News
My Money | Bernanke Predicts High Level of Foreclosure Starts in 2011
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said late Monday that he expects to see a very high rate of foreclosure starts in 2011.
MSNBC | Uncertainty might be biggest shutdown cost
Increased use of federal contractors creates some new what-if's
WSJ | Moody's Adds to Pressure on Portugal
Moody's Investors Service Inc. on Tuesday cut Portugal's long-term government-bond rating even closer to junk grade and placed it on review for possible downgrade, citing heightened risks that the authorities will be unable to meet their ambitious deficit reduction targets.
CNN Money | Bankruptcy filings fall 6%
The number of Americans filing for bankruptcy dropped 6% in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the previous year, two industry groups said Monday.
Econ Comments
NY Times | Wholesale Robbery in Liquor Sales
Last month, Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, introduced a bill in the House that would allow states to cement such protectionist laws. It should appall wine snobs, beer swillers and even teetotalers. In this case, the law would protect not small stores and liquor producers, but the wholesale liquor lobby.
WSJ | After the Welfare State
The moral price of dependence on government is even higher than the financial cost.
Investors | Despite The Scary Warnings, U.S. Not Running Low On Oil
With Japan's nuclear crisis and a wave of instability crossing the Middle East, pols and pundits are turning again to the question of our energy future. Will civil war and strife disrupt access to oil and our way of life? Can the United States change its century-old pattern of relying heavily upon petroleum?
AEI | Principles for Reforming the Housing Finance Market
We recommend that the U.S. housing finance market of the future should be governed by four basic principles:
Smart Money | U.S. Should Value Greed, Not Need
Margaret Thatcher famously quipped , "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." But the former prime minister of the United Kingdom was only half right: What's really wrong with socialism is its philosophy.
Fox Business | States Increasingly Turn to 401Ks to Replace Pensions
Big labor used the 43d anniversary yesterday of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King to hold hundreds of rallies nationwide, attacking “right-wing corporate politicians” for “trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain,” one flyer reads.
Blogs
Carpe Diem | Another Name for "Trade Deficit" is "Capital Account Surplus," Balance of Payments Always = 0
Here's another look at the balance of payments data back to 1980 (BEA data here), demonstrating graphically Don Boudreaux's statement that "another name for “U.S. trade deficit” is the “U.S. capital-account surplus” – that is, inflows of investment funds into America that supply (directly or indirectly) financing for more capital creation in America."
AEI: The American | End It, Don’t Mend It
Evidence against the Dodd-Frank Act continues to pile up. Now 18 Republican Senators have introduced legislation to repeal the act.
NRO: The Corner | How Do We Make People Understand that They Aren’t Entitled to Entitlement Programs?
Social Security doesn’t belong to taxpayers, even those who have paid into the program their entire lives. It is not an entitlement: Congress can change the law at any time, cut benefits or abolish the program at will.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Recovery in the U.S. Beats Other Advanced Economies
Michael Mussa of the Peterson Institute for International Economics released his semiannual forecast for the global economy today, projecting GDP growth of 4.3% this year despite risks from turmoil around the world.
NRO: The Corner | Become Too Big to Fail, and You Will Live a Long and Happy Business Life
The TARP program is often presented as a great success because it is said to have prevented the market from collapsing at a cost to taxpayers of only $19 billion
Heritage Foundation: The Foundry | Young Arabs Agree: Economic Freedom Necessary for Prosperity
A study released Thursday shows that young people in the Arab world overwhelmingly want greater economic freedom and opportunity, and that conditions prior to the current uprisings left them “crying out for change.”
Reports
Mercatus Center | Bill 19-77 Pension Protection and Sustainability Act
Testimony Before the District of Columbia Committee on Government Operations and the Environment
