News
Fox News | A look at economic developments around the globe
A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Thursday:
NYT | This Week’s Economic Reports
A list of economic reports, corporate earnings and events in Washington this week.
CNN: Money | U.S. lost $14B on auto bailout... Excellent!
Including the $1.3 billion loss on its Chrysler investment, announced Thursday, the United States government has lost about $14 billion on the auto industry bail-out. All in all, it was a bargain. That $14 billion figure is far less than than the $40 billion bath the Congressional Budget Office expected U.S. taxpayers to take in the total auto industry bailout.
Fox News | Economy's spring slump could last through summer
The economy could lapse even further if Congress and the Obama administration fail to reach an agreement on raising the nation's borrowing limit in the coming week.
Roll Call | Supporters See Path to Pass Trade Pacts Soon
Supporters of pending free-trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea are holding out hope that Congress might pass the measures before adjourning for the August recess, even as Capitol Hill remains fixated on the looming Aug. 2 deadline when the government bumps against its debt limit.
Econ Comments
Financial Times | Washington is drowning America
Across government, leadership positions are unfilled because the administration cannot get its nominees confirmed. Denial of fiscal support is another weapon. The administration’s healthcare reform faces a campaign of legal, procedural and budgetary attrition that is especially vicious.
NYT | The Wrong Way to Free Trade
Bilateral trade agreements are not the same as free trade. Yes, they liberalize trade for the parties involved, but outsiders then face a handicap. The discrimination comes in the form of barriers like tariffs and antidumping charges, which countries impose on imports that they believe are priced artificially low.
Washington Post | Behind economic hard times, fear of the new
Economic weakness in advanced countries stems partly from the residual trauma on consumers and companies following the ferocious 2008-09 financial crisis.
Blogs
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of July 24th
The key economic report for the coming week is the Q2 advance GDP report to be released on Friday.
Heritage Foundation | Tales of the Red Tape: Tackling Serious Matters in Washington, D.C.
The nation’s capital is wracked by indecision these days. Raise the debt limit, or no? Don’t ask, don’t tell, or do? And, how will President Obama obfuscate this week on Syria, Libya, Pakistan, Egypt, or Iran? But take heart, dear citizens, all is not so murky.
Econlog | Tom Saving on the Social Security Trust Fund
I've been pointing out for years, as have many economists, that the Trust Fund is a fiction whereby one part of government owes money to another part of government. But what I had failed to do--and what Tom Saving did do--is follow the implications of that fact.
Cato @ Liberty | Bastiat on Free Trade and Living on the State
Bastiat might have something to say about the attitudes and policies that have brought both Europe and the United States to the brink of debt disaster:
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list declines to 993 Institutions
Here is the unofficial problem bank list for July 22, 2011.
NRO: The Corner | Policy Implications of the S&P Warnings
If S&P isn’t bluffing, it means that lawmakers should get serious about reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio, and they should do it quickly. Thankfully, we are not the first nation to struggle with dangerous debt-to-GDP ratio, and thankfully, the academic world has already produced great insights into what can be done to reduce this ratio without hurting the economy.
Reports
RCM | Time to X Out the Ex-Im Bank
The Export-Import Bank of the United States picks winners in the U.S. economy,
redistributing resources from the productive sector to its chosen clients. While
it has been self-financing for a number of years, taxpayers remain exposed to tens of billions of dollars of loans and guarantees.
RCm: Wells Fargo | Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary
Economic data released this week came in with largely mixed results and continue to point to an economy that is emerging from a soft patch but with slow momentum.
