Must Read

• NY Times, Behind Clash Between C.I.A. and Congress, a Secret Report on Interrogations
• Justin Fox, America’s Long and Productive History of Class Warfare

Should Read

• Tim Egan, Jerry Brown’s Revenge
• Tim Duy, Upward Grind in Labor Markets Continues
• Ezekiel Emanuel, In Health Care, Choice Is Overrated

Politics

• Harold Meyerson, The Left, Viewed from Space
• Bernie Sanders: “I Am Prepared To Run For President of the United States”

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Must Read/Listen

• Alyssa Battistoni, Alive in the Sunshine
• On the Media, Secrecy at the Border

Should Read

• Trip Gabriel (NY Times), Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged
• Judith Resnick (NY Times), Renting Judges for Secret Rulings
• John Robertson and Ellyn Terry (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta), The Pattern of Job Creation and Destruction by Firm Age and Size
• Jeffrey Frankel, The Obama Stimulus and the 5-Year Anniversary of Market Turnaround

Guns

• Firmin DeBrabander, Locke and Load: The Fatal Error of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ Philosophy
• Charlie Pierce, Today in Responsible Gun Ownership
• Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, What happened to the NRA’s education efforts?
• Prof. George Hampikian, When May I Shoot a Student?

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Must Read

• Tim Egan, Days of Desiccation
• Nicholas Carr, All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines
• Adolph Reed Jr., Nothing Left

Should Read

• Charlie Pierce, The VW Vote Reconsidered
• Robert Reich, America’s “We” Problem
• Richard Mayhew, Why the [Americans for Prosperity] ads [re Obamacare] suck

Health Care

• The Onion, Nation Recalls Simpler Time When Health Care System Was Broken Beyond Repair

Economics

• Jared Bernstein, I Can’t Find Enough Skilled Workers! (At the Crappy Wage I’m Offering…)
• Dean Baker, David Brooks Stumbles Over the Work Force in Attacking the Minimum Wage
• Dean Baker, Dan Balz and Phillip Rucker Insist the Democrats Cannot Abandon Clinton’s Bubble Driven Growth

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Must Read/Listen

• Mike Konczal, The Silicon Valley Labor Scandals Prove Minimum Wage Hikes Don’t Cost Jobs
• Radio Open Source, A Flailing State: Daron Acemoglu and Matt Taibbi on Economic Inequality
• ACASignups.net, Tracking Enrollments for the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare)

Should Read

• Michael Maiello, Barack Obama’s Conservative Utopia in 7 Charts
• Rich Barlow, The Added Benefits of Infrastructure Spending
• Blain Roberts and Ethan Kytle, The Dust Bowl Returns
• Michael Northrop, Beyond Keystone XL:  Eight Reasons for Optimism on Climate Change

Education

• Monica Potts, Stress, Poverty, and the Childhood Reading Gap
• Valerie Strauss, A very scary headline about kindergarteners
• Ana Marie Cox, The Real Problem with US Common Core: It Further Outsources Education
• Noam Chomsky, The Purpose of Education

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Must Read

• Jeremiah Goulka, Pipeline or Pipe Bomb?  [CG:  Subject is Keystone XL.]

Should Read

• Matt Taibbi, Jamie Dimon’s Raise Proves U.S. Regulatory Strategy is a Joke
• Barbara Ehrenreich, It Is Expensive to Be Poor
• Tim Duy, Markets Tumble. How Will the Fed React?
• Boston.com, [MA] State Senate President Therese Murray will not seek re-election

Economics

• Paul Krugman, Macroeconomic Populism Returns
• NY Times, Battles Loom in Many States Over What to Do With Budget Surpluses
• Dean Baker, Fiscal Surpluses in States Likely Driven by Capital Gains Income [Baker’s punchline:  “Unless stock and/or house prices continue to rise at an extraordinary pace, the statistical discrepancy will fall back toward zero and the extra tax revenue states are now seeing will disappear.”]
• NY Times, A City Wired for Growth  [The city is Chattanooga, TN.  Bottom line: Providing infrastructure is good for economic growth.]

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Must Read

• Ezekiel Emanuel, Comparing Obamacare to Its Alternative
• Brad DeLong, More Musings About Why Burr-Coburn-Hatch Are Backing Away from Their PCARE Proposal

Should Read

• Brad DeLong, The Cato Institute Tries to Make Kansas Poorer and Close Its Safety-Net Hospitals
• NY Times, Genetic Weapon Against Insects Raises Hope and Fear in Farming
• NY Times, Severe Drought Has U.S. West Fearing Worst [See Note 1 below]

Public Policy

• NY Times, A Fed Policy Maker, Changing His Mind, Urges More Stimulus
• Michael Pollan, Our Food Is Dishonestly Priced
• NY Times, Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps

Economics

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Must Read

• Charles Derber and June Sekera, The Hidden Deficit
• Michael Mann, If You See Something, Say Something

Should Read

• NY Times, Running on Fumes in North Dakota
• NY Times, Sarah’s Uncertain Path

Economics

• Jared Bernstein, The Transfer of Income to Poor Children Can Be An Investment with Long Term Payoffs
• Jared Bernstein, The What, Why, and Will They Help of these New Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation
• Paul Krugman, The Undeserving Rich
• Washington Center for Equitable Growth, An Ongoing Pick-Up Internet Symposium on the 1%

Media Criticism

• Dean Baker, When Someone Says Paul Krugman Called for Greenspan to Create a Housing Bubble Back in 2002, They are Trying to Say That They are Either a Fool or a Liar
• Eileen McNamara, The Words ‘If’ And ‘Probably’ Have No Place In Journalism

Politics

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Must Read

• Ezra Klein, A health industry expert on ‘the fundamental problem with Obamacare’
• NY Times, Federal Contracts Plunge, Squeezing Private Companies
• Jeff Spross, Unfortunately, The World Is Still Barreling Towards Climate Cataclysm

Should Read

• NY Times, Administration Is Seen as Retreating on Environment in Talks on Pacific Trade
• Mike Konczal, No, we don’t spend $1 trillion on welfare each year
• NY Times, Iran Nuclear Deal to Take Effect Jan. 20, Officials Say

Environment and Climate

• Nicolas Kristof, ‘Neglected Topic’ Winner:  Climate Change
• Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt,  A Bit More Sensitive…
• Daniel Swain, Ridiculously Resilient Ridge
• Justin Gillis, The Flood Next Time
• NY Times, Celebrating Deep Freeze, Insect Experts See a Chance to Kill Off Invasive Species
• The Charleston (WV) Gazette, State acknowledges it had no plan for Freedom spill

Economics

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Must Read

• Popehat, Fear And Loathing In Falls Church

Should Read

• Martha Schwendener, Richard Serra at the Gagosian Gallery
• Teresa Tritch, Why Bankers Have Gotten a Pass
• Brad DeLong, This Is Yet Another in the 56-Month Straight Series of Disappointing and Awful Bureau of Labor Statistics Household Employment Surveys
• Paul Krugman, A Hammock In Kentucky?

Economics

• Bloomberg, Boomers Face Modest Retirement
• Paul Waldman, The Moral Calculus Underlying the Debate Over Unemployment Insurance
• Jesse Myerson, Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should Be Fighting For
• Adam Davidson, Thinking Outside the (Big) Box

Environment

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Must Read

• Brad DeLong, The Strange Case of American Inequality
• Jared Bernstein, Narrowing the Income Gap Without Another Bust.  A chart from his post showing comparative indicators for recovery from the Great Recession, 2009-2013:

Should Read

• NY Times, Millions Gaining Health Coverage Under Law
• Scott Lemieux, No, Obamacare Wasn’t a “Republican” Proposal
• NY Times, Behind the Scenes, Kerry Makes a Pact on Climate a Priority
• PBS NewsHour, Nobel Laureate Bob Shiller on Why the Fed Can’t Say There’s a Housing Bubble 

Economics

• Dean Baker, Jamie Dimon Says American Businesses Suffer from Skills Gap at the Top Levels
• Paul Krugman, Disinformation on Inequality
• Jared Bernstein, A Quick Thought on the Expiration of Long-Term UI
• Dean Baker, Stock Prices and Future Returns

Science and Technology

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