News
The Street | U.S. Debt Rating Under Threat: Moody's
Credit rating agency Moody's Investor Services said Thursday that unless a deal is reached in the next several weeks regarding the debt ceiling, that the U.S. government's "Aaa" rating will be placed on review "due to the very small but rising risk of a short-lived default."
Source | Measuring the Human Cost of an iPad Made in China
If Apple ordered up a batch of its iPad computers to meet surging market demand and an explosion in the workshop killed three workers and injured 15 others, an army of regulators, cops, and plaintiffs lawyers would descend on the company to emand an accounting.
Washington Times | Lack of retirement savings makes entitlements sacrosanct
Type the sentence(s) summarizing the link here.
CNN: Money | Warning: Economic recovery at risk
Job growth seems to be losing momentum, home prices just slumped to new lows and consumers are feeling far from rosy about the economy.
Fox News | Factory orders fell in April after parts shortage
Business cut back on their orders for heavy machinery, computers and autos in April, partly because the March earthquake in Japan has made components parts harder to come by.
Consumer Reports | Elderly Americans lose $2.9 billion annually to financial abuse
Financial abuse of older Americans has increased by 12 percent over the last three years, according to a study released Wednesday by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
National Journal | States Want Leading Role in Natural Gas Regulation
While the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency continue to look into the risks of natural gas drilling, state regulators say it's a job better left to the states, which can teach the federal government a thing or two.
Econ Comments
Reason | "Buy American" Is Un-American
WE need more competition in the auto industry, not less.
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: Consumers lack confidence in Obama
When lawmakers borrow heavily from private-sector markets to feed their trillion-dollar overspending habit, less capital is available to the rest of the market. That’s one of the ways in which the policy impasse on Capitol Hill is sapping energy out of the economy and hope out of consumers. Unless there are some credible signs of fiscal responsibility soon, the high unemployment rates might be here to stay.
Cato Institute | Winners, Losers and Government
The stability of D.C. prices can be found in one word: government — although in more ways than you think. Prices are ultimately driven by supply and demand, and government has had a major impact on both.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | World-Wide Factory Activity, by Country
Global manufacturing slowed across the globe in May, amid lackluster consumption in the U.S. and Europe and lingering effects of Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.
Econlog | PSST vs. Potential GDP
The AS-AD paradigm includes a concept called potential GDP. Mainstream macro-economists sort of force-feed macroeconomic history into AS-AD by talking about "cyclically-adjusted productivity" when they talk about AS and "trend-adjusted GDP" when they talk about AD.
Cato @Liberty | The Flawed Logic of Trade Adjustment Assistance
A recently posted article from Reuters contains quotes that are worth sharing, because they perfectly encapsulate what I think is the flawed logic behind trade adjustment assistance, the program that extends enhanced benefits to workers who lose their jobs because of import competition. There are many reasons to oppose this program, as I have outlined before.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | Factory Orders Slip in April After Surge in March
Factory orders shed 1.2 percent in April following an upwardly revised 3.8 percent spike in March. That gain was the largest in seven years, so some pullback is not shocking, but the outlook for May is not looking good.
