News
Blomberg | Manufacturing in NY Region Expands Faster
Manufacturing in the New York region expanded in January at the fastest pace in nine months, reflecting improving orders, sales and employment.
CNN: Money | Gas prices may get close to $5 in some spots
The new year has greeted Americans with the highest January gas prices ever, and some analysts say prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season.
USA: Today | Analysis: Credit downgrades put onus on Germany
One of the defining images of Europe's two-year-old debt crisis is that of the leaders of France and Germany, side by side, presenting their latest strategy for the continent.
CNN: Money | China's economic growth slows
The Chinese economy grew at an annual pace of 8.9% in the fourth quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, marking a slowdown from a 9.1% growth rate in the prior quarter.
Washington Times | Eurozone rescue fund drops to AA+ in S&P’s rating
The rating agency Standard & Poor’s said Monday it has downgraded the creditworthiness of the eurozone’s rescue fund by one notch to AA+, putting at risk the fund’s ability to raise cheap bailout money.
Econ Comments and Analysis
Project Syndicate | The Straits of America
Macroeconomic indicators for the United States have been better than expected for the last few months. Job creation has picked up. Indicators for manufacturing and services have improved moderately.
RCM | Businesses Need Relief From Obama, Not Gov't Reorg
After pushing through one of the largest expansions of government in history, the president now claims he wants to streamline it on behalf of struggling businesses. Pardon us if we're skeptical about his sincerity.
WSJ | Downgrading Europe
S&P discovers the euro-zone's debt problem.
Market Watch | Much of the global economy remains underground
A $10 trillion underground street economy that will employ two-thirds of the world’s workers by 2020 has been uncovered.
Forbes | To Restore Prosperity, We Must Increase Economic Freedom
Economic freedom in the United States is in decline. The consequences include the worst recovery since the Great Depression and a growing fear of big government among a majority of independents and, shockingly, a near majority of Democrats.
Politico | Americans tired of picking up tab
The American people are tired of the policies that are destroying our economy, redistributing our wealth and adding to the debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay.
WSJ | The Reorganization Man
Obama now says he wants to reform government.
Blogs
Politico | How to reform a failing Congress
Americans are fed up with Washington and rightly so. With painful news coming from seemingly every direction, from unemployment to skyrocketing debt, the dysfunction in Congress is now so severe that the future of every American is threatened.
Econlog | Real Real GDP
Official stats tacitly make an extreme assumption: waste does not exist.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Still Plenty of Room for House Prices to Fall Globally, IMF Economist Says
There’s still plenty of room for house prices to fall in major economies across the globe, including critical nations such as Spain and Italy, despite prices already being in the doldrums, according to an International Monetary Fund senior economist’s calculations.
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of Jan 15th
There are three key housing reports that will be released this week: January homebuilder confidence on Wednesday, December housing starts on Thursday, and December existing home sales on Friday.
Neighborhood Effects | What Illinois’s Credit Rating Downgrade Really Means
There seems to be some confusion, however, on what this downgrade means for state borrowing, how it will affect taxpayers, and how it will impact the state’s fiscal future.
Café Hayek | Taleb on antifragility
Antifragility. I’m not sure how it will turn out in print but it is full of interesting ideas–many of them new–others go deeper into ideas in The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness.
