Recommended reading

• Ever wondered why the Tappan Zee bridge was built where it is instead of a narrower, cheaper location just downstream? As with most non-sensical phenomena, NPR says the answer is politics. 

• On a sadder note, someone I know told me that his cancer-stricken wife was informed by her oncologist this week that the drug he would like to put her on simply is not available. Writing in The New York Times, one former White House adviser says the answer for such shortages is found in government policy.

• Also check out this NYT piece on the green jobs hype. Excerpt: "The Economic Development Department in California reports that $59 million in state, federal and private money dedicated to green jobs training and apprenticeship has led to only 719 job placements — the equivalent of an $82,000 subsidy for each one."

• Jay Cost notes how much the political debate has shifted to the left in recent decades.

• Scott Lincicome says that President Obama is being rather disingenuous on free trade.