News
Market Watch | Corn, wheat prices ride torrent of weather shocks
Torrential rains, flooding, droughts and searing heat sound like an apocalypse in the making, but they’re all part of the normal risks facing agricultural commodities each crop season and lately, every day.
CNN: Money | Mississippi floods threaten gas prices
Nearly 15% of the nation's refining capacity and hundreds of oil wells are at risk as the flood crest along the swollen Mississippi river makes its way into Louisiana over the next few days.
Econ Comments
Investors | Economic Destiny Comes Down To Obama Vs. Ryan
President Obama talks a lot about "winning the future." But to a large degree, America's future will be determined by the ongoing budget debate between him and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, with the American people deciding the outcome.
Washington Times | LAMBRO: Obama’s economic seesaw
Gas prices, unemployment, deficit go up; president’s poll numbers go down.
WSJ | Trade Extortion Assistance
Obama throws up a new union barrier to Korea, Colombia and Panama.
CNN: Money | Do falling gas prices spell recession?
Sick of high energy prices? You may soon have more relief than you'd like.
Bloomberg | Bundesbank Says German Economy to Weaken
The German Bundesbank said Europe’s largest economy will probably lose some growth momentum over the coming months after an “explosive” start to the year.
Minyanville | How Severe Will a US Economic Slowdown Be?
The world is headed for an economic slowdown, according to the ECRI Long Leading Index of global industrial growth, and the US will most definitely play a part in shaping it.
Blogs
Atlantic | When Should Governments Contract Out?
Matt Yglesias points out that prison privatization has not been the success its proponents suggested. Costs seem to be higher in many places, and the prison privatization has not eroded the power of the prison lobby, but merely replaced it with another group of lobbyists:
Calculated Risk | Mortgage Delinquencies by State: Percent and Number
Earlier the MBA released a graph of the percent of loans "in foreclosure" by state. The following graph is similar, but includes all delinquent loans (sorted by percent seriously delinquent).
Forbes | How The Government Created A Financial Crisis
Facing double digit inflation, double digit interest rates and soon to be double digit unemployment, President Reagan came into office with a four point economic program on which he had explicitly campaigned, fundamentally changing the course of American economic policy. As discussed in my recent op-ed, “Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics: Facts and Figures,” those four points were:
NRO: The Corner | Don’t Be Fooled
We should fear a default. But it’s not the default that Secretary Geithner has been warning the country about. It is the one that happens some time down the road if Congress never cleans its financial house.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | Existing Home Sales Slide in April
Existing home sales eased 0.8 percent in April to a 5.05 million-unit annual pace. Sales slid in most regions of the country, except for the Midwest, which saw a 5.7 percent gain on the month. Inventories increased.
NBER | Terms of Trade and Global Efficiency Effects of Free Trade Agreements, 1990-2002
This paper infers the terms of trade effects of Free Trade Agreements (FTA's) with the structural gravity model. Using panel data methods to resolve two way causality between trade and FTA's, we estimate direct FTA effects on bilateral trade volume in 2 digit manufacturing goods from 1990-2002.
