News
CNN: Money | Ohio set to see oil boom thanks to fracking
Thanks to controversial new drilling technology, the state that once produced a third of the nation's crude and was the birthplace of John D. Rockefeller's mighty Standard Oil could once again be a significant source of domestic supply.
Bloomberg | U.S. Housing Starts Jump 9.3%, to Highest in Year
Builders broke ground in November on more houses than at any time in the past 19 months, led by a surge in multifamily units, signaling the market is stabilizing heading into 2012.
Bloomberg | German Business Confidence Unexpectedly Rises
German business confidence unexpectedly rose for a second month in December as two economic institutes predicted Europe’s biggest economy will stave off the debt crisis and avoid a recession in 2012.
Market Watch | Home-builder confidence hits 19-mo. High
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index rose to 21 in December from 19 in November, marking the third monthly rise in a row.
Econ Comments
Washington Times | MURRAY AND BIER: Create wealth, not jobs
Keystone XL pipeline would boost prosperity, not government.
WSJ | Beware the Global 'Equity Gap'
McKinsey projects a growing imbalance between the amount of stocks that investors will want to hold and what companies will need to fund growth.
AEI | AEI 2011: Dissecting the financial crisis
In the last two weeks of this year, the AEI 2011 series will highlight the institute's work that has made an impact, made a difference and made headlines over the past year.
Bloomberg | Invention Is the Mother of Economic Growth: Nathan Myhrvold
One reason “dismal science” aptly describes economics is that it so often winds up in a zero-sum trade-off of diminishing returns. That gets depressing when the global economy is in a sorry state, as it is now.
Barron's | Buckle Up!
Wall Street strategists see U.S. stocks rising 12% next year, but most of the gains will come in the second half. Europe's response to its problems will call the tune. The case for big dividend payers.
Blogs
Cato @ Liberty | House Transparency Slated to Improve
Last Friday, the House Administration Committee adopted standards that “require all House legislative documents be published electronically in an open, searchable format on one centralized website.”
Heritage Foundation | Mr. President, There’s Bipartisan Support for Keystone XL
The Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada to refineries in Texas and give a major boost to the U.S. economy, is the hot-button issue when it comes to the payroll tax cut package.
Café Hayek | A Huge Negative Externality
Robert Samuelson highlights a significant danger of Keynesian economics – namely, it lends a patina of scientific legitimacy to the “political bias … to favor short-term stimulus (by lowering taxes and raising spending), which is popular, and to ignore long-term deficits.
Reports
Mercatus Center | Spending Surge for Seniors: Medicare and Social Security Total 50 Percent of Budget by 2030
The growing number of beneficiaries due to the aging of the baby-boom generation will cause scheduled spending to surge. If current Social Security and Medicare policies continue without change, large deficits will undoubtedly emerge in the next decade and will grow even larger in subsequent decades.
