Some of the day’s best reads:
- William Galston on selling health care reform: “If the debate between now and November is generic—about the role of government—Democrats will probably lose. If the debate is more specific—comparing the bill to the status quo and pointing out its concrete advantages—the public’s view may well become much more favorable.”
- Michael Mandel on the growing gap between government and private-sector benefits: “In the private sector, adjusted for inflation, employer spending on retirement benefits stagnated between 2004 and 2009. That’s right, just flat, even before the financial bust. By comparison, state and local costs for retirement rose by 30% between 2004 and 2009, in real terms.”
- Infrastructurist on the 20 U.S. cities with the most energy efficient buildings, according to the EPA.
- David Leonhardt on health reform and inequality: “The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago.”
- Tom Friedman on the radical center: “I’ve come to realize that none of these innovations will emerge at scale until we get the most important innovation of all — political innovation that will empower independents and centrists, which describes a lot of the country.”
