10. Should South Korea Be Allowed to Reprocess Spent Fuel? — Stephen M. Walt, The Great Myth: Counterinsurgency — Conn Hallinan, and A Strategy of Staggering Genius in Sudan? — Jack Snyder
9. Overcome by Heat and Inertia — David Leonhardt and Climate Bill, R.I.P. — Tim Dickinson
8. The Pundit Delusion — Paul Krugman, I Leave More Discontented Than I Started — David Obey, and It’s Always the Economy, Stupid — Ezra Klein
7. Bail-Ins, Soft Budget Constraints, and Zombie Banking — e21
6. The Real Story of Racism at the USDA — Chris Kromm and Drug Sentences Create Racial Caste System — Leonard Pitts, Jr.
5. Deficits Do Matter, But Not the Way You Think — L. Randall Wray and What Do Deficit Slashers Wear Under Their Hair Shirts? — Robert Skidelsky
4. Worth It — Andrew Cockburn, Toxic Legacy of U.S. Assault on Fallujah “Worse Than Hiroshima” — Patrick Cockburn, and Vietnam’s Forgotten War Victims — Chris Arsenault
3. The Massachusetts Plan Is Working, But the American Health Care System Is Not — Ezra Klein
2. Iraq Withdrawal? Obama and Clinton Expanding U.S. Paramilitary Force in Iraq — Jeremy Scahill
1. 5 Place to Look for the Next Financial Crisis — Ezra Klein
BONUS:  Your Move: The Maze of Free Will — Galen Strawson

10. Sudan’s Next War and the Failure of U.S. Leadership — Eric Reeves
9. NOAA: Warmest May, Spring, and Jan-May on Record — Joseph Romm and Global Warming and GDP — Jim Manzi, Brad Plumer, Ezra Klein, & Mike Konczal
8. Could Raising the Income Cap Save Social Security? — Dylan Matthews
7. Regulate Short-Term Funding To Make Banking Safe — Enrico Perotti
6. Costs of Fiscal Austerity — J. Bradford DeLong & Paul Krugman, The Arrogant David Brooks Tells Readers That Stimulus Will Risk National Insolvency — Dean Baker, and Don’t Expect Miracles from Monetary Policy — Mark Thoma
5. The Crisis and the Euro — George Soros
4. Iraq Surge Narrative Challenged by Studies — John Agnew & Claudio Guler
3. On Dodd-Frank: An Overlooked Provision, Section 716, and the Volcker Rule — Economics of Contempt, On Dodd-Frank: Major Swap Participants, Swap Execution Facilities, and Block Trades — Economics of Contempt, and Reforming the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Market: What’s To Be Gained? — Kent Cherny & Ben R. Craig
2. Blackwater’s New Sugar Daddy: The Obama Administration, Former Top CIA Spy: How U.S. Intelligence Became Big Business, and Obama Administration Keeping Blackwater Armed and Dangerous in Afghanistan — Jeremy Scahill
1. The Runaway General — Michael Hastings
BONUS: They Grow Up So Quickly, Don’t They? — A. O. Scott

10. Why Cap-and-Trade Should (and Does) Have Appeal to Politicians — Robert W. Hahn & Robert N. Stavins, The Complete Guide to Modern Day Climate Change — Scott A. Mandia, and Come On! You Don’t Give the Same Discount Rate to Insurance as Stock, and That Includes Global Warming Insurance — Richard H. Serlin
9. Return of the Death Squads — Jeremy Kryt and Are Aid Donors Now Running Haiti? — Daniel Altman
8. Nukes for Sale — Jeremy Bernstein and A New Start — Tara McKelvey
7. Why Do Harvard Kids Head to Wall Street? An Interview with an Ex-Wall Street Recruit — Ezra Klein
6. Cruel Ethiopia — Helen Epstein and The State of Liberal Democracy in Africa: Resurgence or Retreat? — Tony Leon
5. The Myth of a Kinder, Gentler War — Michael A. Cohen and Army Researchers: Why the Kandahar Offensive Could Backfire — Nathan Hodge
4. Chris Dodd’s Carve-Outs for Cronies — Mark A. Calabria and Big Business Pleads for Loopholes in Financial Regulatory Reform — Steven Pearlstein
3. FDIC Rebuts Inaccurate Op-Ed and Final Financial Reform Push — Christopher Papagianis
2. Six Doctrines in Search of a Policy Regime — Paul Krugman, Pesos, Ponzi and Financial Sector Profits — Paul Krugman, and Minsky vs. Krugman — Arnold Kling
1. Sex, Drugs, and HIV: Let’s Get Rational — Elizabeth Pisani and The Pay-Any-Price Principle — David Sirota
BONUS: Bank Regulation: Strict Liquidity Thresholds Needed — Anthony W. Orlando

10.  Noriega’s Last Laugh — Christopher Dickey and Atrocities in Afghanistan: A Troubling Timetable — Kathy Kelly & Dan Pearson
9. To Save the Eurozone: $1 Trillion, European Central Bank Reform, and a New Head for the IMF — Peter Boone & Simon Johnson and The European Experience with Large Fiscal Adjustments — Alcidi Cinzia & Daniel Gros
8. Climate Change Indicators in the United States: Summary of Findings — Nick Sundt and CCS Stunner: New Study Finds Geologic Sequestration “Is Not a Practical Means to Provide Any Substantive Reduction in CO2 Emissions” — Joseph Romm
7. Immigration Reform Is Working. Now We Need to Look at What Isn’t. — Edward Schumacher-Matos, To “Control the Border,” First Reform Immigration Law — Daniel Griswold, and The Predictable Tragedies of Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law — Ezra Klein & Ta-Nehisi Coates
6. The Deficit: Nine Myths We Can’t Afford — Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Stephanie Kelton, L. Randall Wray, Marshall Auerback, Yeva Nersisyan, & Warren Mosler, Do Not Confuse Solvency with Sustainability — Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and Paul Samuelson on Deficit Myths — L. Randall Wray
5. Why Financial Reform Needs a Bank Tax — David Leonhardt, Who’s Afraid of a Bank Tax? — David Leonhardt, and Endgame in the Financial Reforms — David Skeel
4. Return of the Death Squads — Jeremy Kryt and Are Aid Donors Now Running Haiti? — Daniel Altman
3. Nukes for Sale — Jeremy Bernstein and A New Start — Tara McKelvey
2. Chris Dodd’s Carve-Outs for Cronies — Mark A. Calabria and Big Business Pleads for Loopholes in Financial Regulatory Reform — Steven Pearlstein
1. Cruel Ethiopia — Helen Epstein and The State of Liberal Democracy in Africa: Resurgence or Retreat? — Tony Leon
BONUS: Chances Are — Steven Strogatz

In trying to catch up, I skipped a few days during April 18-24. I can’t guarantee that these are the “best” of the week. In fact, I’m sure I missed some important ones, but I can assure you that these are all very good. — AWO

10. Falling Out — Ted Galen Carpenter
9. Precedent Suggests Afghanistan Taliban Could Win: Report — Ben Arnoldy
8. Congress Drops the Ball on Rating Agency Reform — Barbara Kiviat
7. The Economist Manifesto — Amartya Sen
6. Mind Over Meds — Daniel Carlat
5. Mortgage Deduction: America’s Costliest Tax Break — Jeanne Sahadi
4. Yes, It’s a Bailout Bill — Phillip Swagel and Resolution Authority: Missing an Umpire — Stephen Lubben
3. Al Qaeda’s Top Gun — Jeremy R. Hammond
2. Why Do Harvard Kids Head to Wall Street? An Interview with an Ex-Wall Street Recruit — Ezra Klein
1. Six Doctrines in Search of a Policy Regime — Paul Krugman, Pesos, Ponzi, and Financial Sector Profits — Paul Krugman, and Minsky vs. Krugman — Arnold Kling
BONUS: It Slices, It Dices — Steven Strogatz

We’re experimenting with a “Top 15″ instead of a “Top 10″ list for our “Best of the Week” series. Email me or post your comment below to let us know whether this version is better or worse. We hope the longer list will deliver something for everyone, but we don’t want to overwhelm you! — AWO

15. The Gold Bubble — Rick Bookstaber
14. Think Really Different — Daniel Lyons
13. The Criminal Flaw in Obama’s Immigration Vision — Seth Wessler
12. Iraq’s Moment of Truth — Marc Lynch, How Much Do They Hate Maliki? — Michael Wahid Hanna, and Iraq: National Unity Government or Return to Sectarianism? — Juan Cole
11. Drone Wars, Without Any Rules — Dan Froomkin and How Inclusion Cools Islamist Hotheads — Saif Shahin
10. The Curious Triumph of RomneyCare — J. Bradford DeLong, 2017 — Matthew Yglesias, A Long View on Health Insurance — Catherine New, and The Individual Health Insurance Mandate and Taxes — Howard Gleckman
9. Obama’s “New” Trade Policy: What Happened to Multilateralism? — Kevin Gallagher
8. Bagram Prison in Afghanistan May Become the New Guantánamo — Michael Evans and Washington Keeps a Lock on Detainees — Gareth Porter
7. New England, Mid-Atlantic States Show How Pollution Pricing Works — Sean Pool
6. Science Can Answer Moral Questions — Sam Harris and Sam Harris on Science and Morality — Russell Blackford
5. What Happens When Congress Fails to Do Its Job? — Ezra Klein
4. Civil War Certain as “Afghan National Army” Now Over 60% Tajik — Craig Murray and Listen to the Arabs — Parag Khanna
3. Taking Sides — John Mearsheimer and Top Ten Reasons East Jerusalem Does Not Belong to Jewish-Israelis — Juan Cole
2. Cultural Change Is Key to Bank Reform — Justin Fox, Greeks, Romans, and Financial Reform — Paul Krugman, and The Source of Global Trade Imbalances — Johanna Mollerstrom
1. “The Evil Scourge of Terrorism”: Reality, Construction, Remedy — Noam Chomsky and A Curious History of the C.I.A. — Jane Mayer
BONUS: Think Globally — Steven Strogatz

“But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.” — Benjamin Franklin

It is a good morning. We haven’t had enough of those in this country in the past decade.

hat tip: Kevin Drum

Last night, Congress approved the health care bill.

University of Rome Tor Vergata economist Robert Waldmann cried tears of joy. George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux wanted to vomit.

Okay, not everybody is happy this morning. For my less-enthused readers, I thought I’d post a special edition in our “What to Read” series. Herewith, I reproduce the best articles, columns, essays, and posts that I’ve read on the health care debate since I started this blog. But first, I want to second Steve Coll’s motion to celebrate one journalist in particular:

If you, like me, are uplifted by the historical potential of Sunday’s vote, then the best way to sit still inside what has happened is to scroll back through Ezra Klein’s blog. If you haven’t been reading Klein throughout the health care reform debate, you’ve missed one of the inspiring examples of how new forms of journalism in the hands of a new generation of journalists (who don’t always admire, but don’t always disrespect, the example of the generation before them) can produce vital new work. Klein is an example of a policy wonk in possession of both passionate opinion and scientific method who put himself into position to cover the dull-but-important story of a lifetime.

Coll has inspired me to create a new tradition for this blog: a “Journalist of the Year” award. With a little backdating, we are proud to honor Ezra Klein with the 2009 Trading 8s “Journalist of the Year” Award.

And now, everything you need to know about the health care bill, including many fine posts by our first annual Journalist of the Year:   Read more…

10. Why Fritz Hollings Is Wrong About Economists — David K. Levine
9. Washout for the Anbar Awakening — Marc Lynch and Followers of Sadr Emerge Stronger After Iraq Elections — Anthony Shadid
8. Unhappy Yemen — Tariq Ali
7. People Vote for Competence Not Policy — Adrian Hamilton, What Failure Would Cost the Democrats — Norman Ornstein & Thomas Mann, McConnell Strategy Shuns Bipartisanship — Carl Hulse & Adam Nagourney, and What Happened in Massachusetts — Stephen Asolabehere & Charles Stewart III
6. Global Cooling Bites the Dust: Hottest January Followed by Second Hottest February. Now March Is Busting Out. — Joseph Romm, Global Boiling: Freak Storms on Every Continent — Joseph Romm, and NASA: “It Is Nearly Certain That a New Record 12-Month Global Temperature Will Be Set in 2010″ — Joseph Romm
5. Lehman’s Demise, Dissected — William D. Cohan, Curbing Risk on Wall Street — Oliver Hart & Luigi Zingales, How Bank Credit-Market Funding Helped Spread the Global Crisis — Claudio Raddatz, and How Chris Dodd’s FinReg Proposal Solves the Problem of Information, but Not of Regulators — Ezra Klein
4. Is the U.S. “Offer” to Iran on Medical Isotopes a Pretext for More Coercive Action? — Flynt Leverett & Hillary Mann Leverett and Rafsanjani Makes His Move — Geneive Abdo
3. Is the Bible More Violent Than the Quran? — Barbara Bradley Hagerty and Lenten Thoughts — Gary Wills
2. Health Reform: What Happens When? — Austin Frakt and A Viewer’s Guide to This Weekend — Sarah Binder
1. As Things Get Worse in Pakistan, the Optimism Continues to Soar — Robert Fisk, Pakistan to America: What Have You Done for Us Lately? — Arif Rafiq, Into the Terrifying World of Pakistan’s “Disappeared” — Robert Fisk, and Don’t Forget India — Nikolas K. Gvosdev
BONUS: Square Dancing — Steven Strogatz and Financial Imagineering — Steven E. Landsburg

11. Is “the Process” Driving Opinion about Health Care? — John Sides and Policy Compromise Is Easy. Political Compromise Is Impossible. — Ezra Klein
10. Hottest January in UAH Satellite Record — Joseph Romm and Groundhog Decade: We’re Stuck in a Bad Movie, Where It’s Always the Hottest Decade on Record — Joseph Romm
9. Iran, China, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — Flynt Leverett & Hillary Mann Leverett, Analysis of Multiple Polls Find Little Evidence Iranian Public Sees Government as Illegitimate — World Public Opinion, and Regime Change in Iran Will Come from the Centre — Tony Karon
8. With Raw Recruits, Afghan Police Buildup Falters — Rod Nordland, U.S., Karzai Clash on Unconditional Talks with Taliban — Gareth Porter, Peace Talks May Follow Ex-Taliban Mediators’ Plan — Gareth Porter, Taliban Take on the U.S.’s Surge — Syed Saleem Shahzad, How to End the War in Afghanistan — Ahmed Rashid, Not for Sale — Ron Moreau, and A Look at America’s New Hope: The Afghan Tribes — Ruhullah Khapalwak & David Rohde
7. Five Myths about America’s Credit Card Debt — Robert D. Manning
6. A Very Productive Congress, Despite What the Approval Ratings Say — Norman Ornstein
5. Seeking a Safer Way to Securitization — Floyd Norris
4. All Bark, No Bite — Clay Risen
3. Finding a Better Way to Grieve — Meghan O’Rourke
2. Blair: Gaza’s Great Betrayer — Avi Shlaim
1. Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Trial — Jane Mayer and Susan Collins Spreads Central Myth about the Constitution — Glenn Greenwald
BONUS:  From Fish to Infinity — Steven Strogatz

10. Listening to Afghanistan — Ann Friedman
9. Why Federal Regulators Closed Washington Mutual — Kirsten Grind
8. Somalia Is Greatest Victim of President Bush’s War on Terror — Martin Fletcher
7. The Silent Cleric Who Holds the Key to Iran’s Future — Robert Fisk
6. Myth vs. Reality on the Copenhagen Climate Summit — Andrew Light, Rebecca Lefton, & Daniel J. Weiss
5. Health-Reform Legislation Would Accomplish More Than Critics Admit — Henry J. Aaron and The Congressional Budget Office Scores the Amended Senate Bill — Ezra Klein and The 150,000-Life Health-Care Plan — Ezra Klein
4. Coverage and Costs — Paul Krugman and The Senate Bill Saves Families Money — Jonathan Cohn and Improve the Bill, Yes. Kill the Bill, No. — Jonathan Cohn
3. How the Senate Bill Would Contain the Cost of Health Care — Atul Gawande
2. Lessons Learned But Not Applied — Simon Johnson and Avoiding a Japanese Decade — New York Times
1. Something from Nothing — Nir Rosen and Pentagon’s War Pitch Belied by Taliban-Qaeda Conflict — Gareth Porter and A Plan in Need of Clarity — Sen. Jim Webb and Obama’s Surge: Has the President Been Misled by the Iraq Analogy? — Juan Cole
BONUS: Banks Too Big? Government Has Failed To Do Its Job — Anthony W. Orlando and Nuclear Armament: Iran Acting Like a Cornered Animal — Anthony W. Orlando