The Kids Are All Right

In his review of the new Lisa Cholodenko film "The Kids Are All Right" A.O. Scott writes of the son of two lesbian mothers:

What would it be like to have a dad? To help him find out -- and to shut him up -- Laser’s skeptical, kindhearted sister tracks down the sperm donor, who turns out to be a restaurant owner and organic farmer named Paul.

The shorthand description of Paul is that he is played by Mark Ruffalo, with specific reference to the goodnatured, feckless brother Mr. Ruffalo played in "You Can Count on Me." Paul is sort of like a cleaned-up, more self-confident version of that guy, with the same hesitant intonation, crooked smile (behind a graying goatee) and slightly dangerous charm. When Joni calls him, Paul, a good sport and a bit of an adventurer, gamely accepts her invitation to meet the family ("I love lesbians!"), and his relaxed manner smoothes over an awkward initial meeting.

"You Can Count on Me" is a great movie. Anyway, the title of this blog post came to me after reading Matt Yglesias's mild criticism of like-minded bloggers Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, and Mark Thoma:

I think this Greg Mankiw post against stimulus and Brad DeLong’s riposte are worth reading. Then it’s worth considering that I think writers in the Krugman/DeLong/Thoma vein are all being a bit too literal in their disagreements with the center-of-center economists of the world.

What I take Mankiw et al to be saying is that taxes are really, really, really bad. And taxes on high-income people are really, really, really, really, really, really, really bad. They think that the electorate is joined by leftwing economists in massively underestimating the scale of the badness. And they look at population aging and growing health care costs and see that it’s likely that taxes will go up in the future. And they think this is an incredibly bad outcome, with massive negative long-term consequences.

Etc. I think you get the point. Thoma/DeLong/Krugman probably agree with Yglesias that Mankiw and rightwing economists are concerned about taxes ueber alles. However, I suspect they approach the debate in a more literal vein because they are all professors and are trained to present ideas to their blank slate students in such a manner. (Although DeLong and Krugman have experience working for the Federal government also).  And that's probably not a bad thing, because it's really only the youth you can corrupt. Older people have their minds made up  - unless they're clueless independents - and so with them you can either rally and inspire your own side or just insult the other side with blasphemous facts and counterexamples.

And I must say, I've been impressed with the younger generation as of late. They were instrumental in electing Obama. Without exception, the ones I know are smart and funny and for some unfathomable reason enjoy listening to the campy arena rock of the 1970s like Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon etc. It's like they're being ironic and yet still love rocking out to the strange, weird over-the-top music from before their time.