News
Market Watch | Euro zone set for 2012 recession: SocGen
French bank Societe Generale said Monday it expects the euro-zone economies to fall into recession next year, adding that growth is also likely to be on the weaker side for the U.S. and China.
Bloomberg | World Dodges Slump With China-U.S. Buoy
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9 percent last month, the lowest since April, from 9.1 percent in September, the Labor Department reported Nov. 4. Chinese manufacturing continued to expand in October, based on an index compiled by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. Even in Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, growth is coming to life:
National Journal | Pew Research: Older Americans' Net Worth Up; Younger Americans' Net Worth Down
Pew, in a report analyzing government information, said that in 2009 households headed by adults 65 and older had 42 percent more median net worth than their counterparts in 1984. At the same time, American households headed by adults 35 and younger had 68 percent less wealth than their counterparts in 1984.
CNN: Money | Europe: The worst-case scenarios
Worries about Greece's future are front and center yet again, as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou gets ready to officially resign on the condition that Greece's €130 billion bailout gets approval.That upheavel serves as just another reminder that the the crisis is far from over.
Politico | How to fix Fannie and Freddie
In fact, HARP’s shortcomings have nothing to do with its limited mandate but with its design. To make this refinancing plan a success, four obstacles need to be eliminated:
Econ Comments
Market Watch | Senate blocks another part of Obama jobs bill
Another piece of President Barack Obama’s jobs bill hit a wall in the Senate on Thursday, as Republicans blocked a $60 billion infrastructure plan from advancing.
WSJ | A Free-Trade Plan to Save Japan
The mercantilist Japan Inc. model is worn out.
Washington Times | LAMBRO: Hopes dashed for economic turnaround
Fed forecasts gloom through election 2012.
WSJ | Look at What We Do'
The CFPB's first major regulatory guide exposes its political agenda.
WSJ | Hooray, a Financial Firm Fails!
Taxpayers aren't on the hook. Failure isn't a crime. Let's call it the new normal.
Bloomberg | How Populist Outrage Gave Birth to the Federal Reserve: Echoes
This week marked the 104th anniversary of the night that ultimately gave birth to the Federal Reserve.
WSJ | Government Unions Strike Back in Ohio
They're spending $30 million to repeal the state's collective-bargaining reforms.
Blogs
AEI: American | Why OWS and Obama are obsessed with inequality
It wasn’t supposed to work out this way. Barack Obama’s presidency was supposed to usher in The Great Liberal Restoration.
Source | 57.4 Percent of 1996′s Privileged 1% Are Now Among the Beleaguered 99%
Paul Krugman labels those who interpret data on income distribution differently than he does “obfuscators” (“Oligarchy, American Style,” Nov. 4). Mr. Krugman is surely aware, however, that people can legitimately disagree over how best to construe the vast quantities of data gathered on so complex a topic as the varied and changing income-earning profiles of 150 million workers living in 121 million households, all in an economy as dynamic as America’s.
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list declines to 985 Institutions
Very quiet week for changes to the Unofficial Problem Bank List as there were only two removals. After the removals, the list holds 985 institutions with assets of $406.3 billion.
AEI: American | Quick primer: origins of the housing crisis
Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing goals (authorized by the ironically named Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act—the GSE Act—and enforced by HUD) were responsible for many distortions of the housing finance market.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | What Percent Are You?
The Occupy Wall Street movement seeks to speak for the bottom 99% of the population by income, which includes pretty much everyone who makes less than $500,000 a year.
AEI: American | The dirty little secret of income inequality alarmists
For most people, income increases over time as they move from a usually low-paying first job to better-paying jobs later in life. Some others, however, may lose income over time due to business cycle contractions, demotions, career changes, retirement, and so on.
Reports
CRS | U.S. Natural Gas Exports: New Opportunities, Uncertain Outcomes
As estimates for the amount of U.S. natural gas resources have grown, so have the prospects of rising U.S. natural gas exports. Projects to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been proposed—cumulatively accounting for about 12.5% of current U.S. natural gas production—and are at varying stages of regulatory approval.
