Economics Daily Digest: I am Jack's bad budget metaphor

By Tim Price, originally published on Next New Deal

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Does America Need Jack Lew? (Harper's)

Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick explains his concerns about Lew at Treasury: He's hazy on what caused the financial crisis and overly concerned about budget deficits. In other words, he fits right in with the rest of the president's economic team.

Ruth Porat, Rumored Treasury No. 2, Lobbied Regulators for Morgan Stanley, a Lot (HuffPo)

Perhaps acknowledging Lew's admitted lack of experience in the world of finance, Mark Gongloff notes that President Obama may name him a deputy with a deep background in regulatory negotations. Only problem? She's usually on the wrong side of the table.

JPMorgan Chase Gambles Away $6B, Gets "Slap on the Wrist" (MoJo)

Erika Eichelberger writes that after investigating the London Whale fiasco, the OCC and the Fed have issued their tough verdict: It's bad for banks to lose money and/or launder it for drug dealers and terrorists, so they should knock it off or else [consequences].

All the President's Resolve (Prospect)

Robert Kuttner argues that it's a good sign that President Obama appears to be stiffening his spine for the debt ceiling fight instead of bending over backwards to please the GOP, but if he wants to correct his posture, he should lean a little more toward the left.

Millennials and Guns (The Nation)

Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network members Ryan Dahrouge and Jamira Burley write that Millennials are determined to end gun violence, but unlike some culture critics, they won't do it by erasing the word "gun" from that sentence. Read the full report here.

Race, Gun Control and Unintended Consequences (The Nation)

NND Editor Bryce Covert writes that fast action on gun control is better than the inertia we're all used to, but like guns themselves, we should focus on how the laws will be used, not just the possibly false sense of security that they provide.

The Eurozone Crisis Is Over, but the Eurozone Economy Is Worse Than Ever (Slate)

Matthew Yglesias notes that while many observers, including the European Central Bank itself, have decided that they can safely stop caring about the eurozone, things probably aren't going great if they're now judging their success relative to Latvia.

When Public Outperforms Private in Services (NYT)

Using BP as a particularly disastrous case study, Eduardo Porter argues that when deciding which services are best provided by the private sector, we should remember that "do this profitably" and "do this correctly" are two very different mission statements.

The troubling state of America's health (WaPo)

Katrina vanden Heuvel highlights a report that shows America is one sick country, and one of the leading causes of our illness is an inadequate safety net. So Congress wants to cut government health care, prolonging the bleeding until our humors are rebalanced.

For 'Party of Business,' Allegiances Are Shifting (NYT)

The GOP and big business used to be joined at the hip, but Jackie Calmes reports on a growing tension caused by up-and-coming Republicans who answer to no one but themselves and maybe their neighbor's talking dog who tells them not to raise the debt ceiling.