Pages

Friday, October 28, 2011

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Fannie, Freddie Bailout Costs Revised Lower
A federal regulator on Thursday revised down the U.S. government's likely tab for bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the mortgage-finance giants begin to repay more money to taxpayers.
National Journal | Boehner Team Rips Senate Dems’ Deficit Plan
House Speaker John Boehner’s economic staff on Thursday branded the Senate Democratic bid to reduce the national deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years “not a serious proposal.” The Ohio Republican's staff also said the Democrats' plan is marred by unrealistic defense cuts and politically and economically toxic tax increases.
WSJ | Next Act—The Plan Is Put to Test
The deal euro-zone leaders hammered out in the early hours of Thursday sparked a world-wide stock rally. But the market moves belied widespread caution about the accord among economists and analysts—and even some of the decision-makers in the debt crisis.

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
Washington Post | A Greek default in all but name
There’s an Orwellian quality to Europe’s latest financial rescue. Words lose their ordinary meaning. Greece, for example, has clearly defaulted, but no one says so.
WSJ | Four Reasons Keynesians Keep Getting It Wrong
Except for a few diehards who want still more government spending, and those who make the unverifiable claim that the economy would have collapsed without it, most now recognize that more than a trillion dollars of spending by the Bush and Obama administrations has left the economy in a slump and unemployment hovering above 9%.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | Does ‘Austerity’ Work?
Remember the Great Depression of the 1920s? If not, that’s because it didn’t happen. The recession of the early ‘20s quickly ended after spending and taxes were cut dramatically. It provides a clear lesson in “austerity” that President Obama should heed.
Mercatus Center: Neighborhood Effects | House Promises not to Bailout State Pension Funds
Yesterday, the House took up a bill aimed at preventing union leaders from collecting pensions based on salaries that they earned working for a public sector union rather than the state. While the issue of pension fund abuse has provoked media outrage, this reform would do little to help the funds’ overall solvency.
American: Enterprise Blog | US-EU debt crises: The parallels are striking—and disheartening
The deal to save Greece from default, just brokered in Europe, requires investors (mostly banks) to write off about 50 percent of their loans to Greece.