News
National Journal | Don't Panic
Disappointing GDP growth isn't a sign of another slowdown ... yet.
Market Watch | More Than Half Still Say U.S. Is in Recession or Depression
Democrats rate the economy better than Republicans or Tea Party supporters.
Fox Business | http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/04/29/consumer-mood-edges/
The final reading on the overall index came in at 69.8, up from 67.5 in March and up a hair from the preliminary reading of 69.6.
Washington Times | High gas, food costs grind back growth
State budget cuts also nick recovery.
Fox Business | Personal Spending, Incomes Rise in March
U.S. consumer spending rose as households stretched to cover the higher cost for food and gasoline as inflation posted its biggest year-on-year rise in 10 months.
CNN: Money | Gas spending and prices by state
How much you actually pay for gas is affected by your income and local economy, not just what price is at the pump. Mississippi residents spend a whopping 13.2% of their income on gas.
Bloomberg | Treasuries Poised for Best Monthly Returns Since August on Slowing Economy
Two-year note yields headed for their biggest monthly drop since January 2010 as business activity in the U.S. grew less than forecast and growth slowed in consumer spending. The Fed said this week it will finish $600 billion of debt purchases in June, as planned, while holding interest rates near zero, where they’ve been since December 2008.
The Economist | What's wrong with America's economy?
Its politicians are failing to tackle the country’s real problems. Believe it or not, they could learn from Europe.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | Admit it, Obamanomics has failed
Forecasts predict no economic improvement in 2011.
WSJ | The Keynesian Growth Discount
The results of our three-year economic experiment are in.
National Journal | Ryan Says Oil Subsidies May Need to Go
House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said on Thursday he would support rolling back the billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies now enjoyed by the oil industry – a huge shift from the views held by most of his party.
WSJ | Bipartisan Target: Oil-Sector Tax Breaks
Soaring oil company profits and yawning federal deficits are making long-protected industry tax breaks a bipartisan target in Washington. Democrats have rebranded $4 billion a year in oil-industry tax incentives as a subsidy big oil companies don't deserve.
Minyanville | Brazil Economy Booming But Delicate
The interest rate rise to 12% highlights the fragile nature of Brazil's fast-growing economy.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Economists React: First-Quarter GDP ‘Stutter’ Likely Temporary
Economists and others weigh in on the 1.8% increase in first-quarter gross domestic product at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.
NRO: The Corner | American Income Inequality in Perspective
Debate over the data aside, the most striking point on this chart is that even the poorest 5 percent of Americans are among the richest people in the world — richer than nearly 70 percent of the world’s population.
The Economist: Free exchange | Slower growth, for now
America's recovery slowed in the first quarter of 2011. At a seasonally adjusted annual rate, real GDP grew by 1.8% in the first three months of the year, down from the 3.1% growth performance in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the advance estimate of output released this morning. This deceleration came as no surprise; indeed, some recent forecasts projected an even slower rate of growth.
Reports
NBER | When Fast Growing Economies Slow Down: International Evidence and Implications for China
The evidence suggests that rapidly growing economies slow down significantly, in the sense that the growth rate downshifts by at least 2 percentage points, when their per capita incomes reach around $17,000 US in year-2005 constant international prices, a level that China should achieve by or soon after 2015. Among our more provocative findings is that growth slowdowns are more likely in countries that maintain undervalued real exchange rates.
RCM: Wells Fargo | GDP Growth Sputters at the Start of 2011
Rising at a slower-than-expected pace, real GDP grew 1.8 percent in the first quarter. Weather disruptions, higher food and energy prices and a sizeable decline in government outlays weighed on economic growth.
