirdly enough, it isn���t illegal...

#shouldread #orangehariedbaboons

Reposting this: No, I do not understand why it did not wo...

Reposting this: No, I do not understand why it did not work before:

Possibly the finest thing I have read this year: Frank Wilhoit: The Travesty of Liberalism: "There is only conservatism. No other political philosophy actually exists; by the political analogue of Gresham���s Law, conservatism has driven every other idea out of circulation. There might be, and should be, anti-conservatism; but it does not yet exist. What would it be? In order to answer that question, it is necessary and sufficient to characterize conservatism. Fortunately, this can be done very concisely. Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect...

...There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time. For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. ���The king can do no wrong.��� In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king���s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king���s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.

As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself ��� backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.

So this tells us what anti-conservatism must be: the proposition that the law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone, and cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone....

The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get...

#shouldread
#moralphilosophy
#moralresponsibility

Peter Spiegel: On Twitter: "This @BuzzFeedNews story from...

Peter Spiegel: On Twitter: "This @BuzzFeedNews story from May appears to be the issue that Michael Cohen is admitting to today: that he worked for @realDonaldTrump on a Trump Tower Moscow into May-June...just before Republican Nat'l Convention. https://t.co/7b2bqO9tDb": "This @BuzzFeedNews story from May appears to be the issue that Michael Cohen is admitting to today: that he worked for @realDonaldTrump on a Trump Tower Moscow into May-June... just before Republican Nat'l Convention...

#shouldread #orangehairedbaboon

The Royal Proclamation of 1763: Weekend Reading

George III Hanover (1763): The Royal Proclamation of 1763: "BY THE KlNG. A PROCLAMATION: >Whereas We have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable acquisitions in America, secured to our Crown by the late definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris the 10th day of February last; and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects, as well of our Kingdom as of our Colonies in America, may avail themselves with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation, We have thought fit, with the Advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal Proclamation...

...hereby to publish and declare to all our loving Subjects, that we have, with the Advice of our Said Privy Council, granted our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of Great Britain, to erect, within the Countries and Islands ceded and confirmed to Us by the said Treaty, Four distinct and separate Governments, styled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows, viz.

First���The Government of Quebec bounded on the Labrador Coast by the River St. John, and from thence by a Line drawn from the Head of that River through the Lake St. John, to the South end of the Lake Nipissim; from whence the said Line, crossing the River St. Lawrence, and the Lake Champlain, in 45. Degrees of North Latitude, passes along the High Lands which divide the Rivers that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Sea; and also along the North Coast of the Baye des Ch��leurs, and the Coast of the Gulph of St. Lawrence to Cape Rosi��res, and from thence crossing the Mouth of the River St. Lawrence by the West End of the Island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid River of St. John.

Secondly���The Government of East Florida. bounded to the Westward by the Gulph of Mexico and the Apalachicola River; to the Northward by a Line drawn from that part of the said River where the Chatahouchee and Flint Rivers meet, to the source of St. Mary's River, and by the course of the said River to the Atlantic Ocean; and to the Eastward and Southward by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulph of Florida, including all Islands within Six Leagues of the Sea Coast.

Thirdly���The Government of West Florida. bounded to the Southward by the Gulph of Mexico. including all Islands within Six Leagues of the Coast, from the River Apalachicola to Lake Pontchartrain; to the Westward by the said Lake, the Lake Maurepas, and the River Mississippi; to the Northward by a Line drawn due East from that part of the River Mississippi which lies in 31 Degrees North Latitude, to the River Apalachicola or Chatahouchee; and to the Eastward by the said River.

Fourthly���The Government of Grenada, comprehending the Island of that name, together with the Grenadines, and the Islands of Dominico, St. Vincent's and Tobago. And to the end that the open and free Fishery of our Subjects may be extended to and carried on upon the Coast of Labrador, and the adjacent Islands.

We have thought fit, with the advice of our said Privy Council to put all that Coast, from the River St. John's to Hudson's Streights, together with the Islands of Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller Islands Iying upon the said Coast, under the care and Inspection of our Governor of Newfoundland.

We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council. thought fit to annex the Islands of St. John's and Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser Islands adjacent thereto, to our Government of Nova Scotia.

We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council aforesaid, annexed to our Province of Georgia all the Lands Iying between the Rivers Alatamaha and St. Mary's.

And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling of our said new Governments, that our loving Subjects should be informed of our Paternal care, for the security of the Liberties and Properties of those who are and shall become Inhabitants thereof, We have thought fit to publish and declare, by this Our Proclamation, that We have, in the Letters Patent under our Great Seal of Great Britain, by which the said Governments are constituted. given express Power and Direction to our Governors of our Said Colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of the said Colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the Advice and Consent of the Members of our Council, summon and call General Assemblies within the said Governments respectively, in such Manner and Form as is used and directed in those Colonies and Provinces in America which are under our immediate Government: And We have also given Power to the said Governors, with the consent of our Said Councils, and the Representatives of the People so to be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and ordain Laws. Statutes, and Ordinances for the Public Peace, Welfare, and good Government of our said Colonies, and of the People and Inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and under such Regulations and Restrictions as are used in other Colonies; and in the mean Time, and until such Assemblies can be called as aforesaid, all Persons Inhabiting in or resorting to our Said Colonies may confide in our Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws of our Realm of England; for which Purpose We have given Power under our Great Seal to the Governors of our said Colonies respectively to erect and constitute, with the Advice of our said Councils respectively, Courts of Judicature and public Justice within our Said Colonies for hearing and determining all Causes, as well Criminal as Civil, according to Law and Equity, and as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, with Liberty to all Persons who may think themselves aggrieved by the Sentences of such Courts, in all Civil Cases, to appeal, under the usual Limitations and Restrictions, to Us in our Privy Council.

We have also thought fit, with the advice of our Privy Council as aforesaid, to give unto the Governors and Councils of our said Three new Colonies, upon the Continent, full Power and Authority to settle and agree with the Inhabitants of our said new Colonies or with any other Persons who shall resort thereto, for such Lands. Tenements and Hereditaments, as are now or hereafter shall be in our Power to dispose of; and them to grant to any such Person or Persons upon such Terms, and under such moderate Quit-Rents, Services and Acknowledgments, as have been appointed and settled in our other Colonies, and under such other Conditions as shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient for the Advantage of the Grantees, and the Improvement and settlement of our said Colonies.

And Whereas, We are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our Royal Sense and Approbation of the Conduct and bravery of the Officers and Soldiers of our Armies, and to reward the same, We do hereby command and impower our Governors of our said Three new Colonies, and all other our Governors of our several Provinces on the Continent of North America, to grant without Fee or Reward, to such reduced Officers as have served in North America during the late War, and to such Private Soldiers as have been or shall be disbanded in America, and are actually residing there, and shall personally apply for the same, the following Quantities of Lands, subject, at the Expiration of Ten Years, to the same Quit-Rents as other Lands are subject to in the Province within which they are granted, as also subject to the same Conditions of Cultivation and Improvement; viz.

To every Person having the Rank of a Field Officer���5,000 Acres.
To every Captain���3,000 Acres.
To every Subaltern or Staff Officer,���2,000 Acres.
To every Non-Commission Officer,���200 Acres.
To every Private Man���50 Acres.

We do likewise authorize and require the Governors and Commanders in Chief of all our said Colonies upon the Continent of North America to grant the like Quantities of Land, and upon the same conditions, to such reduced Officers of our Navy of like Rank as served on board our Ships of War in North America at the times of the Reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the late War, and who shall personally apply to our respective Governors for such Grants.

And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved to them. or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.���We do therefore, with the Advice of our Privy Council, declare it to be our Royal Will and Pleasure. that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of our Colonies of Quebec, East Florida. or West Florida, do presume, upon any Pretence whatever, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass any Patents for Lands beyond the Bounds of their respective Governments as described in their Commissions: as also that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of our other Colonies or Plantations in America do presume for the present, and until our further Pleasure be known, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass Patents for any Lands beyond the Heads or Sources of any of the Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the West and North West, or upon any Lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians, or any of them.

And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to reserve under our Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the Lands and Territories not included within the Limits of Our said Three new Governments, or within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson's Bay Company, as also all the Lands and Territories lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall into the Sea from the West and North West as aforesaid.

And We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of our Displeasure, all our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above reserved. without our especial leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained.

And We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons whatever who have either wilfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described or upon any other Lands which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements.

And whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of our Interests and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians: In order, therefore, to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our Justice and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause of Discontent, We do, with the Advice of our Privy Council strictly enjoin and require that no private Person do presume to make any purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians, within those parts of our Colonies where, We have thought proper to allow Settlement: but that, if at any Time any of the Said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said Lands, the same shall be Purchased only for Us, in our Name, at some public Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that Purpose by the Governor or Commander in Chief of our Colony respectively within which they shall lie: and in case they shall lie within the limits of any Proprietary Government, they shall be purchased only for the Use and in the name of such Proprietaries, conformable to such Directions and Instructions as We or they shall think proper to give for that Purpose: And we do, by the Advice of our Privy Council, declare and enjoin, that the Trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our Subjects whatever, provided that every Person who may incline to Trade with the said Indians do take out a Licence for carrying on such Trade from the Governor or Commander in Chief of any of our Colonies respectively where such Person shall reside, and also give Security to observe such Regulations as We shall at any Time think fit, by ourselves or by our Commissaries to be appointed for this Purpose, to direct and appoint for the Benefit of the said Trade:

And we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the Governors and Commanders in Chief of all our Colonies respectively, as well those under Our immediate Government as those under the Government and Direction of Proprietaries, to grant such Licences without Fee or Reward, taking especial Care to insert therein a Condition, that such Licence shall be void, and the Security forfeited in case the Person to whom the same is granted shall refuse or neglect to observe such Regulations as We shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid.

And we do further expressly conjoin and require all Officers whatever, as well Military as those Employed in the Management and Direction of Indian Affairs, within the Territories reserved as aforesaid for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all Persons whatever, who standing charged with Treason. Misprisions of Treason, Murders, or other Felonies or Misdemeanors, shall fly from Justice and take Refuge in the said Territory. and to send them under a proper guard to the Colony where the Crime was committed of which they, stand accused, in order to take their Trial for the same.

Given at our Court at St. James's the 7th Day of October 1763, in the Third Year of our Reign.

GOD SAVE THE KING

��� Royal Proclamation, October 7, 1763.

#shouldread

Trying again to post this. No, I don't understand what we...

Trying again to post this. No, I don't understand what went wrong: Steve M.: Hey, There's No Reason to Get Worked Up���It's Only the Death of Democracy: "Leonhardt... is arguing that the electoral problems Democrats have complained about are much worse than what Republicans have cited (Republicans, in fact, are citing nonexistent acts of cheating)���but... that we should be quieter than the Republicans when they complain about nothing.... Yes, Kemp stole the election. But don't say so, because you might upset people...

#shouldread

Trying again to post this. No, I don't understand what we...

Trying again to post this. No, I don't understand what went wrong: David Warsh: Situations Wanted: "The mood at Duke has been gloomy since its economics department failed to make a place last year for Steven Medema, of the University of Colorado at Denver, in a quarrel over resources.�� Both sides became the loser. Medema, an expert on the law and economics movement and a stalwart of the discipline, was expected to join professors Bruce Caldwell and Kevin Hoover in the core faculty of the Center for the History of Political Economy...

...from which Goodwin, de Marchi and Weintraub had retired. His appointment may not be dead yet, but both CHOPE���s bright future as a finishing school for the best historians of thought, as well as the Duke department���s reputation as a cosmopolitan training center, are hanging by threads.

The history of economics needs a place in the curriculum to hang its collective hat.�� Business schools would be a logical home, since they have plenty of money. Hasn���t the Harvard Business School supported economic history since it began? Its most celebrated figure, Alfred Chandler, could have been awarded a Nobel Prize. But most schools of business lack the independence of mind and deep curiosity that characterizes faculties of arts and science. ��And history of science departments remain too oriented towards philosophy and hard as opposed to social science to offer more than a few positions.�� There is a surfeit of good candidates in the rising generation. If universities and their benefactors don���t establish more careers for historians, both economic historians and historian of economics, then departments of economics themselves will continue to accumulate the general mistrust that increased significantly after 2008...

#shouldread #historyofeconomicthought

Daily Kos Elections: "#KS03 Rep. Kevin Yoder argued Dem f...

Daily Kos Elections: "#KS03 Rep. Kevin Yoder argued Dem foe wouldn't stand up to Trump because... she'd worked in the Department of Transportation as a White House fellow, and her program continued into the first year of Trump���s presidency. We had a LOT of competition for the John Mica award for most clueless incumbent this year. Here are the finalists... <!--more--</p>

<blockquote>
<p>...#TX07 John Culberson waited till at least 11 months before Election Day to even bother to hire a campaign manager. He also wasted $50,000 in campaign money over the years on collectables, including a 309 fossil.</p>

<h1>CA45 Rep. Mimi Walters began campaigning to run the NRCC days before she conceded defeat in her own race</h1>

<h1>CA48 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher began his unsuccessful re-election campaign blissfully unaware he was in danger and ended it by associating himself with conspiracy theorists.</h1>

<h1>NY11 Rep. Dan Donovan took a long vacation from fundraising after primary, lost re-election in a 54-44 Trump seat.</h1>

<h1>VA07 Rep. Dave Brat showed empathy to local inmates struggling with addiction by reminding them that he had ���$5 million worth of negative ads going at me. How do you think I'm feeling?".</h1>

<h1>KS03 Rep. Kevin Yoder argued Dem foe wouldn't stand up to Trump because ...she'd worked in the Department of Transportation as a White House fellow, and her program continued into the first year of Trump���s presidency.</h1>

<h1>SC01 Rep. Mark Sanford found himself in a very tough primary fight and decided not to touch the $1.5 million he'd hoarded away...</h1>
</blockquote>

<hr />

<pre><code>#shouldread #orangehairedbaboons #politics
</code></pre>
</div>

Worth more than all the rest of the Washington Post opini...

Worth more than all the rest of the Washington Post opinion section put together. The Queen of Prose and Snark" Alexandra Petri: I���m Fine with Women in Power, Just Not This One Specific Woman Currently in Power: "What I want is not impossible! I want someone who is not tainted by polarizing choices in the past, but who also has experience, who is knowledgeable but doesn���t sound like she is lecturing, someone vibrant but not green, someone dignified but not dowdy, passionate but not a yeller, precise but not mechanical, someone lacking in off-putting ambition but capable of asking for what she wants, not accompanied but not alone, in a day but not in a month or a year, when the moon is neither waxing nor waning, carrying a sieve full of water and a hen���s tooth.��Easy! That���s why I���m so worried about our current slate of choices. A woman, sure, but ��� Kamala Harris? Elizabeth Warren? Kirsten Gillibrand? There are specific problems with each of them, entirely personal to each of them, all insurmountable. We need someone fresh. Someone without baggage. Joe Biden, maybe. But female!...

...If you see. I can���t wait to vote for a woman in 2020. A nameless, shapeless, faceless woman I know nothing about who will surely be perfect...

#shouldread #gender

You see the problem here? What used to be the Republican ...

You see the problem here? What used to be the Republican base���the upper middle class in prosperous states���are now excluded from "everyyone" in steve Moore's mind Stephen Moore (2017): Tax Plan Is a Cut for Everyone: "Whenever I'm asked if the Trump tax cut is for the rich, I say yes. It is a tax cut for the rich. It is a tax cut for the middle class. It is a tax cut for small businesses. It is a tax cut for the Fortune 100. If you pay federal income taxes, you will, in almost all cases, be getting more take-home pay come Jan. 1. One of the ironies of the left's 'these are tax cuts for the rich' mantra is that many upper-income people I know in states such as California, New Jersey and New York complain to me they are getting a sizable tax increase...

The upper middle classes of every coastal and lakeshore state used to be the backbone of the Republican Party. Now the Party doesn't think they contribute to its electoral votes or potential Senate majorities, and has too many billionaires to think it needs their money. Hence it is a group the Party was very happy to raise taxes on. New York and New Jersey Republican House members���who balked���did, I think, considerably better last November than did California's, who drank the Kool-Aid.

#shouldread #orangehairedbaboons #fiscalpolicy #politics

Fairly Recently: Must- and Should-Reads, and Writings... (December 1, 2018)

A short version of my review of Adam Tooze's excellent Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World : No Longer Fresh at Project Syndicate: Blame the Economists? : Ever since the 2008 financial crash and subsequent Great Recession, economists have been pilloried for failing to foresee the crisis, and for not convincing policymakers of what needed to be done to address it. But the upheavals of the past decade were more a product of historical contingency than technocratic failure... #tooze #greatrecession #financialcrisis #highlighted

One interesting thing here is that Jonathan Swift was one of the biggest political liars of his generation���the anti-Whig Breitbart of his day, in some respects: Jonathan Swift (2010): Political Lying: "A political liar... ought to have but a short memory.... The superiority of his genius consists in nothing else but an inexhaustible fund of political lies, which he plentifully distributes every minute he speaks, and by an unparalleled generosity forgets, and consequently contradicts, the next half hour. He never yet considered whether any proposition were true or false, but whether it were convenient for the present minute or company.... You... will find yourself equally deceived whether you believe or not: the only remedy is to suppose, that you have heard some inarticulate sounds, without any meaning at all... #orangehairedbaboons #publicsphere

Ben Alpers: A Far-Right Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory Becomes a Mainstream Irritable Gesture: "At the heart of this largely rote piece of Brooksian pablum is a claim that deserves a closer look.�� 'The younger militants', writes Brooks, 'tend to have been influenced by the cultural Marxism that is now the lingua franca in the elite academy'.��This is interesting both for what Brooks appears to be trying to say and, more immediately, how he has decided to say it.... Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik... murdered sixty-nine people... William Lind... associated with both the Free Congress Foundation and Lyndon LaRouche... Lind���s conception of Cultural Marxism was explicitly anti-Semitic.... Over the course of these years, the idea of Cultural Marxism spread across the American far right... [with] a big boost from Andrew Breitbart.... Why would a columnist like David Brooks, who is himself Jewish in background (if, perhaps, no longer in faith) and who has tried to build his brand identity by peddling in respectability and civility, adopt the term?...

Ken Rogoff: Why Human Chess Survives: "At one time, it seemed that computers would sound the death knell for chess, not to mention all human mind games. Yet for followers of the game, the just-concluded world championship in London, won by the 27-year-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, was as exciting as any great soccer match...

Heather Caygel: Pelosi Creates Leadership Position for Barbara Lee: "Rep. Barbara Lee will be joining the House Democratic leadership team.... Lee is expected to fill a new position being created by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to oversee the Steering and Policy Committee, the panel that determines committee assignments for Democrats. Pelosi���s decision expands leadership of the panel from two co-chairs to three...

Nathaniel Rakich: What The Heck Is Happening In That North Carolina House Race?: "Affidavits... in which voters said that people came to their doors to collect their unsealed absentee ballots. One voter alleged that her ballot was incomplete at the time and that the collector said 'she would finish it herself'. Another claimed to have received an absentee ballot that she did not request.... Something unusual happened in absentee-by-mail voting in Bladen County.... In six of the district���s eight counties, fewer than 3 percent of total votes were absentee-by-mail ballots. But in Bladen County, that number was 7.3.... Absentee-by-mail ballots tended to be much better for McCready than other ballots���except in Bladen County... [where] absentee-by-mail ballots were more Republican-leaning than the rest of Bladen���s votes by 8 percentage points. But if we look at the whole district, absentee-by-mail ballots were 24 points more Democratic-leaning... #orangehairedbaboons #politics #voterfraud

Berkeley Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging: Inequality in Life and Death: Policy and Prospect: "Featured Speaker: ��Peter Orszag.... Speakers: ��Yuriy Gorodnichenko... Hilary Hoynes... Ronald Lee... Gabriel Zucman.... Moderator: ��Alan Auerbach.... Inequality has become a central focus of policy discussions, but inequality has multiple dimensions and correspondingly many potential policy interventions. This mini-conference will consider inequality from this broad perspective...

Samuel Moyn: The Alt-Right���s Favorite Meme Is 100 Years Old: "What is 'cultural Marxism'? And why does Mr. Lind fantasize about its slaughter? Nothing of the kind actually exists. But it is increasingly popular to indict cultural Marxism���s baleful effects on society���and to dream of its violent extermination... #orangehairedbaboons #neofascim #fascism

Hold on, every day, to the fact that this is not normal: Matthew Yglesias: Trump Wall Street Journal Interview: Transcript Shows Trade Ignorance: "He confuses tariffs and interest rates, and invents phantom new steel plants.... One of Trump���s earliest trade moves was to impose broad new taxes on imported steel and aluminum, which has allowed him to hand out exemptions as political favors.... It���s been bad for American companies that manufacture things made out of metal. Trump���s view, however, is that this policy has been a stunning success that���s made America���s steel industry 'vibrant'.... 'You know, they���re building plants all over the country because I put steel���because I put tariffs, 25 percent tariffs, on dumping steel'... #oranagehairedbaboons #tariffs #globalization

I really wish that they had included something like my full quote���that: "It is Trump's policies that have created a situation in which a Federal Reserve headed by Jay Powell cannot do otherwise than raise interest rates, and so raise the value of the dollar and increase the trade deficit. So what is he complaining about, really?" Philip Rucker et al.: Trump Says He's Not Happy with Chairman of Fed: "Trump says he's not happy with chairman of Fed: 'I'm doing deals, and I'm not being accommodated by the Fed', Trump said. 'They're making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me'... #orangehairedbaboons #macropolicy

Paul Krugman: The Bank of England's Dire Estimates of Brexit: "Another trade discussion where I would like to believe the worst but not convinced: Brexit. The Bank of England just released some very dire scenarios...

Tim Fetter: Research

Tyler Feder: Time for a New Installment of Work-From-Home L����ks���

Marcy Wheeler: Mueller Just Guaranteed He Can Issue a Public Report: "Mueller���s team appears to have��no doubt that Manafort was lying to them.... Giving Manafort the impression that he was pulling a fast one over the prosecutors... while reporting... to Trump ... increases the likelihood that Trump just submitted sworn answers... full of lies.... That 'detailed sentencing submission'... Mueller mentions?... There���s your Mueller report, which will be provided in a form that Matt Whitaker won���t be able to suppress... #orangehairedbaboons