I don't get here every day - and the recommended posts seem to cycle out about every 24 hours so I know I miss a lot of good ones. I know someone tried to start a daily thread where everyone could list their favorite posts but I didn't have time to keep up with all of those, and I guess not enough people participated to keep it going. 

I wonder if it would be possible for TPM to add a sidebar that would list the most highly recommended posts of the week. Or maybe have a TPM editor's post every Saturday where they give links to the readers' posts with the most Rec's for the week. 

Or is there a tool already available that would help me find older posts with lots of Rec's? 

I believe the most important news story now and for the foreseeable future is the economy.  And I believe it's TPM's responsibility to report on that story.

But I can't bring myself to read about it anymore.  The ins and outs of financial dealings have always confused me and they're even more confusing now.  No matter how much I try to wrap my head around it, I can't.  I used to read everything I could find about the crisis but it didn't help me understand.  I have no idea what should be done to deal with the problem so there's nothing I can contribute to the conversation here and nothing I can say to my senators or congressman (Steve King, as if he'd listen to sense if I had any to offer).

I feel like the situation is hopeless - no amount of money they throw at the banking system is going to solve anything and no one in Washington has the will to do anything else. 

So I just don't read the articles anymore.  If I see a headline about an economic story, I skip the article.  Sometimes sticking your head in the sand is the only way to save your sanity.  My sanity is fragile enough already.