Links

Sustainable Middle Class, Martin Feldstein (before annointing NBER's Feldstein as "uber-economist", maybe we should look more at his history, says SMS)

Angry Bear, GOP Senators Pick Their Pork (great post by Bruce Webb noting the lack of rationale behind various GOP complaints--not much reason for thinking that paying $1 billion to hire people for the constitutionally mandated census work or $650 million for fire crews is a waste, etc.)

Economist's View, The Evolution of Social Insurance (Mark Thoma's further take on the misunderstandings about the New Deal, noting that it was not just a stimulus program but "also a means of dealing with economic and social changes ... and ...a means of rebalancing power in society")

Econbrowser, Budget Surplus? Tax Cut! Budget Deficit? Tax Cut! High Energy Prices? Tax Cut!  Deep Recession? More Tax Cuts! (serious posting by Menzie Chinn, with nice graphs, assessing the GOP's general claims about efficacy of tax cuts to address problems)

Mikulski amendment to the Senate economic stimuls bill, available on BNA (providing an above-the-line tax deduction for all interest, state sales taxes, and excise taxes paid for new cars purchased between Nov. 12, 2008 and Jan. 1, 2010, and approved by unanimous consent after the Senate discarded pay-as-you-go budget rules)