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Business Longreads for the week of May 18, 2013.

From America’s manufacturing prince to adulterated generic drugs, The Daily Beast brings you the best in business and finance journalism from the week of May 18, 2013.

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Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters, via Landov; Paul Hanna/Reuters, via Landov; Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty
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“Manufacturing’s Mouthpiece”Mina Kimes, Bloomberg Businessweek

American manufacturers produce more and employ fewer, and one of them—Caterpillar—is going gangbusters.

“How the Case For Austerity Has Crumbled”Paul Krugman, The New York Review of Books

America’s most influential economist argues that the intellectual foundations for the global move toward austerity were built on sand well before the most infamous Excel error in history.

“Aiming for the Top, Again”Randall Smith, The New York Times

Fred Eckert had it all: a New Jersey mansion, 18 vintage cars, a 1,500-bottle wine collection, and a partnership at Goldman Sachs. He was spending $10.8 million every year. A few years later he went through a divorce and bankruptcy and slipped into a coma.

“Dirty Medicine”Katherine Eban, Fortune

Lipitor is one of the most popular—and profitable—prescription drugs of all time. The Indian company that makes the generic version coughed up $500 million in fines and penalties after admitting the drugs were adulterated.

“In Which Downtown Josh Brown Destroys the 1999 Comparison”Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker

Stocks are up; they were also up in 1999. The difference: in 1999 “you people were smoking fucking PCP.”

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