Twitter roundup

Here are some of the latest items from my Twitter feed (follow it!):
-Jon Chait shreds the Luntz memo on financial reform as a classic example of conservative postmodernism.
-New economic research on the difficulty of estimating teacher effects on student achievement (PDF).
-More evidence of the insanity of CA public finance under Prop. 13 (PDF).
-Important Boston Globe investigation of Scott Brown's coat (also repeats the Naomi Wolf myth) -- call the Pulitzers!
-Shame -- former Rep. J.D. Hayworth joins birther caucus.
-Hatch says using reconciliation for health care would be abuse of power, but it has frequently been used for social policy.

Comments

[David]

Chait's post is a strange example of shredding a memo. The points in Lunz's memo that Chait doesn't like are accurate.

-- Congress is preparing to enact legislation to pass a law with $4 trillion more for more bailouts (conceded as true by Chait)

-- frame the final product as filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy. (which it is.)

-- bad decisions and harmful policies by Washington bureaucrats that in many ways led to the economic crash (particlarly in the mis-regulation of Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac.)

-- American people are...saying 'hell no' to more government agencies, more bureaucrats, and more legislation crafted by special interests." (The popularity of the Tea Parties and Republican elective victories show the accuracy of this observaation.)

-- tying regulatory reform to a massive government takeover (Is Chait seriously asserting that the Health Bill does not amount to a massive government takeover!!!???)

-- linking the package to the financial industry bailout (which, it should be noted, is fundamentally not part of the legislation). I'm not clear on this point, but I think the modifier "fundamentally" concedes that the link is indeed there, but it's not "fundamental", whatever that means.

thr bill was written in secret by lobbyists. (Well,wasn't it? Didn't representatives of the Plaintiffs Attorney, drug, companies, doctors, AARP, and other write the bill? Wasn't it written is secret? Didn't the House/Senate reconcilation procede in secret despite Obama's promise to put it on CSPAN?)

-- It's not "reform" Definition #1 of "reform" is an improvement of something. If the health bill will worsen health care, then it's not "reform"