General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
NY Times | Obama Tries to Focus on Economic Fears
Mr. Obama is battling increased wariness about his performance regarding the economy. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published this week showed that about 60 percent of those surveyed by phone in a random national sample of 1,002 adults disapproved of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy and the deficit...
NY Times | Banks Defeated in Senate Vote on Debit Card Fees
The Senate refused Wednesday to delay new rules that would sharply cut the fees that banks can charge retailers to process debit card transactions.

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
Investors | There's No Stimulant In Stimulus
The May jobs report was brutal. The jobless rate hit 9.1%, up from 9% in April. Nearly half — 45.1% — of unemployed workers have been without a job for more than six months. Almost one-third have gone jobless for more than a year.
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: Red tape is on a roll
Obama bureaucrats ignore president’s call for regulatory reform.
Financial Times | A Greek crisis of cronyism and corruption
Germany’s plan, reported on Wednesday, to ask Greece to offer its debtholders a seven-year term extension only underlines my country’s economic difficulties.
WSJ | The Hangover, Part III
Another unintended Dodd-Frank consequence.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Forbes: Unconventional Logic | President Obama Authors The Economic Recovery That Isn’t
At the end of this month, President Obama’s economic recovery will be two years old. Let’s look at what we can expect in terms of results.
Enterprise Blog | Have Social Security Benefits Really Been Cut by 19 Percent?
Some perspective is needed. First, the 1983 reforms didn’t only reduce benefits; they also increased taxes, by covering newly hired federal workers and non-profit associations, accelerating tax increases already on the books, prohibiting state/local workers from leaving the system, and so on.

Health Care

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
Washington Times | WOLF: Obamacare wrecks Medicare by design, but why?
America somehow managed to survive for 189 years without Medicare or Medicaid and, in fact, became the greatest nation in the history of humankind.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | California Voters Balk at Tax Plan
A deadline next week is raising the pressure on talks between Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers over his plan to close the state's $9.6 billion budget gap, but the proposal isn't gaining traction with voters.
WSJ | Bill Aims at Tax-Strategy Patent
U.S. patent No. 7,698,194 isn't an ingenious new machine or a break-through medical treatment. It is a method of analyzing taxes related to college-savings plans.

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
WSJ | Illinois Tax Firesale
A case study in high corporate rates and special favors.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Fresh Downgrade Threat to U.S. Debt
A third rating agency threatened to downgrade the U.S. government's credit status if Congress failed to increase the nation's borrowing limit by early August, increasing pressure on lawmakers and the Obama administration to reach a deficit-reduction deal.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
EconLog | Henderson on Canada's Budget Cuts
We often hear that cutting government budgets causes "pain." Whether and to what extent that's true, though, depends on what is cut.