Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I can think of, they use their books to do an end run around the normal structure of scholarship, to preach ideas that few serious economists share. Often, these ideas are not just at odds with the professional consensus; they are demonstrably wrong, and sometimes terminally silly. But they sound good to the unwary reader.

A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy.

We should try to create the society each of us would want if we didn't know in advance who we'd be.

...academic credentials are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for having your ideas taken seriously. If a famous professor repeatedly says stupid things, then tries to claim he never said them, there's no rule against calling him a mendacious idiot - and no special qualifications required to make that pronouncement other than doing your own homework.Conversely, if someone without formal credentials consistently makes trenchant, insightful observations, he or she has earned the right to be taken seriously, regardless of background.

There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises.

Debt is one person's liability, but another person's asset.

Can we break the machine that is imposing right-wing radicalism on the United States? The scariest part is that the media is part of that machine.