Stuff to Read

Invaders From Mars” — a Brit’s view of how America’s corporate hegemony is eroding civilization. Paul Krugman has a slightly different view.

These days, we’re living in the world of the imperial, very self-interested individual; the man in the gray flannel suit has been replaced by the man in the very expensive Armani suit. Look at the protagonists in the global financial meltdown, and you won’t see faceless corporations subverting individual will; you’ll see avaricious individuals exploiting corporate forms to enrich themselves, often bringing the corporations down in the process. Lehman, AIG, Anglo-Irish, etc. were not cases of immortal hive-minds at work; they were cases of kleptocrats run wild.

Ezra Klein: “Will 2012 be Different From 2010.” This is the best, concise defense of the tax cut compromise I’ve seen so far. See also “The White House’s Case for the Tax Cut Deal in One Graph.”