In the Water, In the Air: Wednesday, December 11, 2013.

FISCAL FOLLIES -- DECEMBER 2013 CONTINUING RESOLUTION

Ryan-Murray Budget Deal Replaces Real Spending Restraint of Sequester with Budget Gimmicks and Back-Door Tax Hikes (Dan Mitchell, International Liberty, 12/11).

A Least Bad Budget Deal: More spending now for some genuine, if modest, reforms (The Wall Street Journal, 12/10).

Can Paul Ryan Put Down a Revolt From the Right? (Billy House, Tim Alberta and Sarah Mimms, National Journal, 12/10).

Today’s Budget Agreement: Good Politics, Maybe, But Not Good Policy (John Hinderaker, Powerline, 12/10).

Thanks, Patty Murray and Paul Ryan. You Did Your Job. Finally. (Eleanor Clift, The Daily Beast, 12/10).

Here’s what’s in Paul Ryan and Patty Murray’s mini-budget deal (Ezra Klein, The Washington Post, 12/10).

Stockman: Budget deal a 'joke and betrayal' (Jeff Morganteen, CNBC, 12/11).

Key Vote NO on the Ryan/Murray Budget Deal (Matt Kibbe, FreedomWorks, 12/10).

U.S. budget deal could usher in new era of cooperation (Richard Cowan and David Lawder, Reuters, 12/11).

Should Congress hike your taxes … or, instead, slash spending? (Andy Koenig, The Washington Times, 12/10).

Piling on the Murray-Ryan budget deal (Doyle McManus, The Los Angeles Times, 12/11).

DEFICITS AND DEBT

Deficit Reduction: Far Less Than Meets the Eye (Tom Blumer, The Fiscal Times, 12/10).

THE NATURE OF POLITICS

Why the Third-Party Dream Remains Just That (Scott Conroy, RealClearPolitics, 12/12).

SPENDING-SIDE REFORM

This 'Doc Fix' Would Be Bad for Your Health (Scott Gottlieb, The Wall Street Journal, 12/11).

MIXED-SIDE AND REGULATORY REFORM

Volcker Rule a Costly Way to Solve a Non-Problem (Satya Thallam and Sam Batkins, American Action Forum, 12/10).

What is the Volcker Rule? (Wallace C. Turbeville, Demos, 12/09).

Who met most with regulators to try to shape the Volcker Rule? The big banks, of course (Lee Drutman, Sunlight Foundation, 12/10).

Water Does Run Down Hill After All (Don Boudreaux, Cafe Hayek, 12/10).

Good intentions, bad policy: Opposing view (Douglas J. Elliott, USA Today, 12/09).

Volcker Rule should bring some order to financial reform (Editorial Board, The Washington Post, 12/10).

MOBILITY AND EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

Is income inequality the new climate change? (James Pethokoukis, AEIdeas, 12/10).

Does Rising Inequality Make Us Hardhearted? (Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times, 12/10).

GOVERNMENT FINANCE AND FINANCIAL POLICY

Central banks will move goal posts to keep QE forever (Matthew Lynn, MarketWatch, 12/11).

PUBLIC PENSIONS -- DETROIT

How significant will Detroit be for public pension policy? (Steve Eide, Public Sector Inc., 12/10).

GLOBAL ECONOMY -- CHINA

Can China escape its demographic bind? (Paul French, East Asia Forum, 12/10).

GLOBAL ECONOMY -- EUROPE

Why it’s misguided to treat the eurozone crisis as a morality tale about “lazy” southerners (Mehdi Hasan, New Statesman, 12/09).

Despite the economic misery of the last five years, Europe remains a success story…as Malta’s passport sale clearly demonstrates (Hamish McRae, The Independent, 12/10).