Only because I am too busy.

Grant McCracken on whether restrained consumer spending will be temporary or permanent.

Virginia Postrel on the same topic, based on discussions at the Kauffman Foundation Forum. It was great to see her looking so terrific and energetic, and her health update was a lot less scary than it might have been.

Will Wilkinson on positional ambition.

Herrick (a pseudonym) on the latest round in the controversy over the role of genetics in economic performance.

Peter Orszag, now blogging as head of OMB, on the new budget’s swipe at the charitable deduction for high-income tax payers.

OK, I have to comment on this one. If you want to predict the Obama Administration’s behavior, ask yourself what policies can strengthen government and weaken the private sector. That methodology will tell you that private charities are going to come under assault. Charitable organizations offer services that compete with government. That cannot be permitted in a “progressive” state, in which all forms of civil society must be suppressed. Our country has a remarkably very strong tradition of civil society, and I expect that we can put up a good fight on the charitable deduction issue. But the fact that the Obama folks are even willing to try this is a sign of just how potent they are feeling and how impotent they think the opposition is right now.