25 Best Blogs 2009

You'd need a Nobel Prize in economics to figure out what went wrong with the economy and how to get it back on track. Paul Krugman has one. The Princeton economics professor and New York Times columnist won a 2008 Nobel for his work on international trade theory, but it's his clear, penetrating blog entries that make the dismal science understandable and even entertaining for everyday folks. The Conscience of a Liberal acts as a kind of digital supplement to Krugman's twice-weekly Times column, providing expanded coverage and additional insights into the unfolding economic mess. Krugman was one of the few economists to predict the burst of the bubble before the numbers proved him right, reason enough to pay attention as he analyzes the government's efforts to get things back on track.

Sample The Conscience of a Liberal post: The House has passed the stimulus bill with not a single Republican vote. Aren't you glad that Obama watered it down and added ineffective tax cuts, so as to win bipartisan support?

Entry you'll never see: With the gross domestic product declining at a rate not seen in half a century, our only hope in avoiding a full-blown depression lies in a return to the supply-side economics of Ronald Reagan.