Pages

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Mortgage Claims by U.S. Impede Recovery, Must Be Halted, FBR’s Miller Says
U.S. government-backed firms and agencies should “stop punishing banks” and suspend demands for mortgage repurchases because they are impeding an economic recovery, according to Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets & Co.
Politico | USPS warns of shutdown
U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe on Tuesday will ask Congress to take drastic measures to prevent the Postal Service from becoming insolvent and going out of business as early as this year.

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
Washington Post | Stop bashing government workers
The August employment report shows that the public sector got hit hard again — losing 17,000 jobs. In states across the country, public workers aren’t just being laid off; they’re being made into economic scapegoats.
Daily Caller | Slouching toward Europe: America needs rehab
It’s hard for Europe to grow when nearly half of Europeans are officially “dependents” and only 64 percent of working-age citizens work.
WSJ | Leveraging a Hurricane
The real story behind the political theater over disaster relief.
RCM | Social Security's Truth Is Coming Our Way
With a $14.587 trillion dollar national debt, the U. S. is on track for bankruptcy and catastrophic economic pain. Politicians from OZ will say "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." But don't be fooled by smoke and mirrors.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Café Hayek | Type the Title You Want People to See
Keynes contributed nothing to that most fundamental analytical tool used by economists still today: supply and demand.
Econlog | Type the Title You Want People to See
The vast majority of long-term cost growth in Social Security and Medicare, for example, is projected to take place by 2035. The CBO now attributes 64 percent of cost growth through 2035 in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to population aging, even though two of these programs are health entitlements.
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list declines to 987 Institutions
Here is the unofficial problem bank list for Sept 2, 2011.
Daily Capitalist | Global Manufacturing PMI At Two Year Low
The JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI fell from 50.7 in July to 50.1 in August. The near-stagnation signalled by the index was the worst performance since the recovery began two years ago and represents a big turnaround in the growth profile of the manufacturing sector compared to the post-recession peak of 57.4 seen in February.
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of September 4th
The key economic releases this week are the July trade balance report on Thursday, and the August ISM non-manufacturing index on Tuesday.
Café Hayek | First thing we do…
In this week’s EconTalk, Cliff Winston makes the case for deregulating the market for lawyers. The conversation is based on his new monograph with Robert Crandall and Vikram Maheshri, First Thing We Do, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers.
Independent Institute: The Beacon | Regime Uncertainty: Pirrong Debunks the Keynesian Debunking
Thus, regime uncertainty is a multifaceted and somewhat nuanced concept. Many economists don’t like it because it cannot be measured and compiled along with other standard macro variables in a convenient data base.
Minyanville | Global Recession: Right Here, Right Now
Why are we talking about avoiding recession when the global economy is clearly in one and fundamentals are horrendous?

Reports                                                                                                                         
RCM: Wells Fargo | Weekly Economic & Financial Commentary
Today, markets received a gut-wrenching August payroll report, ratcheting up recession fears again.