All Snark, No Substance

Brad DeLong endorses Ezra Klein's comments (see my earlier post) about Cato's recent forum for my book Crisis of Abundance. The event was really a health care symposium, with New York University's Jason Furman offering comments and the Washington Post's Sebastian Mallaby offering comments on the book.

Concerning the latter commenter, DeLong offers the following:

I challenge the classification of Sebastian Mallaby as a "professional domestic policy thinker." It would seem to me that it would be more accurate to call him a lazy hack journamalist [sic].

...

Memo to Cato: putting Sebastian Mallaby on a panel as a health care "expert" gains you brownie points among the journamalists [sic] of the Washington Post. It doesn't boost your reputation among the reality-based community.

Memo to DeLong: I'll debate anyone of your choice. I understand that Cato tried really hard to get Krugman, and I am willing to travel to Princeton.  At least Jason Furman (or is he just another hack?) and Sebastian Mallaby were willing to engage.

The main criticism of Mallaby is that he argued against insurance coverage for wigs. Actually, if you think about it, there is much to be said for Mallaby's point. Just because wigs go to cancer patients, and we feel sorry for cancer patients, does not mean that insurance should cover wigs. Wigs are neither necessary nor sufficient for curing cancer.

If a critic wants to "score points with the reality-based community," I suppose he should use snark. But snark can be the refuge for someone who is having difficulty with substance.