Peter Frase on the Left

What It Means to Be on the Left by Peter Frase

Felicia Wong in Time

The First Thing Democrats Must Do to Fix the Economy by Felicia Wong

DeLong quotes Avent on the recovery

Must-Read: Ryan Avent: MAKING MONETARY POLICY GREAT AGAIN: "Obama’s response to the economic crisis... the timidity of his stimulus plan... his failure to provide broad support to struggling homeowners... his premature pivot to deficit cutting...

http://democracyjournal.org/magazine/45/making-monetary-policy-great-again/ 

...While Roosevelt’s New Deal programs left an indelible mark on the American economy and society, it was his decisive monetary action that saved America from continuing depression. On just his third day... Roosevelt declared a bank holiday... suspended... the... gold standard... a policy of reflation. The economic response was immediate.... Obama would not pursue any comparably radical policy.... His Administration left the hard work of rehabilitating the economy to the Federal Reserve, while the federal government turned to deficit reduction.... 

The decades prior to the crisis taught political leaders that economic management was the Fed’s job, one it could handle ably. Experience since the financial crisis strongly suggests that assumption was mistaken. It should not have taken six years to return the unemployment rate to the pre-crisis level, nor should so much of the reduction in unemployment have come in the form of frustrated workers leaving the labor force. American incomes should not have been allowed to fall below the pre-crisis trend, and at least some of that shortfall ought to have been made up. Most critically, now, nearly ten years after the start of the Great Recession, the economy should be far better prepared to deal with the next crisis, not trapped with interest rates stuck near zero and the labor market still signaling that more people could be put to work for longer hours at higher rates of pay. 

As the Great Recession recedes into the past, the sense that urgent change in the making of economic policy is needed also fades...

Cassidy on Trump's addled Times interview

Donald Trump’s Addled and Ominous Interview with the Times by John Cassidy

Finland's basic income experiment

Why Finland’s Basic Income Experiment Isn’t Working By ANTTI JAUHIAINEN and JOONA-HERMANNI MÄKINE

millennial let's war on liberalism

The millennial left’s war against liberalism by Andrew Hartman

Chapo Trap House

Calling them the "dirtbag left" is playing into the centrist Bernie Bro meme.

The Dirtbag Left and the Problem of Dominance Politics by Jeet Heer

Konczal on neoliberalism

“Neoliberalism” isn’t an empty epithet. It’s a real, powerful set of ideas. by Mike Konczal

Democrats and McGovernism

What Democrats Still Don’t Get About George McGovern by Joshua Mound

Covert on job guarantee

Back to Work: How Democrats can win over Americans left behind in the new economy. 

by Bryce Covert

Dylan Matthews on UBI

A basic income really could end poverty forever by Dylan Matthews

Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1

What's the gift Euron Greyjoy plans to bring Cersei? Tyrion's head. A horn which controls dragons?

Does Ayra wipe out Ed Sheeran and the nice Lannister soldiers? Probably.

Doesn't really matter who leads the Karstarks and Umbers. The White Walkers are heading straight for their castles in the north east and will overwhelm them.

I read speculation that the Night King is really in the west as the Hounds saw a mountain, which are only located in the west. That means the army of the dead traveled west pretty quickly. Bran will know!

Jim Broadbent!

Spoilers below!

Previews have Yara making out with the Red Viper's widow?

New Republic discussion

Ask the Maester