News
CNN: Money | The end of Big Oil? Not so fast.
Splitting up energy giants may make sense while oil prices are as high as they are today, but it may not be worth the organizational headache for Big Oil to break apart.
WSJ | Mortgage Rates Reach Record Lows
U.S. mortgage rates dropped to new lows after the latest round of gloomy economic data hurt Treasury yields, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates.
WSJ | Homeowners Can't Hop on Low Rates
Many in U.S. Could Lower Their Mortgage Rates but Don't Qualify.
WSJ | The Global Rout The Keynesians have fired all their ammo and here we are..
WSJ | Dow Tumbles 513 Points, Putting It in Red for Year
U.S. stocks plunged in the biggest selloff since the financial crisis, driving the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 500 points, as investors appeared to lose faith in the ability of the world's policy makers to revive the global economy and stave off a rolling debt crisis in Europe.
Econ Comments
National Journal | Obama on Economy: 'Things Will Get Better'President Obama sought to reassure Americans that the recent economic turmoil will settle and that the country is on the road to recovery, despite a spate of bad economic news from the last few weeks that concluded in a major drop in the markets.
Daily Finance | Is Social Security Ripping You Off?
As with most government programs, Social Security has winners and losers. It provides at least basic subsistence-level benefits for most retired workers regardless of their income level. On the other hand, many workers would be better off if they were allowed to invest their own Social Security in private accounts.
Washington Post | Let’s move on to our bigger economic problems
The debt-ceiling fight generated enough hyperventilation and heartburn to replace a coal-fired power plant. The resulting product? It’s starting to look kind of puny and irrelevant.
AEI | Environmental Consequences of Energy Choices: Horton Hears a Who
Thus, when government favors technology A over technology B, what is seen are the profits from sales of technology A. What is not seen are lost profits from lower sales of technology B. What is also not seen is the net drain of administrative cost, inefficient diversion of capital, reduced consumer choice, and generally reduced individual freedom.
National Journal |
Europe has the tools to stabilize and grow"
Europe still has several ways to stabilize the debt situation, but it’s not moving fast enough. A salvage plan would have the European Central Bank (ECB) buy periphery bonds now in large quantities, in effect funding the fiscal deficits and debt rollovers.
Washington Times | LAMBRO: Obama out of ideas, Americans out of luck
The flatlining Obama economy is at the tipping point of another recession. Economic growth has plunged to a near standstill, consumer spending has hit the brakes and the pace of job layoffs is rising.
Blogs
Café Hayek | Hoover and DeLong
I am happy to find out that the numbers I cite aren’t the right ones for some reason and will post any corrections that show, corrected for changes in the price level, that fiscal policy was contractionary (according to the standard interpretations of government spending) during Hoover’s Administration. But the numbers I see show the opposite.
Reports
Heritage Foundation | Heritage Employment Report: July Jobs Grow Slightly
The context of this month’s jobs report, of course, is the worldwide meltdown of financial markets and staggering economic activity. Not only is today’s report a reminder of how weak the U.S. employment market remains—the nation would need twice today’s gains to make a dent in the population of the unemployed—but it also challenges Congress to change course in its effort to stimulate the economy.
