News
CNN Money | Existing home sales tumble 9.6%
According to the National Association of Realtors, homes sold at an annual rate of 4.88 million in February, down 9.6% from January and 2.8% lower than February 2010 sales.
WSJ | Democrats Split on Social Security
...changes to Social Security are on the table as three Democratic senators, Mark Warner of Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Richard Durbin of Illinois, negotiate with three Republicans—together forming the so-called Gang of Six—to craft a deal to cut $4 trillion from the federal budget deficit over 10 years.
Investors | U.S. May Lose AAA Rating In '18
The Congressional Budget Office's Friday analysis of the president's plan showed that by 2018, debt service would equal $725 billion, or 18.2% of the $4.0 trillion in projected federal revenue.
Washington Examiner | GOP attempting to undo Wall Street reforms
...Republicans have introduced five bills aimed at curbing parts of the financial reform law that they say are the most onerous, particularly for small and growing businesses.
Econ Comments
WSJ | Uncle Sam and the Hostile Takeover
Activist investors are often effective at raising corporate performance, but managements hate them and keep trying to skew the rules in their favor.
CNN Money | What has economists most on edge: Oil prices
More than two-thirds of the 23 economists surveyed by CNNMoney identified high oil prices as the most serious risk facing the economy.
WSJ | Tsunamis of Information
Hayek taught us about the 'pretence of knowledge,' and why disasters are worse than expected.
Forbes | Help Housing? Dump Uncle Sam
...sound reforms are crucial to getting the housing market back on a sustainable growth path. Not so long ago it was the norm in this country to put down 20% on a house.
EconTalk | PODCAST: Coyle on the Economics of Enough
Coyle argues that the financial crisis, the entitlement crisis, and climate change all reflect a failure to deal with the future appropriately.
Reason Foundation | The Truth About Hedge Funds and the Financial Crisis
The market exposure of most hedge funds is less than twice the percentage of assets under management.
Blogs
EconLog | Asymmetric Loss Functions
The asymmetry is that a mistake in one direction (say, too much) has a much lower cost than a mistake in the other direction (in this case, too little.)
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of March 20th
The key releases this week will be existing home sales on Monday, new home sales and Wednesday, durable goods on Thursday, and the final estimate for Q4 GDP on Friday.
Cato@Liberty | Fannie, Freddie: Late to the Party?
The GSEs and their apologists do claim to have been big contributors to one party: the expansion of homeownership in the United States. Yet the facts suggest otherwise.
Political Calculations | U.S. vs Canada: Comparing Oranges and Apples
...unlike the approach taken by the U.S. Census in grouping people according to their race or ethnicity, Canada groups its minority population according to their ancestors' geographic origin.
The American | Regulatory Agencies Cannot be Controlled by Requirements of Interior Rationality
All too often, regulatory analyses read as if most of the decisions about the regulation were already made before the analysis was done.
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list increases to 982 Institutions
Here is the unofficial problem bank list for Mar 18, 2011.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Number of the Week: Household Debt May Be Accelerating Again
$822 billion: the amount defaults have lopped off U.S. household debt since mid-2008.
Heritage Foundation | Welfare Reform: Self Reliance, Not Government Handouts
Today, the U.S. government operates over 70 welfare programs that span 13 government departments. And spending on these programs has only soared over the decades.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo Economics Group | Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary
Despite Headwinds, Expansion Continues.
