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

A lot of readers want to know what I think about the financial regulation bill that Congress passed. Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy traveling to read it or keep up with this week’s commentary. I’ll address it in more detail in the coming weeks and months. For now, the best I can do is repost the two most important columns I’ve written during the regulation debate with a brief follow-up on whether this bill addresses those issues.   Read more…

First, an apology: I’m not very good at this whole blogging thing. I’m the kind of writer who likes to go into a cocoon for several days and reappear with a finished work. I get absorbed in my work, and it’s hard to force myself to post something everyday. Some writers find it easier to pour out their thoughts in-the-moment and collect it all into a coherent work later. So I’m back, but no promises about how long it’ll last.

Second, an observation: In the time I’ve been avoiding this blog and the news, nothing has changed. Legislators and economists are still arguing over fiscal stimulus, the financial regulation bill looks pretty much the same as it did a month ago (or two months ago, for that matter), investors are still worried about European debt, and Afghanistan is still a complete mess. I used to think the world would pass me by if I stopped paying attention for a few weeks, but I’ve come to realize that real change is rare—and the bulk of what we spend our time worrying about is the same things over and over.   Read more…

10. The Wonderful “Failure” of the Milwaukee Voucher Program — Scott Sumner
9. Why Immigration Can’t Save Social Security — Andrew G. Biggs
8. The PIIGS Problem: Maginot Line Economics — Marshall Auerback
7. Bye-Bye, Global Cooling Myth: Hottest March and Hottest Jan-Feb-Mar on Record — Joseph Romm, Record Atlantic SSTs Continue; Very Active Hurricane Season Foreseen by CRU and TSR — Jeff Masters, and Newsweek Gets Coal Terribly Wrong — Daniel Stone
6. How Mathematics Might Have Caused the Financial Crisis — Mark Thoma and The Non-Existent Hand — Joseph Stiglitz
5. The Price of Assassination — Robert Wright and Gary Hart
4. Hilda Solis: Labor’s New Sheriff — Esther Kaplan and Cui Bono? — Kevin Drum
3. 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
2. The Myth of a Kinder, Gentler War — Michael A. Cohen and Army Researchers: Why the Kandahar Offensive Could Backfire — Nathan Hodge
1. FDIC Rebuts Inaccurate Op-Ed and Final Financial Reform Push — Christopher Papagianis
BONUS: Change We Can Believe In — 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. Letting Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good? — J. Michael McWilliams and All You Ever Wanted to Know about the Research on Health Insurance and Health–and More — Stan Dorn
9. The Origins of Religion: Evolved Adaptation or By-Product? — Ilkka Pyysiäinen & Marc Hauser
8. GSE Losses as Shadow Bailout — Mike Konczal and Dividend Restrictions as Macroprudential Regulation — Charles A. E. Goodhart, Udara Peiris, Dimitri Tsomocos, & Alexandros Vardoulakis
7. NOAA: Warmest January in Both Satellite Records — Joseph Romm, An Amazing, Though Clearly Little-Known, Scientific Fact: We Get More Snow Storms in Warm Years! — Joseph Romm, and An Ominous Warning on the Effects of Ocean Acidification — Carl Zimmer
6. The End of Obama’s Vision of a Nuke-Free World — Scott Ritter and The Best Way to Get Rid of the World’s Nukes — Barry Blechman
5. The Rape of American Prisoners — David Kaiser & Lovisa Stannow
4. Greece Should Approach the IMF — Simon Johnson and Try a European Fiscal Fund — Mark Thoma
3. Why Chuckles Greeted Hillary’s Gulf Tour — Rami G. Khouri
2. The Fetishism of Morality — Jonathan Rée
1. The Making of a Euromess — Paul Krugman and California Death Spiral — Paul Krugman
BONUS: The Enemy of My Enemy — Steven Strogatz

• Subsidy Costs for Direct vs. Indirect Guaranteed Student Loans — Doug Elmendorf – This is legislation that’s long overdue. We’ll need all the savings we can get once this recession is over and it’s time to focus on the budget deficit.
• Injecting Special Protein Could Make Hearts Heal Themselves — 80beats – Encouraging news.
• Our Emotional Opinions — Ryan Sager – In other words, please think before you speak. Your opinion matters, so voice it responsibly. Together we can raise the level of public debate.
• Drug War’s Wrong Focus — Baltimore Sun (via truthout) – In the middle of this excellent column is devastatingly convincing evidence: “[For] every dollar invested in drug treatment, taxpayers save upward of $7 in crime-related reductions due to less incarceration and hospitalization.” Then, for goodness sake, let’s invest!
• Adverse Selection — Mark Thoma – Wow, people are outdoing me on adverse selection everywhere today (see Kwak and Krugman below). Thoma’s excellent post expands on my point that, whether or not you think adverse selection is as strong as textbooks say it is, private insurers expend considerable resources to overcome it.
• Does Medicare Contain Spending Growth Better than Private Insurance? — Healthcare Economist – Yes, according to this research.
• Pushing South Asia Toward the Brink — Zia Mian – Fantastic insight into the problems in India and Pakistan, including many recent developments that go unreported in the mainstream media. So long as we avert our eyes from the major problem, it will only continue to escalate.
• Time to Cut Back Boondoggle Embassy in Iraq — Doug Bandow – Agreed.
• Good Medicine: Why Not for Everyone? — Dean Baker – Baker explicitly points out an issue that I hinted at yesterday: IMAC’s recommendations should be extended to all insurers.
• CBO’s Latest Warning–and Whether We Should Listen — Jonathan Cohn – This is a brilliant summary of the issues at hand. Bravo to Cohn! Of the 3 options he lists at the end, the first would be excellent reform, the second would be disappointing but still a move in the right direction, and the third is just depressingly bad.
• An Incoherent Truth — Paul Krugman – Krugman is in his element once again, explaining very complex proposals in very simple terms. Two important points: (1) “[A] plan without a public option to hold down insurance premiums would cost taxpayers more than a plan with such an option.” When economists talk about rising health care premiums, they’re usually ignoring this critical point. (2) “[Without] an employer mandate, health care reform would be undermined as many companies dropped their existing insurance plans, forcing workers to seek federal aid — and causing the cost of subsidies to balloon.” When pundits worry about the public plan becoming too expense because too many consumers will opt for it, they are usually ignoring this critical point.
• The Right-Wing Assault on Abortion Reduction — William Saletan – Great bill, great article! This is a rare phenomenon: a bipartisan compromise for beneficial legislation. Bravo!
• Climate Change to Force 75 Million Pacific Islanders From Their Homes — The Telegraph/UK (via Common Dreams) – The moral dimension of climate change, as indicated in a quote by Matt Yglesias in my post on Waxman-Markey.
• Health Insurance “Innovation” — James Kwak – This is similar to Krugman’s gripe (below), once again explaining problems with adverse selection much more vividly than I did.
• DeMint Offers a Teachable Moment — Paul Krugman – Krugman explains adverse selection even better than I did in my post.