Sorry for my silence. I spent the last two days on planes and (for a tiny handful of hours in between) in Sacramento, Calif., to sit on a panel about income inequality. A trusted friend in attendance advises me that I got so hypnotized by my Power Point presentation that I failed to notice the increasingly urgent messages passed to me by the moderator, and ended up exceeding my time limit by at least 25 minutes.
Must try to do better next time.
Perhaps I can take heart in the example of Joe Biden, another person who doesn't know when to shut up but who has nonetheless, against all expectations--mine, anyway--turned out to be a good vice-president. A free passthrough link to my latest TRB column on this subject can be found here.