TLP Weekend Edition (April 26-27, 2025)

What we're reading and checking out.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in D.C. for their excellent Wild God tour, April 21, 2025. (Author photo)

📔 “The Post-Neoliberal Delusion,” by Jason Furman. This long essay on the limitations of Joe Biden’s post-neoliberal policies in Foreign Affairs from a while back is worth revisiting in light of the Trump administration’s own challenges on this front. Furman rationally points out the substantive problems with Biden’s signature legislative bills and economic approach:

Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory was in no small part a harsh rebuke to the Biden administration’s economic policy. Proponents of the Build Back Better agenda, in convincing themselves that the hot economy was transformative for workers, appeared oblivious to the genuine concerns of the electorate. Biden’s supporters and policymakers, especially those who have denied the effects of inflation, insisted that voters grossly misunderstood the economy or attributed Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss in the 2024 presidential election solely to a global rejection of incumbents. It is possible that just the portion of inflation caused by global shocks would have been enough to doom any incumbent party’s reelection chances. But adding to that inflation with unnecessary spending, minimizing the suffering it caused, and touting an imaginary boom in infrastructure and manufacturing surely did not help Democrats.

The new economic philosophy that dominated during the Biden years emphasized demand over supply. It considered concerns over budget constraints overstated and placed its faith in predistribution as a way to change the trajectory of the macroeconomy. It promised policies that could simultaneously transform industries, prioritize marginalized groups in procurement and hiring practices, and serve broad social goals. Ultimately, this post-neoliberal ideology and its adherents did not take tradeoffs seriously enough, laboring under an illusion that previous policymakers were too beholden to economic orthodoxy to make real progress for people.

Rather than merely resorting to conventional approaches, however, what the country needs now is a renewal of economic policy thinking. The post-neoliberals were not wrong about the problems they inherited. Largely free labor markets have failed to deliver high levels of employment for prime-age workers in the United States for decades. National security concerns now shadow every question regarding trade and technology. And the transition to green energy will require dramatic action. New ideas about these old problems will never yield successful policies, however, if they dismiss budget constraints, cost-benefit analysis, and tradeoffs. It’s fine to question economic orthodoxy. But policymakers should never again ignore the basics in pursuit of fanciful heterodox solutions.

For a different take on Biden’s industrial policy, check out Noah Smith’s, “Anti-anti-neoliberalism is also not enough,” in response to Furman.

📖 “‘Cry More, Libs’ is Not a Strategy,” by Rod Dreher. In The Free Press, conservative writer Rod Dreher admirably does what many people in partisan politics refuse to do—acknowledge the bad actions and poor ideas of their own movements. Dreher supports Trump but says there are no rational limits on his current administration or anyone capable of keeping things in check:

We can no longer afford to live by the establishment’s lies. That said, MAGA tempts the same sorry fate that conservatives like me suffered over Iraq. Do we hate our enemies more than we love liberty? More than we care about prudence and common sense?

If the cost of victory is trashing the jobs and businesses of ordinary Americans with a reckless and unstable tariffs policy, abusing the Constitution, pointlessly sabotaging America’s allies, and replacing a domestic woke-left system with a woke-right one, MAGA risks destroying itself.

It’s well and good to reform the trading system to reshore manufacturing and to curb China, but those goals are as meaningless to the broke MAGA small-business owner wondering how she’s going to feed her children as free trade was to the unemployed Rust Belt factory worker facing the same thing a generation ago.

It’s early yet. The administration still has the opportunity to reverse course and restrain and steady itself. Now is the time for its allies to speak up, and not to suppress misgivings for the sake of loyalty. “Cry more, libs” is not a strategy.

In modern American politics, it’s all too rare to see people criticize their own side based on principles and values, so good on Dreher.

🪐 The Mercy of the Gods: Captive’s War, by James S.A. Corey. A good old-fashioned space opera. Alien races galore. Cosmic plots. The fate of humanity and all sentient races in the balance. Yowza!

The Carryx—part empire, part hive—have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin...

They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand—and manipulate—the Carryx themselves.

With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers.

⚽️ Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur, at Anfield. Liverpool can clinch the EPL title this Sunday with either a win or draw against Spurs at their home fortress of Anfield. Liverpool’s last title came during the Covid era with no fans or celebrations. Expect the Kop to be rowdy this time with lots of, “Mo Salah! Mo Salah! Mo Salah! Running down the wing,” chants ahead of what may be a record-tying 20th league title for the Reds. Kickoff is at 11:30AM eastern on Peacock.

🎶 Wild God, by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Cave and his comrades are currently on tour featuring songs from their latest album, Wild God, plus a ton of other classics including “Jubilee Street,” “Tupelo,” “O Children,” and “Red Right Hand.” Check it out if you can, it’s easily one of the best live shows of the year. Here is the exuberant song “Frogs” from the new album that kicks off the performance.