The Debt Ceiling
Mint the platinum coin!:
- Coins Against Crazies, Paul Krugman. As a practical matter, minting a multi-trillion dollar platinum coin and depositing it in the Treasury’s general is absolutely positively the right thing to do in order to avoid a Debt Ceiling crisis.
- Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe on the Legality of #mintthecoin, Ryan Cooper: Minting a multi-trillion dollar platinum coin is entirely legal. There is no basis for a legal challenge.
- Former head of the US Mint: The platinum coin option would work, Ezra Klein
Interview with former US Mint director who drafted the law in question. Minting a multi-trillion dollar platinum coin is entirely legal. There’s nothing even inappropriate about it.
Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew
Strong endorsements from people I trust:
- Paul Krugman on Jack Lew, Obama’s Treasury Choice, Moyers & Company
- Talking Lew on Newshour, Jared Bernstein
Economics (general)
- ‘During Periods of Extreme Growth and Decline, Human Behavior is Not the Same’, excerpt from an interview with MIT Prof. Andrew Lo on Economist’s View
- America’s staggering defense budget, in charts, Brad Plumer.
Gun Culture
- More Guns = More Killing, Elisabeth Rosenthal. Great article. Two quotes worth noting:
“If you’re living in a ‘Mad Max’ world, where criminals have free rein and there’s no government to stop them, then I’d want to be armed, but we’re not in that circumstance. We’re a developed, stable country.”
“A society that is relying on guys with guns to stop violence is a sign of a society where institutions have broken down…”
Climate Change
- Heat, Flood or Icy Cold, Extreme Weather Rages Worldwide, Sarah Lyall. Article and associated slideshow documenting recent events.
Arts and Culture
- A Critic of the Curb and Corner, Michael Kimmelman. A remembrance of former NYT architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable who passed away last week at age 91