News
Market Watch | Factory activity rebounds in Philly region
Factory activity rebounded in the Philadelphia region in July, suggesting the stark weakness seen in June might indeed have been temporary.
National Journal | Offshore-Drilling Bill Stalls Over Revenue Sharing
Currently, all royalties and revenues from energy production in federal waters – about $5 billion to $10 billion annually – goes to the Treasury. Under a 2006 law, Gulf Coast states – chiefly Louisiana – do enjoy a 37.5 percent share of revenues from some Gulf drilling, and Landrieu has long sought to extend that privilege to all coastal states in order to promote further drilling.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | VERRET: About-face on consumer protection
Democrats dump support for five-member board in favor of one powerful director.
Washington Post | Tea Party would defeat Obama by supporting McConnell plan on debt
Thanks largely to the Tea Party, today, more than at any time since Reagan’s arrival 30 years ago, Washington debate is conducted in conservatism’s vocabulary of government retrenchment. The debt-ceiling vote, an action-forcing mechanism of limited utility, has at least demonstrated that Obama is, strictly speaking, unbelievable.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Natural Gas: Boom or Bust? All Signs Point to Boom
Natural gas in the United States is an important source of energy, and increasing production can help meet rising energy demand, increase jobs, and drive economic growth. Several states have already tremendously benefited from increased production.
Econlog | The Wisdom of CPK
If I were writing a blurb for the fifth edition of Charles P. Kindleberger's classic Manias, Panics, and Crashes, I would say that "This is the best narrative that has been written about the 2008 financial crisis, and it was written in 2005."
Heritage Foundation | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Opens Its Doors. America, Look Out
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) officially opened its doors in Washington, making it the first major new federal agency in nearly 10 years.
Marginal Revolution | The new Greek bailout plan, digested
The EU pledges that Greek creditors will take a hit but that this will never ever happen again, not with Spain or Italy in particular. That’s not a credible promise, if only because of the magnitudes involved, and so over time it shouldn’t influence the borrowing rates of those countries very much. It’s worth a small amount to have the promise made at all, but the comparable promises made about Greece were just broken so who is being fooled here?
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Only Certainty in Impact of U.S. Default Is More Uncertainty
Clearly, a sustained federal shutdown would cut gross domestic product growth. If Washington could only spend current revenues, it would subtract about $100 billion in economic output just in August, say most economists. What’s unclear is the negative multiplier impact on the private economy.
