News
Financial Times | China trade surplus hits $13bn in May
China’s trade surplus in May was smaller than expected, adding to evidence that the country is slowly cutting its reliance on exports...
USA TODAY | Fed: Dallas is only area of country to show improving growth
Fed banks in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago said growth weakened in those regions. By contrast, the Fed regions in Boston, Cleveland, Richmond, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and San Francisco said growth there remained steady.
Econ Comments
Bloomberg | Economy’s I-Told-You-So Naysayers Hold a Reunion: Caroline Baum
Economists of the Austrian School have been saying I-told you-so for generations. A slump is the natural progression after a period of malinvestment, better known as an asset bubble, which is why the goal should be bubble avoidance. Any attempt to prevent prices -- in this case home prices -- from falling prolongs the agony, which is something policy makers have been slow to grasp
Bloomberg | Government Is More to Blame for Weak Recovery Than Fading Stimulus: Echoes
Moreover, any reduction in government purchases associated with the fading-out of the 2009 stimulus is tiny in comparison with 1937 because the stimulus didn't increase government purchases in any material way. At most, federal-government purchases rose by only 0.2 percent of GDP as a result of the 2009 stimulus, and data show that state and local governments didn't use stimulus grants to increase purchases. Even the much-debated deal on the 2011 budget wasn't able to reduce government discretionary outlays by more than $1 billion this year.
Blogs
NRO: The Corner | ‘Prison Math’ and the War on Drugs
Nonviolent drug offenders now account for about one-fourth of all inmates in the United States, up from less than 10 percent in 1980. The costs, of course, are staggering: State correctional spending now totals $52 billion a year, consuming one out of 14 general fund dollars; spending on corrections is the second fastest growth area of state budgets, following Medicaid.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo Economics Group | Special Factors Helped to Reduce Trade Deficit in April
The trade deficit narrowed sharply in April, which will lead to some upward revisions to Q2 GDP growth. However, the deficit likely will rise over the next few months as some special factors unwind.
Mercatus Center | Freedom in Virginia
Overall, Virginia has much of which to be proud though it could benefit from improving some of its fiscal policies and its policies affecting personal freedom.
