News
WSJ | Big Banks Find No Comfort in Capital Cushion
Three years ago this month, U.S. taxpayers bailed out the big banks. That led to repeated promises by policy makers to change the rules to avoid future bailouts of banks that are "too big to fail."
WSJ | Post Office's Rescue Plan: Junk Mail
Many consumers are irked by the catalogs, credit-card pitches and other "junk mail" they receive. But the U.S. Postal Service loves it—and wants to deliver more.
WSJ | Tale of Two Loan Programs
U.S. Funds Targeted for Small Business Instead Used by Banks to Repay TARP.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | GROVER: Economic blowback from ‘Durbin fees’
Democrat’s bank card price controls hurt consumers.
Forbes | Making The Next Financial Crisis Worse, One Regulation At A Time
While accurate disclosure in securities offerings is desirable, unfortunately what the SEC has done is not to fix the problem, but rather to increase the odds and severity of the next financial crisis.
AEI: American | Free Trade’s Rude Awakening
The president has submitted three free trade agreements to Congress. But four years of tortuous domestic debate over the FTAs has led the world to doubt U.S. commitment to opening markets.
WSJ | The Banker Baiters
Punish bank earnings, so banks raise fees. Then denounce banks for raising fees.
AEI | A Two-Speed Reaction To the Euro Crisis
US policymakers should be bracing for a meaningful economic shock emanating from a European banking crisis.
Blogs
Econlog | Joseph Stiglitz on Recalculation
The problem is analogous to that which arose at the beginning of the twentieth century, when rapid productivity growth in agriculture forced labor to move from rural areas to urban manufacturing centers.
Reason Foundation | Free Trade Agreement Review Series: Panama-U.S.
This is something that we and a chorus of others have argued should be a priority for the White House and we hope that Congress acts on addressing the FTAs immediately. But the trade deals are not perfect.
Daily Capitalist | Declining Manufacturing Will Let The Air Out Of The Economy
The Institute For Supply Management’s Manufacturing Index for September came out positive, increasing one point to 51.6%, the 26th consecutive month of growth according to the ISM. Anything over 50% is regarded as an expanding economy.
Café Hayek | Trickle Down
If you look at the mean income for the top 20% of all families, it also shrinks between 1989 and 1992, grows between 1992 and 2000 and falls between 2000 and 2010. So those tax cuts for the rich didn’t even help the rich. Kind of ruins the class warfare story, doesn’t it?
Daily Capitalist | Steve Jobs
Fifty-six is a short time on the planet these days but Steve Jobs changed the world in his time.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | ECRI Explains Its Recession Call
Economic Cycle Research Institute said the U.S. has already or is about to tip into recession. The announcement, made public Friday, was met with skepticism by other economists who are more hopeful the U.S. and the world will skirt recession.
Cato @ Liberty | Create Jobs? China Currency Bill Is at Least 300 Percent More Likely to Destroy Jobs
Supporters of the so-called China Currency legislation fall into two camps. There are those frustrated by the fact that the Chinese government no longer asks “How high?” when U.S. policymakers shout “jump!”
Reports
NBER | Capital Allocation and Delegation of Decision-Making Authority within Firms
We survey more than 1,000 CEOs and CFOs to understand how capital is allocated, and decision-making authority is delegated, within firms. We find that CEOs are least likely to share or delegate decision-making authority in mergers and acquisitions, relative to delegation of capital structure, payout, investment, and capital allocation decisions.
RCM: Wells Fargo | ISM Holds Up Slightly Better Than Expected In September
The ISM non-manufacturing survey held up better than expected in September, with the headline index falling 0.3 points to 53.0. The employment series fell more sharply, however, sliding 2.9 points to 48.7.
