News
National Journal | Government Blocks Oil-Sands Pipeline
The Transportation Department announced late on Friday afternoon its decision to block a Canadian oil company from restarting a controversial oil-sands pipeline that began operating at this time last year.
Bloomberg | Natural-Gas Use May Increase 50 Percent by 2035 in ‘Golden Age,’ IEA Says
While a surge in gas use will improve air quality in many cities, cut coal use and lower energy costs, climate-change targets would be missed and temperatures would rise beyond a goal of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), the Paris-based organization said today in a report.
Market Watch | State of U.S. economy grows murkier
The sharp decline in hiring during May is likely to hang over U.S. markets this week owing to a thin slate of economic data.
CNN: Money | Don't count on stimulus. It's not coming
Economic indicators are pointing to slower growth. More Americans are looking for jobs, and the housing market is in a confirmed double dip.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | GHEI: China races ahead
Asian giant’s economic expansion reveals need for pro-growth policies.
WSJ | The Real Cost of the Auto Bailouts
The government's unnecessary disruption of the bankruptcy laws will do long-term damage to the economy.
NYT | When a Nobel Prize Isn’t Enough
Last October, I won the Nobel Prize in economics for my work on unemployment and the labor market. But I am unqualified to serve on the board of the Federal Reserve — at least according to the Republican senators who have blocked my nomination. How can this be?
RCM | Sixty Questions From the Class Warfare Front
How can poverty be eliminated if it is defined in relative rather than absolute terms? What is the real goal of the War on Poverty and how much do pandering politicians stand to gain by keeping it going forever?
Financial Times | America is too tethered to take off
Concern is growing that the US is falling back into recession. Consumers are scared. The housing market is crippled, with prices still falling. Last week saw more disappointing figures on jobs and manufacturing. Friday’s closely watched payroll numbers were worse than expected. Analysts had predicted 175,000 new private sector jobs, which would have been low; there were 83,000. The unemployment rate rose to 9.1 per cent.
Richmond Times Dispatch | Bet on the market
In this secular age, not much ink need be spilled convincing people to ignore doomsaying based on the Bible. But this "secular" age is also the age of Gaia — an age of increasingly unthinking, faith-based following of preachers who warn of the hell and damnation awaiting us if we don't renounce the devil of fossil-fuel-fueled economic growth.
Politico | Social Security reform now, not later
Explaining that the trust fund is made up of Treasury bonds backed by the government never quite satisfied our members who thought Congress should have protected payroll taxes so the money was "saved." And truth be told, Congress and previous administrations could have done more with Social Security contributions to pay down debt and have taken other steps to reduce it.
Daily Caller | The real answer to our problems
We hear all about America's problems every day. We can't get away from them, especially when the bad news is compounded with more bad news about natural disasters. The latest economic and jobs news is yet another indication that this nation's problems are getting worse and stifling our prosperity.
Blogs
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of June 5th
The key economic release this week will be the trade balance report on Thursday.
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list at 997 Institutions
Here is the unofficial problem bank list for June.
Daily Capitalist | Slow Pace Of Bank Failures Holding Back Recovery
The Trepp bank failure report confirmed that the problems with banks are mainly with commercial real estate (CRE) (76%) followed by residential real estate (16%). They noted that the number of failed banks in May was way down (5):
Volokh Conspiracy | A Book Length Account of Fannie and Freddie and Their Role in the Financial Crisis
Among the scores of books I’ve accumulated on the financial crisis, one always seemed to be missing: a book length account of the role of Fannie and Freddie in bringing about the financial crisis, following their rise and fall. Many books had important sections devoted to the GSEs (e.g., Roger Lowenstein’s The End of Wall Street), but despite the outpouring of books on the crisis, until now we’ve lacked one that has both financial acumen and investigative journalism fused together, directly on Fannie and Freddie.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary
Have We Hit a Soft Patch or Something a Bit Worse?
