The Fraudulence of “Waste, Fraud and Abuse”
Paul Krugman, Krugman wonks out
History repeats itself, the first time as farce, the second as clown show

Once upon a time a Republican president, sure that large parts of federal spending were worthless, appointed a commission led by a wealthy businessman to bring a business sensibility to the budget, going through it line by line to identify inefficiency and waste. The commission initially made a big splash, and there were desperate attempts to spin its work as a success. But in the end few people were fooled. Ronald Reagan’s venture, the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control — the so-called “Grace commission,” headed by J. Peter Grace — was a flop, making no visible dent in spending.

Why was it a flop? There is, of course, inefficiency and waste in the federal government, as there is in any large organization. But most government spending happens because it delivers something people want, and you can’t make significant cuts without hard choices.

Furthermore, the notion that businessmen have skills that readily translate into managing the government is all wrong. Business and government serve different purposes and require different mindsets.

How Paul Krugman changed the public face of economics
Noah Smith, Noahpinion
He’s a great economist, but he also changed how we talk about the subject.

I say this not just out of personal gratitude, but because it illustrates one way Paul Krugman helped redefine economics writing. Elevating and engaging with nobodies like myself has always been part of his M.O. Krugman’s conversations are a meritocracy of ideas — if you’ve said something he thinks is interesting, he’ll engage with it in the same way whether you’re a legendary academic or a no-name grad student. It’s the ideas that are important to Krugman, not the credentials or the accomplishments of the person who said them.

Why I’ve Grown Skeptical Of Colorblindness
Luis Parrales, Persuasion

With racial animosity rising on the right, abolishing race is not the answer. But nor is embracing the identitarian left.
The challenge—and it’s frankly one that few take up—then seems to be for liberals to recalibrate some of our key assumptions about what our discourse about race looks like today, to eschew some skepticism and replace it with curiosity. Doing so will require recognizing the good in collective identities—but not at the expense of liberal principles. It should compel us to envision a way of thinking about racial identity that’s conscious without being commandeering, that’s wary of how it can overshadow our individuality but also appreciates its unifying potential.

Most Folk Are Civil and Decent
Dr Dan Goyal
It’s easy to forget that the vast majority of people simply want to get along with each other and live their lives.

You Should Be More Worried About Trump’s Planned Military Purge
Trump wants officers loyal to him, not the constitution
Don Moynihan, Can We Still Govern?
Purged for Doing Their Job
A Purge Without Precedent
This is About Loyalty, Not Wokeness
A Broader Politicization of the Military

1 big thing: America obsesses over suspect’s footprint

2. Public still trusts government on health

The public trusts Anthony Fauci more than President-elect Trump and his incoming health team as a source of medical information, Axios’ Adriel Bettelheim writes from the latest Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.

Why it matters: The survey shows the public still sees a significant role for government in health care.
Zoom in: 60% or more of respondents say they have at least a fair amount of trust in information from the FDA, CDC or NIH.

3. Trump’s Syria conundrum

3. Trump’s Syria conundrum

5. Anti-DEI investing gets Trump bump

6. Melinda French Gates’ AI investment

7. Scoop: Banks pushes GOP to be more pro-worker
 

Syrians, in a triumph of hope, turn the page on the horrors of Assad

Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University

The Syrian revolution is profoundly significant to those who suffered suffocating repression, surveillance and everyday indignities under a brutal dictator.

Trump wants to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants – but the 18th-century law has been invoked only during times of war

Daniel Tichenor, University of Oregon

The Alien Enemies Act, first approved in the late 1700s, was last used during World War II to identify particular foreign nationals living in the US.

Hamas – hemmed in and isolated – finds itself with few options for the day after the Gaza war
Mkhaimar Abusada

Hemmed in on all sides, Hamas has, from my observations as an expert on Palestinian politics, shifted its calculus for a post-Gaza war world. That it was Egypt pushing for a Fatah-Hamas deal is also noteworthy, as what ultimately transpires in terms of Gaza’s governance will likely hinge on the wishes of the governments in Cairo and Israel, both of which sees Gaza as the backyard of its national security.

Research bears out the correlation between moral foundations and attitudes toward vaccines. In a 2017 study, parents with high hesitancy toward childhood vaccines were more likely to emphasize purity and liberty. Similarly, in a 2022 study, COVID-19 vaccine uptake was lower in counties where residents said they prioritize bodily and spiritual purity.

Exploring other people’s motivations with empathy, respect and curiosity, instead of judgment, is at the core of effective communication about vaccines. If you hope for better discussions in your clinic or around the table this holiday season, avoid just talking past each other with facts. Instead, take the time to actively listen and learn about the deeply held values behind a person’s concerns, no matter how much you disagree.

Seventy-seven prize winners sign letter arguing Trump’s DHHS pick will put US public health ‘in jeopardy’

Seventy-seven Nobel laureates have signed a letter urging the US Senate to reject Robert F Kennedy Jr as Donald Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, arguing that he is unfit and would put American public health “in jeopardy”.

It is believed to be the first time in living memory that Nobel prize winners have united against a presidential cabinet pick, and comes against a backdrop of Kennedy’s public support for discredited theories, including a claim that childhood vaccines cause autism.

In their letter, prize winners in the fields of medicine, chemistry, physics and economics castigate Kennedy for a “lack of credentials” and point out that he has been “a belligerent critic” of some of the agencies that he would oversee, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

America, before and after vaccines.

Scott Gottlieb, M.D., an industry-favored former FDA commissioner who spent two years in the role during Trump’s first term, recently said RFK Jr.’s stated intentions on vaccines—if followed—will “cost lives in this country.”

“I think if RFK follows through on his intentions, and I believe he will, and I believe he can, it will cost lives in this country,” Gottlieb said during a Friday segment on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “You’re going to see measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates go down. And like I said, if we lose another 5%, which could happen in the next year or two, we will see large measles outbreaks. For everyone 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death.”