News
Bloomberg | Crude Declines on Demand Concerns After Fed Lowers U.S. Economic Forecast
Oil declined for the first time in four days in New York as investors speculated U.S. fuel demand may weaken after the Federal Reserve lowered its economic growth outlook for the world’s biggest crude-consuming nation.
WSJ | Fed Darkens Its Outlook but Plans No Changes
The central bank's policy makers substantially downgraded their projections for U.S. economic growth and unemployment, which they released Wednesday after a two-day meeting. "We don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting," Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a dreary press conference following the policy meeting.
WSJ | Leisure Trumps Learning in Time-Use Survey
Americans Opt for TV in Spare Hours, Not Workouts or Classes, Poll Finds.
National Journal | U.S. Releases 30 Million Barrels of Oil From Petroleum Reserve
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Thursday that the U.S. and its partners in the International Energy Agency will release 60 million barrels of oil onto the world market over the next 30 days to offset the disruption in the oil supply caused by unrest in the Middle East. The U.S. will release 30 million barrels of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
WSJ | Most Euro-Zone Economies Contract
Germany and France were the only members of the euro zone to register an expansion of private-sector activity in June, with most of the other 15 members experiencing a contraction for the first time since November 2009.
Econ Comments
Daily Caller | How the stimulus robbed states of their sovereignty
Obama’s so-called “stimulus bill” did not do much good for our economy. On the contrary, numbers provided by recovery.gov show that whatever jobs the bill “created” have come at astronomical costs. One very telling example: as of the first quarter of 2011, each “stimulus” job in Wyoming had cost taxpayers $477,000.
Washington Times | FEULNER: Put free trade to work
Congress spurns jobs that new pacts would create.
WSJ | The Food-Stamp Crime Wave
The number of food-stamp recipients has soared to 44 million from 26 million in 2007. Not surprisingly, fraud and abuse are rampant.
Cato Institute | Good-Bye Recession, Hello Slump
The U.S. recession officially ended in June 2009. With that, a normal post-recession boom failed to materialize. Instead, an unwelcomed slump ensued. Since the recession bowed out, the average annual GDP growth rate has been a paltry 1.6% — well below the long-run trend growth rate of 3.1%.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Belize: Lights Dimming on Economic Freedom
On June 20, the government of Belize expropriated the 70 percent ownership interest in the Belize Electric Company (BEL) held by the shareholder-owned, Canada-based energy giant Fortis. Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL), a hydroelectric business that Fortis also owns, has not been expropriated—yet. Fortis has invested more than $400 million in Belize.
Heritage Foundation | Increasing Access to Alaska’s Oil
Although the pipeline collects oil from several fields, falling production in those fields could eventually cause the pipeline to shut down. If the flow falls below a certain level—estimates vary from 350,000 barrels per day to 200,000 barrels per day—cold temperatures can cause ice buildup and corrosion. The real question, though, is how to meet America’s energy needs. One way to prevent this is to increase access to the vast amount of reserves Alaska holds.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | An Economic Framework for Financial Services*
Here we focus on economic changes with particular emphasis on those that suggest a structural challenge to decision making as it was done in the past.
NBER | Disability, Pension Reform and Early Retirement in Germany
The aim of this paper is to describe for (West) Germany the historical relationship between health and disability on the one hand and old-age labor force participation or early retirement on the other hand. We explore how both are linked with various pension reforms. To put the historical developments into context, the paper first describes the most salient features and reforms of the pension system since the 1960s.
