Marginal Revolution
The guys at Marginal Revolution are public intellectuals in the best sense of the phrase: erudite, curious, playful and — perhaps most importantly — fair-minded and open to honest debate.
The blog is written by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, economists at George Mason University. They're known as libertarian economists, but Marginal Revolution steers clear of the kind of angry partisanship that characterizes so much of the blogosphere. Cowen and Tabarrok are more interested in having a discussion than winning an argument, and the blog gives a respectful hearing to writers from across the political spectrum.
Cowen, who writes most of the posts, seems to read the entire Internet every day. Along with serious, big-picture economic discussions (why has the median wage been stagnant for decades in the U.S.?), you can find posts about daily life (how do roommates choose to split the rent?) and carefully curated links, like the one recently to a company called turtlecalls, which for a fee will call you up and sound like a turtle (money quote: "I am the first and best company for your turtlecall needs — the copycats may be cheaper but they barely even sound like real turtles").
Goldstein writes for NPR's Planet Money blog.