News
CNBC | Consumer Confidence Hits New Low, May Be Weaker
U.S. consumer confidence has fallen further after weeks of intensified economic concerns and broad stock market declines, and Conference Board data due later this month could be even weaker than current projections suggest, Consumer Edge Research said on Monday.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Services, Manufacturing Grow at Slowest Pace in Almost Two Years
European services and manufacturing growth held steady in August at the slowest pace in almost two years, adding to signs the euro-region recovery is losing momentum as the sovereign debt crisis persists.
Fox News | AP survey: No recession but weakness will endure
Worries that another recession is nearing and that the European crisis will spread have led to a roughly 15 percent drop in stock prices in the past month. Economists say the Great Recession ended in June 2009.
WSJ | China Manufacturing Activity Declines
While the number was above the July reading and higher than some analysts had expected, it was still below the key level of 50, which separates growth in the industry from contraction.
Politico | Report: Disability fund losing cash
The Social Security disability fund is fast running out of money and may not be able to make payments starting in 2017, thanks in part to the bad economy driving claims up over the past decade, The Associated Press reported.
WSJ | White House to Scale Back Regulations on Businesses
The Obama administration will release final plans Tuesday for ending or cutting back hundreds of regulations, an effort to reduce the burden on business and counter criticism that the White House is tone-deaf to business concerns.
Washington Times | Welfare reform law faces revision at 15
Safety net again under scrutiny on Hill.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | BARRASSO: Regulatory overreach smothering economy
Last year, President Obama promised Americans a recovery summer. This year, he’s given us a regulatory summer. He’s thrown a giant wet blanket on economic recovery and has given Americans a summer of more burdens, more costs and more rules.
Politico | White House: Red-tape cutting to save billions
Months of work aimed at slashing red tape imposed by agencies across the federal government are culminating Tuesday as the Obama administration releases its final regulatory reform plans that officials say will save businesses $10 billion over five years.
Washington Times | RAHN: Empower the regulated
It is widely recognized that excessive regulation is unnecessarily killing jobs. The question has been what to do about it.
Politico | Setting welfare on the right path
Aug. 22 is a special day. Fifteen years ago today, after much work by Republicans and Democrats alike, President Bill Clinton signed historic welfare reforms into law.
WSJ | Washington Is Eliminating Red Tape
New reforms will save Americans billions without sacrificing public health or safety.
Politico | Blame regulations for joblessness
Unemployment now stands at a staggering 9.1 percent. For the past 30 months, unemployment has been at 8 percent or higher. Recent indicators point to jobless numbers even higher than 9.1 percent in coming months.
RCM | Economic Desperation Is On the Rise
This year, 3.3 million people are expected to apply to Social Security for disability benefits. That's 700,000 more than in 2008, and a million more than a decade ago. As a result, the Congressional Budget Office expects the program to run out of money in six short years.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Social Security’s Disability Program Faces an Empty Trust Fund
SSDI benefits are somewhat more generous than retirement benefits and turn into retirement benefits once the recipient reaches full retirement age. In addition, SSDI benefits allow the recipient to qualify for Medicare after two years, regardless of what age the individual has reached at that time.
Source | What works and what doesn’t
Our biggest challenge as a nation is our political system. We have overpromised and a democracy that ignores its Constitution isn’t very adept at taking away goodies from the masses. I am very worried about how that is going to turn out. We need to share the pain very widely and that too is not the strong suit of democracy.
Cato Institute | Top 3 Common Myths of Capitalism
Senior fellow Jeffrey Miron discusses some common myths about capitalism in this video by the Institute for Humane tudies’ Learn Liberty project.
Heritage Foundation | Welfare Reform Turns 15
Even as the living standards of the poor continue to improve such that families in “poverty” live in comfortable housing and possess many of the amenities of middle-class families—microwaves, DVD players, video game systems, and cell phones—the federal government continues to pour more money into welfare.
Reason | Fed Help for Underwater Homeowners Won't Help Economy
Right now, the housing market is struggling with a housing finance conundrum, but we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that solving this part of the problem will bring the housing sector back.
Calculated Risk | Calculated Risk Mortgage Delinquencies by Loan Type
Both the number of prime and subprime loans have declined over the last four years; the number of subprime loans is down by about one-third. Meanwhile the number of FHA loans has increased sharply.
