The Great Society's Next Frontier by Mike Konczal

Full Employment Is the Best Social Program by Mike Konczal

I pretty much agree with Konczal.

The Winners and Losers in the Fiscal-Cliff Deal by Yglesias

The elderly: As recently as yesterday morning, it was taken for granted that one of the major provisions of an alternative to the fiscal cliff would be cuts in the federal retirement security programs that are the main long-term drivers of deficits. But ultimately Democrats cared more about avoiding spending cuts than securing tax revenues, and Republicans cared more about low taxes than cutting spending. Old people are the winners.

Emphasis added. Yglesias recently blogged that he got a mortgage and this is Exhibit A of what happens when someone gets one.

The main long-term driver is Medicare and our broken health care system which is much more inefficient than any other advanced nation's system. The main short-term driver is the after-effects of the bursting of the housing bubble.