Obama's space commission is deliberating this summer and on Wednesday it will give us all a chance to wonder: What should we do with NASA? What have we gotten besides Tang and Velcro (consumer goods from spillover technologies)? How much should we pay for seeking out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before?

I have been following the Augustine Commission (Disclosure: I am a Trekkie and the parent of physics major) which, next week, will announce three options (it will select from seven) for NASA's future.

It seems the seven NASA scenarios are in two categories: three cheap dull options and four cool, scientifically bold, and so-unbelievably-expensive options they don’t even have price tags. One panel member, though excited, wondered out loud “God, what is this going to cost?' Seriously, I'm thinking half a trillion dollars for some of the stuff you're...

No, this is not a sarcastic headline. The unemployment numbers for July were released this morning, and they show bad and good news. The rate ticked down from 9.5 percent in June, to 9.4 percent; sadly, June’s number was the highest rate in the past quarter century. The economy lost another 247,000 jobs, making job losses in this recession a total of 6.7 million. The Economic Policy Institute www.epi.org (full disclosure: I am on EPI’s board) notes we’ve lost all of the jobs we gained over the last nine years.

Persistently high unemployment has led to attacks and confusion about the Obama Administration’s stimulus plan. Where are the millions of jobs Obama promised?

So why do I say the stimulus is working? Two reasons. The first is just the sheer depth of the recession and the problems Obama inherited from Bush. We have been at the edge of a depression, not a recession, and without the...

The out-of-power-party always needs to figure out what to do. Defeat means a smaller party, the safe incumbents win, and the more ideologically pure dominate party proceedings.

But proud Republican ideology is not represented by their activity now. Birthers? Deathers -- Kill the grannies? Spoiler alert: if you have faith in rational politics, skip the next parts.

“Birthers” is shorthand for people who think that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States, and hence is not a natural-born citizen -- and, hence, not eligible to be President. So everything being signed by him is illegal. Etc. etc.

To respond to this is goofy -- but here I go. Obama's birth in Hawaii is legally documented, and attested to, repeatedly, by senior state government officials in Hawaii. Birth announcements ran in the Honolulu newspapers on August 5, 1961.

So are the birthplace deniers like 9-11 deniers, Apollo...

I don’t want to be pessimistic, but we may not get health-care reform: even with this popular president, even with our health-care mess. It’s tempting to blame special interests, but the blame also lies in the Constitution. As the health-care debate withers Congress, commentators focus on how members of Congress are bought by insurance companies or taken in by the AMA. But the problem of achieving health-care reform, or any major social reform in the United States, is also rooted in the design of our government. While not excusing the current inadequate performance of Congress, or the sad spectacle and foolish behavior of many members, this grinding, slow, painful process is built into the system.

The House reflects popular opinion -- it is elected every two years, members come from small districts, representation is more or less proportional to population, and the legislative rules...

Envy is a celebrity deadly sin, many philosophers think it’s the worst. Joseph Epstein writes in Envy, “Envy clouds thought, clobbers generosity, precludes any hope of serenity, and ends in shriveling the heart.”

Jealous is intensely felt, you are jealous of what someone has. Envy is cold and sneaky, you are envious for who someone is, not just for what they have. Jealousy about the pensions of government workers spurs you to fight for your own pensions. Envy would spur you to spitefully lobby to cut their pensions. A dose of jealousy helps you; envy hurts all.

The envy machine is cranked up.

Illinois State Senator Chris Lauzen says government benefits are unsustainable and unfair to taxpayers who earn less than civil servants. “People will become angrier and angrier when they learn the...

The Fed was created by Congress in 1913 and, therefore, is a creature of a democracy and must answer to the public interest. But, it also gives special power to regional Fed banks, which are directed by private boards of directors composed in part of private banks who have special access to monetary policy decisions. So the Fed chief is independent AND beholden to the public interest.

We have had some lousy and good Fed chiefs. Greenspan knew Wall Street was “irrationally exuberant” and creating dangerous bubbles and he knew the Bush tax cuts would raise the deficit; but, sadly, he was no fixer.

Ben Bernanke, appointed by George W. Bush...

Really, we do need another stimulus round. And, really, for the deficit hawks and the inflation worriers, as I wrote in my June 4 post, more spending now – though it will increase the federal budget deficit – means a smaller deficit later. If people aren’t working they can’t pay taxes and they use more government programs — food stamps, unemployment insurance, and more.

Worse, the unemployed can’t buy things that other people sell, which reduces tax revenue even further. So goes the invidious feedbacks that create a downward recession spiral. Government spending, that creates jobs, interrupts that spiral.

As Dean Baker points out, many economists always felt the first stimulus was too small and others were moved by the

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the anti-discrimination case involving New Haven, CT firefighters — see yesterday’s post — you are hearing a lot of Republicans and right-wing commentators praise the Court’s “respect for the law” and moves away from “judicial activism.” These conservatives are using the Court’s decision to argue against the confirmation of Sonya Sotamayor, who was part of the Appeals Court decision that the Court reversed, claiming that Sotomayor is an “activist judge.”

But don’t kid yourself. Judicial activism, if that is defined as judges overturning years of settled legal precedent and carefully considered acts of legislators, is alive and well, argues U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE),...

A recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that 61 percent of Americans are against affirmative action for blacks in hiring, promotion, and college admissions. So when the New Haven fire department’s decision to stop using a written test for promoting firefighters because no African-American passed the test, the Supreme Court was on firm ground in the popularity contest to overturn a lower court’s approval.

Much of the opposition against affirmative action isn’t about racism or stinginess, but about a charming belief in tests. Certainly, if affirmative action was about giving unqualified people jobs, promotions, or college admissions very few people would or should support it.

Yikes! Who would want a black surgeon or, DOUBLE YIKES a female economics blogger?!

If there is a robust metric out there — an indicator...

The Financial Times yesterday reported that the ordinarily low-drama U.S. President angrily denied that his health-care proposal is designed to put private insurers out of business.

Obama proposes to offer a federal health-care plan that allows anyone to join a program like the popular Medicare. (Who says America doesn’t have single payer, national health insurance: caveat — it’s for people over 65!)

This plan would probably be better and cheaper than private health insurance and that’s why the insurers are fighting the public plan option. Obama is probably right not all of them will go out of business, but it may hurt profit margins.

Obama’s public plan option is the best of three currently under most-prominent discussion.

1. The status quo: ration health care by not letting everyone have...