News
Bloomberg | EU Manufacturing Shrinks More Than Estimated
A manufacturing gauge based on a survey of purchasing managers in the 17-nation euro region fell to 49 from 50.4 in July, London-based Markit Economics said today. That’s the weakest in two years and below an initial estimate of 49.7 published on Aug. 23.
WSJ | Fitch Reiterates Warning on China's Banking System
While the central government has launched a series of measures to cool property prices, including higher mortgage rates and curbs on purchases of second homes, housing prices remain high in big cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.
Politico | Debt ceiling debate legacy: 'Scary erosion in confidence'
New data suggest that the bitter debate in Washington over raising the debt ceiling not only drove the United States to the edge of default and cost the nation its triple-A credit rating, but crushed American confidence like few recent events and may well help tip the economy back toward recession.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | MILLER: Alaska’s regulatory stranglehold
Bureaucrats stymie economic development in the Last Frontier.
WSJ | Solar Flare-out
Another green government favorite goes belly up.
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: ‘Too big to fail’ is alive and well
Billionaire’s Bank of America buyout doesn’t get taxpayers off the hook.
CNN: Money | Four ways this economic recovery is different
From consumer spending to business investments, it seems nothing is the same this time around.
Forbes | Obama A Bad Economic President? Consider It "Proved"
Ten presidents have been elected since 1952: Let’s look at how each of them stacked up against the following five important measures of economic performance:
RCM | AT&T/T-Mobile Blocked: A Case For Anti Trust Repeal
It almost goes without saying that whenever a merger or corporate buyout is announced subsequent reporting will center on the anti-trust implications of such a combination.
Washington Times | PAUL: EPA regulations violate constitutional rights
Out-of-control agency turns everyday life into a federal crime.
WSJ | Justice's New War Against Lenders
The Obama administration repeats mistakes of the past by intimidating banks into lending to minority borrowers at below-market rates in the name of combatting discrimination.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Valero Hits Back at ‘Misleading’ Report on Keystone Pipeline
The renewable energy advocacy group Oil Change International released a report on Wednesday claiming that oil from Canadian tar sands imported to the United States through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline “would primarily be exported rather than used domestically in the U.S,”.
Limericks Economiques | The Ten Limerick Principles of Economics
Although the study of economics has many facets, the field is unified by several central ideas. The Ten Principles of Economics offer an overview of what economics is all about."
Cato Institute | Federal Infrastructure Spending: How About This Boondoggle?
So that citizens know what the president is talking about, they should review the success of the government’s past infrastructure projects. Here’s one to consider:
Marginal Revolution | How ineffective was the stimulus really?
Labor market polarization, labor market polarization, labor polarization. Market-oriented economists don’t like to stress this theme, but it’s true and it’s a big reason why the stimulus didn’t work better. It’s not an idea we should suddenly leave behind.
Minyanville | There Is No Housing Bottom in Sight
To test this assertion, here is a brief look at three major metro markets: Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami.
Reports
AEI | Systemic Risk Returns: Is the Current Crisis Worse Than the Lehman Collapse?
The stimulus measures did fail during the first half of 2011, stock markets have dropped sharply, and we do indeed have a severely cold shower already in the summer of 2011. The risks to global economic health from this possible financial collapse are as bad as or perhaps worse than those that emerged in September 2008 with the Lehman Brothers crisis because policymakers have few tools left to combat a new crisis.
RCM: Wells Fargo | July Factory Orders Rebound
After declining 0.4 percent in June, factory orders bounced back in July, increasing 2.4 percent. Shipments of capital goods fell for the month, signaling some weakness in third quarter business fixed investment.
