News
CNN: Money | Existing home sales to be revised lower
NAR said it plans to downwardly revise sales of previously-owned homes going back to 2007 during the release of its next existing home sales report on Dec. 21.
MSN: Money | Markets pricing in new recession
Disappointment with last week's eurozone summit and a lack of new initiatives from the Federal Reserve unleash a torrent of selling pressure focused on commodities like gold.
CNN: Money | Postal Service delays closings until May 15
The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to hold off on closing any more post offices or mail facilities until May 15, 2012, to allow Congress time to work on a plan to save the service.
Econ Comments
AEI | Hey, Barney Frank: The government did cause the housing crisis
It is government's fault for offering a housing finance program without making an effort to maintain underwriting standards.
WSJ | Regulation for Dummies
The White House says its rule-making isn't costly or unusual. The evidence shows otherwise.
Forbes | Let Free Markets Work, Said Ludwig Von Mises
If he were around today to see the economic mess in the U.S. and Europe, Ludwig von Mises would be entitled to a big, fat "I told you so."
WSJ | A Bailout for the SEC
The agency wants to raid the SIPC fund to cover its mistakes.
Washington Times | GRAY: Why the U.S. should take heed of the EU deal
The recent arragement from the European Union summit for saving the euro involves a couple of important factors that have received little or no attention in the U.S. but that have potentially serious consequences for the U.S. economy.
Forbes | Obama's Very Visible Hand Strangles Business
Free from government interference and confident our rights would be upheld, the pursuit of profit propelled Americans to unprecedented living standards.
Investors.com | Growth Gap' Can Be Closed Only With More Investment
America's economic condition is not yet as dire as Europe's, but it soon will be if we do not correct the root cause of the problems that we face in our own country.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Americans’ Biggest Fear? Big Government
Despite all the noise coming from the Occupy Wall Street crowd–and the rhetoric coming from President Barack Obama–it turns out that it’s not big business that most Americans fear, but big government.
Source | Economists Agree – Illegality Increases the Street Price of Drugs
All else equal, making drugs illegal raises street prices for those drugs because suppliers require extra compensation for the risk of incarceration and other punishments.
Marginal Revolution | The Great Start-Up Stagnation
The dwindling birth rate for new businesses matters because young companies are disproportionately responsible for job creation.
Atlantic: Megan McArdle | What Do Low-Income Communities Need?
Public policy can modestly improve the incentives and choice sets that poor people face--and it should do those things. But it cannot remake people into something more to the liking of bourgeois taxpayers.
AEI: The American | Income inequality is down, but why is nobody cheering?
The share of income received by the top 1 percent — that potent symbol of inequality — dropped to 17 percent in 2009 from 23 percent in 2007, according to federal tax data.
ThinkMarkets | Emerging Hope in Greece
The Greek economy continues to shrink. With the wider European debt crisis and slump hampering Greek recovery, the recession may persist through 2013.
Daily Capitalist | The Consumer Recovery Deception
On an annual basis retail sales were up 6.7%, but was relatively flat month-over-month at +0.2%.
