Crystal ball

Crystal ball

: Alex Beam, who sometimes chooses not to get the future, tries to write a cute column about the future, when Nick Denton buys The New York Times. Tries way, way too hard. Too cute by half. And essentially wrong-headed, arguing that only in newspapers are serious issues like Social Security discussed — when, in fact, if you look up Social Security online you’ll find, often, more discussion and better depth.