News
CNN Money | Gas prices surge 17 cents in a week
Gas prices have increased 17 cents a gallon in the past week. And analysts expect prices to continue higher, following a sharp rise in the price of crude oil.
Fox Business | Pending Home Sales Fall Faster than Expected
Contracts for pending sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell faster than expected in January to the slowest pace in three months, data from a real estate trade group showed Monday.
MSNBC | Largest rise in U.S. incomes in one and a half years
Boost came from a tax cut; consumer spending rose less than expected in January
CNN Money | Rich Americans flock to fast food
When it comes to cutting back, the rich are learning a little secret the rest of us have always known: fast-food is cheap and good (if not good for you).
WSJ | OECD Sees Real Demand Driving Commodity Prices
A report being prepared for the world's Group of 20 leading economies indicates the main factor behind rising prices for wheat, sugar, cotton, metals, oil and other commodities isn't speculators, as some have suggested, but that the global demand to consume these goods is growing faster than the supply.
CNN Money | Americans earning and saving more
Americans earned more than expected in January, thanks to tax changes that boosted income, but consumers chose to add more to their savings at the start of year.
Fox News | Survey: Economy will grow moderately through 2012
Economists are forecasting faster growth than they were in November, according to a quarterly survey from the National Association for Business Economics.
Econ Comments
Time | How Germany Became the China of Europe
Germany's revival has reversed its role in Europe.
WSJ | Exporting Wall Street
An unfriendly U.S. regulatory climate put the NYSE at a disadvantage.
AEI | The Capital-Inflow "Problem" Revisited
Sudden stops and reversals in capital flows are the stuff of policymakers' nightmares. This column builds on the last 20 years of research and argues that the capital-inflow dilemma is not an external problem-it is an eternal one.
Real Clear Markets | Largest rise in U.S. incomes in one and a half years
I was recently invited down to Washington DC to represent the venture capital industry at a Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy gripe session. At issue were the unintended consequences of an obscure corner of the Sarbanes Oxley Act known as 409(A). Bureaucratic weirdness and utter futility are the best words that come to mind.
WSJ | Unions vs. the Right to Work
Collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Number of the Week: Gasoline Prices Bite
Could rising oil prices derail the U.S. recovery? We’re more resilient to high energy prices than we used to be, but it’s certainly a danger.
Freedom Works | When Pretending Fails to Hide Bankruptcy
We the People, the hoi polloi, are the only safeguard in our present system of government from being overwhelmed by the greed and avarice of the political plunderers.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Warren Buffett’s 2010 Report: The New Beige Book Guide to the U.S. Economy
The 27-page shareholder letter Berkshire Hathaway chief executive Warren Buffett just released reads like a motivational speech or a pep talk trying to win over an audience that is increasingly pessimistic about America’s future: “In 2011, we will set a new record for capital spending – $8 billion – and spend all of the $2 billion increase in the United States,” he writes. “Now, as in 1776, 1861, 1932 and 1941, America’s best days lie ahead.”
CSM: Economist Mom | What the president’s economic report leaves out
The report by the president's Council of Economic Advisers makes no mention of 'tax reform' or 'entitlements.'
Reason Foundation: Out of Control Policy Blog | Steps Forward on GSE Reform
Since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were put into conservatorship in September 2008 there has been very little movement to fix them or reform the housing finance system.
CSM: The Daily Reckoning | Oil prices will affect the whole US economy
Oil prices are rising, so will stocks begin to fall?
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | Economics Group
Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary
