The New Republic

This is the second installment of our new feature: Curbside Consult. For the uninitiated, curbside consults are a venerable medical tradition, whereby a doctor seeks informal advice from an experienced colleague in treating a patient with a complex condition. In covering or understanding complex health and social policies, we need sometimes help too. READ MORE >>

Over the weekend, America's Health Insurance Plans circulated a study it commissioned from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In a memo to AHIP members, reproduced here, president Karen Ignani explained its significance: READ MORE >>

    Sitting in her lawyer's office at South Brooklyn Legal Services, her hands folded calmly in her lap, Sandra Barkley describes how she became the first person in her family to buy a home. The 52-year old single mother begins by speaking in a relaxed southern drawl, but as she comes to recount her experiences more fully, her voice rises, and her cool breaks. READ MORE >>

Last summer, when the price of oil was bobbing around the $100/barrel mark, the business press was rife with trend stories on how companies were rethinking the feasibility of their global supply chains. BusinessWeek, for instance, wondered whether sky-high shipping prices could neutralize China's labor-cost advantages and bring manufacturing back to the United States. READ MORE >>

If you don't know the answer to that question, don't worry. Just go read David Sanger's nice profile of him in today's Times. (Hint: He's the top White House aide overseeing the restructuring of GM and Chrysler--and the administration aide arguably most responsible for helping Chrylser avoid liquidation.) READ MORE >>

You know things are crazy when a partial takeover of the American auto industry by labor unions and the government is, at best, the day's third biggest story. But even with swine flu and Arlen Specter grabbing the headlines, it'd be a mistake to ignore what's happening in Detroit. READ MORE >>

If you haven't picked up on one of the dozens of recommendations from other blogs, I recommend reading Phillip Swagel's long and detailed account of the view of the financial crisis from his seat as assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department. It's particularly useful for people like me who make a habit of criticizing government officials. READ MORE >>

Various outlets now have complete details on Obama's plan for Chrysler and GM, as provided in background briefings by administration officials. The gist is pretty simple: The administration believes that GM can survive--and, indeed, thrive--with the proper restructuring, so it will provide up to 60 days of working capital as the company revamps its management and negotiates with stakeholders. READ MORE >>

....as usual. Today's effort: This [the current approach], then, is loss-socialisation in action – it guarantees a public buffer to protect creditors. This could end up giving the government a controlling shareholding in some institutions: Citigroup, for example. But, say the quibblers, this is not nationalisation. READ MORE >>

In Hollywood, the one thing as inevitable as death and taxes is sequels. They roll them out, year after year, the 2s and IIs, the Returns and Revenges, and Strikes Backs and Strikes Agains. For decades, the first rule of making a successful sequel has been simple and unchanging: Figure out what you did right the first time and do it again. READ MORE >>