News USA Today | North Dakota economy booms, population soars
North Dakota, the state with the nation's lowest unemployment rate, capped a decade of economic prosperity with dramatic population growth in its biggest cities.
CNN Money | $5 ATM fees coming our way?
ATM fees are on the rise at some of the country's biggest banks.
WSJ | With Fifth Third Out, Banks Have Repaid 99% of TARP
Six banks repaid nearly half a billion dollars in funds they received from the government bailout of Wall Street, the Treasury Department said, bringing the total bank repayment under the Troubled Asset Relief Program to 99%.
CNN Money | Consumer prices up 2.1% in past year
Food and energy prices are surging. Still, underlying inflation remains low, the government said Thursday.
Politico | Poll: 81% fear for Social Security
The vast majority of Americans see Social Security headed toward a crisis, and most think the system needs a major overhaul, a new poll suggests.
CNN Money | Rising wholesale prices ring inflation alarm bells
The cost of producing goods is rising, and consumers could soon pay the price.
Fox | Florida Governor to Sign Teacher Merit Pay Legislation
Florida public school teachers would lose job security but could make more money if their students do well on standardized tests under a trailblazing bill that went to Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday after a party-line vote in the Republican-controlled state House.
Politico | Japan crisis takes toll on U.S. economic recovery
The unfolding crisis in Japan has begun to have an impact on the fragile recovery of the U.S. economy despite assurances by Obama administration officials and many analysts that it does not pose a significant threat to economic growth here or across the globe.
Econ Comments
WSJ | The Anemic Recovery Continues
Who can blame consumers for holding back when 50 million Americans depend on taxpayer-supported programs? The modern-day soup line is a check in the mail.
Cato | Freedom Means Faster Growth
How do we measure economic freedom, and how relevant is it for economic growth? Some answers come from Economic Freedom of the States of India 2011, a report just brought out by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation , Cato Institute and Indicus Analytics.
Minyanville | Tragedy in Japan Highlights Challenges of Economic Forecasting
The only thing we really know for sure is that the earthquake, the tsunami, and the aftermath have destroyed significant infrastructure and inflicted heavy loss of life.
WSJ | How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine
The top-loading washer continues to disappear, thanks to the usual nanny state suspects.
RCM | Advice for Mr. Obama On Energy
With Japan's nuclear disaster and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blocking the disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, prospects for approving more U.S. nuclear power plants are dimming. But what about oil and natural gas?
Blogs
Coordination Problem | Stimulus Spending and Jigsaw Puzzles
In a series of newspaper columns last year, Don Boudreaux compared the economy to a giant jigsaw puzzle with billions of pieces that can fit together in numerous combinations only a small number of which produce a meaningful pattern or picture. We learn which combos work because they “beep” every time we get one “right” and those beeps give us pleasure. I like that metaphor and I want to make use of it to talk about Austrians, Keynesians and stimulus spending.
Café Hayek | Essay on Keynesianism, Part the First
Running the risk of over-simplifying only a teeny bit, I propose that the key difference between the Keynesian/man-in-the-street view of the economic problem and a non-Keynesian view of the economic problem is the following: Keynesians/men-(and-women)-in-the-street sense that the dominant economic problem is super-abundance (and its attendant problem, excess capacity), while non-Keynesians understand that the dominant economic problem is, and will always be, the ubiquity of scarcity.
Mercatus Center: Neighborhood Effects | What Does An Artificially High Discount Rate Mean?
What, exactly, does a low discount rate mean? More importantly: what does a low rate say about the assumptions of those who prefer to use it?
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | PPI: Mixed Results in February
The PPI for February showed a very strong increase in the finished goods index of 1.6 percent, but a more modest increase in the core PPI, which posted a more moderate 0.2 percent increase.
