Random Post on Blogging and Family Planning...

OK, so I think I've read Josh Marshall since 2002, roughly, and Matt Yglesias since 2002-2003.

Back in the day, I found that Josh Marshall was the gold standard for questions about the Iraq war, and about who to support in the 2004 Democratic Presidential Primary, and I read his blog first thing when I woke up every morning. (BTW, I went for Wes Clark in '04 -- who got effed by not entering Iowa, but I digress.)

In any case, I think Matt Yglesias has grown up and evolved since then. I've been impressed with how much he's learned of economics. Although I still read Josh Marshall -- and, after meeting him, am even more impressed with him as a person -- I do think he's basically missed the whole story of Obama Administration economic mismanagement and analysis of the financial crisis. Of course, he's not alone in this -- I haven't seen it suggested anywhere in the mainstream media that reappointing Ben Bernanke was a mistake, even though I feel very strongly it was catastrophic. Yglesias, on the other hand, while occasionally writing stupid things about economics, has done a really good job with it. On occasion, he's even beaten Krugman to the punch in criticizing the Fed, and often gets things better than Krugman.

Which all leads me to think -- Josh Marshall started his family a few years back. I'll imagine I'll do the same in a few years. And when I do, I just won't have the time to devote to reading and doing so many random things, and teach myself new skills, which I can now. The only way I'd have as much time to devote to these things is if I was a terrible father, which might end up being the case but won't happen for lack of time commitment. And then there's the evidence that younger minds are more malleable, and that this is a good thing. It's always a good thing to try to teach your students -- to have an open mind. I'll have to think of some good "open mind" NLP scripts to feed my students...