News
Market Watch | Europe crisis could cause major damage: Geithner
A severe crisis in Europe could cause significant economic harm by undermining confidence and weakening demand, but the United States has limited exposure to the situation.
WSJ | Central Banks Step Up Battle to Contain Crisis
The Bank of England made a surprise decision to buy government bonds to try to bring down interest rates and spark growth, while the European Central Bank revived measures from last year to try to keep capital flowing to Europe's ailing banks.
CNN: Money | Home ownership: Biggest drop since Great Depression
The rate of home ownership fell to 65.1% in April 2010, 1.1 percentage points lower than it was in 2000. The decline was the biggest drop since the 1930s, when home ownership plunged 4.2%.
National Journal | EPA Modifies Cross-State Air-Pollution Rule
The modifications were largely technical, and EPA said they would have little effect on the regulation's effectiveness in curbing air pollution. The rule affects mostly Eastern states.
WSJ | The Multibillion-Dollar Leak
Draft of 'Volcker Rule' Hits Internet, Rocking Wall Street, Washington; 'Proprietary Trading' on Line.
Washington Times | Mortgage rates hit record lows in weak market
For the lucky few with good jobs and stable finances, it’s a rare opportunity to save potentially thousands of dollars each year. For most people, it’s a tease and a reminder of how weak their own financial situation is.
WSJ | Buck Up, America: China Is Getting Too Expensive
Certain jobs have been dribbling back to the U.S. for a few years. But now the sectors most likely to repatriate production may be coming into focus.
Econ Comments
CNN: Money | Bill Clinton: How to fix the economy
Our former president's remedy for our fiscal woes? Focus on jobs and mortgage relief - and clean up the tax system.
Politico | A wider view of U.S. role in world.
It’s time to erase the old map. End nation-building, engage our allies and fix our economic core. This is how we will fight the enemy we have — and renew American exceptionalism.
Washington Post | Elizabeth Warren and liberalism, twisting the ‘social contract’
The collectivist agenda is antithetical to America’s premise, which is: Government — including such public goods as roads, schools and police — is instituted to facilitate individual striving, a.k.a. the pursuit of happiness.
Washington Post | Our one-sided trade war with China
Both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations have pushed China to let the RMB increase enough to reduce its huge export surpluses. Negotiations have failed.
American Spectator | Is Keynes Finally Dead?
One would think so -- yet under this presidency he will never be allowed to rest in peace.
RCM | What Steve Jobs Did for Capitalism
Capitalism has always been about creators, about revolutionaries, about iconoclasts who set out to transform and improve the way we live. Jobs was our era's reminder of this fact.
Financial Post | Terence Corcoran: Apple under Jobs was quintessentially corporate
Nothing can take away from Mr. Jobs achievement as a creator and one-man economic transformer who made billions of dollars and millions of people happy. But he could not have done it outside the corporation-dominated economic system that is American capitalism.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Tales of the Red Tape #21: USDA’s Affirmative Action for Vegetables
First they came for the donuts, and few dared to defend partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Then they came for the soft drinks, declaring high-fructose corn syrup verboten. Now they’re after lima beans, peas, and corn, moving us ever closer to a national diet of tofu and kale.
NRO: The Agenda | We Are the 99 Percent—Even Rich People
The 99th percentile of Americans, by income, starts with households earning incomes of $593,000. The “We Are the 99 percent” branding puts somebody making $500,000 per year on the oppressed-and-downtrodden side of the wage divide. Indeed, “99 percent” is so expansive a designation that it includes most of the bankers working on Wall Street.
Marginal Revolution | A simple theory of regulations, new and old
The number of laws grows rapidly, yet the number of regulators grows relatively slowly. There are always more laws than there are regulators to enforce them, and thus the number of regulators is the binding constraint.
Reason Foundation | Free Trade as Economic and Social Development Driver
There are currently three free trade deals pending approval from Congress. We looked at each of them this past week on the OOC blog, noting the positive and negatives in the deals.
NRO: The Corner | Does Stimulus Spending Work?
First, contrary to what stimulus advocates like to claim, there really isn’t a consensus among economists about the impact of spending on economic growth.
Reports
RCM: Wells Fargo | RCM: Wells Fargo Real Home Prices: A Metro-Area Look
Home prices have now fallen back down to trend in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms.
