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A Mortgage Agency Pick Is Likely to Cause Conflict (NYT)

Peter Eavis and Annie Lowrey report that critics are displeased that the president is nominating Mel Watt, who supports mortgage writedowns to help struggling homeowners, to replace Ed DeMarco, who's been doing his best pet rock impression as acting FHFA director.

Federal Reserve ponders possibility of increasing stimulus (WaPo)

Ylan Q. Mui notes that the Fed explicitly acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the economy could get bad enough to convince it to ramp up its bond-purchasing program -- and if it does, the central bank doesn't mind telling anyone that it will be Congress's fault.

GOP's Census Bill Would Eliminate America's Economic Indicators (HuffPo)

Tired of bad economic news? Maybe we'd be better off with no news at all. As Michael McAuliff writes, that seems to be the position taken by Republican lawmakers who want to ban the Census Bureau from collecting data used to calculate unemployment and GDP.

American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration (MSNBC)

Ned Resnikoff notes that yesterday was International Workers' Day, but it was a lot like any other day for American workers, marked by historically low labor force participation and union membership, declining job quality and safety standards, and the looming threat of layoffs.

Big Banks are Victims of Their Own Success (ProPublica)

Jesse Eisinger argues that the Brown-Vitter bill banks are decrying as a punitive measure that will destroy the financial system is the bad cop to Dodd-Frank's good cop. Wall Street may live to regret stripping the latter of its badge and its gun and drumming it off the force.

Banks on the Run (Continued) (The Nation)

Greg Kaufmann writes that banks are learning another valuable lesson about the consequences of indiscriminately throwing people out of their homes: no matter where they hold their shareholder meetings, angry activists keep turning up like a roll of bad pennies.

It's a 401(k) World and It Basically Sucks (Slate)

Matthew Yglesias thinks Tom Friedman's "401(k) world" metaphor is an apt description of modern America, but it's a barren, inhospitable world for anyone except the wealthy and the few middle-class workers who manage to invest wisely and adequately.

The New Study That Republicans Who Reject Medicaid Must Read (TNR)

While some conservatives are doing an end zone dance over a new study that shows Medicaid access has limited health benefits for the poor, Jonathan Cohn argues that keeping beneficiaries out of crippling medical debt -- and clinical depression -- isn't nothing.

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The Next Elizabeth Warren (TNR)

If you've ever been annoyed by your Internet provider, return the favor by reading John Judis's profile of Roosevelt Institute Fellow Susan Crawford, who's taking on the telecom giants and fighting to make high-speed Internet access as ubiquitous as electricity.

The United States of Sequestration (MoJo)

Timothy Murphy highlights how sequestration has affected all 50 states in the six weeks since its $85.4 billion in cuts began to kick in. From closed Head Start programs to furloughed workers, nothing brings the whole country together quite like terrible policy.

Sequestration 101: If a Budget Cut Doesn't Affect the Wealthy, Congress Won't Fix It (The Nation)

Bryce Covert argues that there's a reason flight delays consumed the media and Congress's attention while other cuts are ignored: policymakers actually listen to rich people's complaints, whereas everyone else sounds like one of Charlie Brown's teachers.

Meals On Wheels Sequestration Cuts Taking Effect (HuffPo)

Case in point: With Meals On Wheels set to deliver as many as 19 million fewer meals this year due to funding cuts, Arthur Delaney reports that some recipients are actually questioning whether it's worth feeding them if it means that others will go hungry.

Washington's Backward Retirement Policy: So Wrong, and Yet So Easy to Fix (The Atlantic)

James Kwak argues that there would be plenty of money to shore up Social Security's finances without cutting benefits if the government stopped giving it to people who don't need it (and don't particularly care if they get it) in the form of 401(k) and IRA subsidies.

Are Democrats Moving Away from "Debt Crisis" Rhetoric? (Prospect)

Jamelle Bouie writes that instead of offering voters a choice between lots of enthusiastic austerity and a little less regretful austerity, even moderate Democrats seem to be realizing that they're betting off drawing a clear distinction and emphasizing growth instead.

House Republicans Eyeing New Hostage Opportunity (NY Mag)

Jonathan Chait notes that Republicans are once again plotting to force a debt ceiling showdown, but instead of tying it to deficit reduction like last time, they're now demanding a version of tax reform that makes deficit reduction the only thing you can't do.

No Rich Child Left Behind (NYT)

Sean Reardon writes that while the racial achievement gap in education has been narrowing, the income-based achievement gap is widening as rich parents sink more resources into giving their little darlings that leg up that a trust fund alone can't provide.

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The 1 Percent's Solution (NYT)

Paul Krugman argues that the embarrassing collapse of austerity's intellectual justifications might not mean that austerity itself is over, since there isn't a lot of deep thought involved in wealthy elites tapping policymakers on the shoulder and saying, "Hey, do this."

Four ideas for fixing the long-term unemployment crisis (WaPo)

Brad Plumer writes that proposed solutions include job training, wage subsidies, direct hiring, and (in Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal's case) full employment, but like America's 4.7 million long-term unemployed, the current approach definitely isn't working.

Why Kids Still Can't Have It All (Prospect)

Monica Potts notes that working families are struggling as states cut back on child-care subsidies, and sequestration is adding to the pain with cuts to programs like Head Start. Soon even high-powered moms may not be able to afford a stylish leather tote for their kids.

Senate Democrats' Shameful Cave on Flight Delays (TNR)

Noam Scheiber calls out Congress for predictably scrambling to fix one part of the sequester that has proven mildly irritating to business travelers when the best they can muster in response to, let's say, a series of horrific shooting sprees is a resigned shrug.

Banks Continue to Scaremonger Over Nonexistent Down Payment Requirements (MoJo)

Kevin Drum writes that, contrary to banks' claims that their hands are tied by new Dodd-Frank rules, they're still allowed to issue any kind of loans they want. But if they wind up with a pile of garbage, they can't just dump it all on someone else's lawn and run away.

Big Banks' Tall Tales (Project Syndicate)

Simon Johnson examines the two competing narratives that dominate the debate around financial reform: The first one, preferred by bankers, is that we've already had all the reform we need and all is well. The other story, about the ongoing threat of TBTF, is nonfiction.

Texas Explosion: Gov't Shared Info for Anti-Terrorism, But Not Workplace Safety (In These Times)

Mike Elk notes that Americans are 270 times more likely to die in a workplace accident than from terrorism, but Homeland Security's budget is 84 times the size of OSHA's. Luckily, the phone call that could have prevented the fertilizer plant explosion is pretty cheap.

Congressman Finally Takes Action to Remove Needless Requirement Bankrupting the Postal Service (Think Progress)

Annie-Rose Strasser writes that Rep. Peter DeFazio has introduced a bill that would authorize the USPS to stop hitting itself and end the requirement that it pre-fund 75 years' worth of retirement benefits so it can actually pay its employees to keep working instead.

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Austerity doctrine is exposed as flimflam (WaPo)

Katrina vanden Heuvel isn't expecting an apology from the austerians who have pushed destructive policies based on bad information, but if they'd go stand in a corner and think about what they've done, at least it would get them out of the way while we fix it.

Make Wall Street Choose: Go Small or Go Home (NYT)

Senators Sherrod Brown and David Vitter introduce their new bipartisan plan to end "too big to fail" by raising capital requirements so the largest banks must either play it safe or break into smaller pieces, which can then feel free to fail to their heart's content.

False White House tweet exposes instant trading dangers (Reuters)

Steven C. Johnson writes that when the hacked AP Twitter account announced that President Obama had been injured in an explosion, the only real damage done was to the stock market. Choose your hashtags carefully; the global economy may depend on it.

Financial Regulators To Warn About Student Debt Risks (HuffPo)

Shahien Nasiripour notes that the Financial Stability Oversight Council will warn that America's $1 trillion student debt burden poses a real threat to economic growth in its latest annual report, entitled "Here Are Some Things You Probably Already Figured Out."

Wyden in line for coveted Finance gavel (The Hill)

Max Baucus's decision to retire after next year leaves the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee up for grabs, but if Democrats manage to hold the Senate, it could go to Ron Wyden, who's acquired a dangerous reputation for working with people on things.

The Texas fertilizer plant explosion cannot be forgotten (WaPo)

Mike Elk argues that while the Boston bombings have absorbed the media's attention, the explosion of a Texas factory that killed 14 people and injured 160 tells an important story about workplace safety and lax regulation. If we're lucky, we'll get to hear it one day.

Fast food walkout planned in Chicago (Salon)

Josh Eidelson reports that 500 fast food and retail workers in the Windy City have walked off the job, hot on the heels of a similar strike in New York. They're demanding higher wages and union representation, and maybe some functioning drive-through speakers.

S.E.C. Gets Plea: Force Companies to Disclose Donations (NYT)

Nicholas Confessore writes that the SEC is under pressure to issue rules that would require publicly traded corporations to reveal their political contributions, though Republicans argue this would infringe on free speech rights that apparently only companies have.