Economics Daily Digest: There's no rabbit in the GOP's hat

By Tim Price, originally published on Next New Deal

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A Republican Magic Trick (Harper's)

Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick argues that deficit hawks have mastered the art of distraction'but when they start pointing to shiny objects like the CBO's dubious 20-year budget forecasts, you should check to make sure you still have your wallet.

The Market Speaks (NYT)

Paul Krugman writes that conservatives have predicted the market would visit a swift and terrible justice on the unbelievers for years now, but with the Dow soaring despite their prophecies of doom, it looks like they're rather poor interpreters of their chosen oracle.

What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate. Sort Of. (Prospect)

Paul Waldman notes that while partisans on both sides often assume their opponents are clueless, it turns out congressional Republicans really don't have any idea what's going on with the budget debate unless the president personally explains it in small words.

Wireless Competition That AT&T and Verizon Need (Bloomberg)

Roosevelt Institute Fellow Susan Crawford looks at how the FCC's free Wi-Fi proposal challenges duopoly control over the wireless spectrum and how we could do more to ensure that getting a good signal on your mobile device doesn't require you to be immobile.

We've Moved Backward in Closing the Gender Wage Gap (Forbes)

NND Editor Bryce Covert highlights a new study that shows the gender wage gap in the U.S. actually increased in 2012, a reversal that comes on the heels of a broader stagnation in gains made over the last two decades. P.S. Happy International Women's Day!

No, the United States Will Never, Ever Turn Into Greece (The Atlantic)

Pundits often claim the U.S. is "becoming Greece" and that failure to rein in the national debt will smash our economy to pieces like plates at a wedding ceremony, but Matthew O'Brien argues there's no proven risk for countries that control their own currency.

Higher and Higher Ed (TNR)

Timothy Noah notes that President Obama has floated the idea of withholding federal aid to impose cost controls on college tuition, but in American politics, having the backing of the president and a generation of college students doesn't count as a constituency.

Who are Democrats and Republicans Representing, Anyway? (Salon)

David Sirota flags a study that shows both Republicans and Democrats overestimate how conservative their constituents are, which illustrates the danger of electing elites who figure they can just imagine what voters think instead of deigning to speak to them.

Tim Price is Deputy Editor of Next New Deal. Follow him on Twitter @txprice.