News
Market Watch | Wages up 0.5% in December; spending ebbs
The Commerce Department said personal income jumped 0.5% last month, while personal spending fell less than 0.1%. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast income to rise by 0.4% and spending by 0.1%.
Bloomberg | Obama Recovery Proves No Morning in America Yet
President Barack Obama presides over an economy that eluded the threat of a double-dip recession in mid-2011 and now is strengthening, with growth accelerating in the fourth quarter to a 2.8 percent rate, the fastest in 18 months, from 1.8 percent the previous quarter. Still, the pace remains well short of the recovery that helped propel the re-election of Reagan.
USA Today | December rise in incomes caps a dreadful year for consumers
Americans' incomes rose last month by the most in nine months, a hopeful sign for the economy after a year of weak wage gains. But consumer spending was flat.
WSJ | Fitch Downgrades Five Euro-Zone Members
Fitch Ratings downgraded Italy, Spain, Belgium, Cyprus and Slovenia's sovereign debt ratings Friday as it wrapped up a review of the region.
Bloomberg | Global Economy, Recession Risk Are Bankers’ Main Concern, Survey Reports
Macro-economic risk rose to become the number-one concern among bankers, the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, a forum for bankers and regulators funded by institutions including the Bank of England, reported in a survey today. The amount of debt some countries have, access to liquidity and a scarcity of capital were their next worries, it said.
FOX News | American economy not healthy yet, but it's healing
The 2.8 percent annual growth rate reported Friday for the fourth quarter was the fastest since spring 2010 and was the third straight quarter that growth has accelerated. Experts cautioned, however, that the pace was unlikely to last and that it's not enough to sharply drive down the unemployment rate.
WSJ | Spanish Economy Contracts
Two years after it clawed back from recession, the Spanish economy shrank in the last three months of 2011 as government austerity measures crimped spending and Europe's debt crisis drove up financing costs.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Atlantic | The Innovation Nation vs. the Warfare-Welfare State
We like to think of ourselves as an innovation nation, but our government is a warfare/welfare state. To build an economy for the 21st century we need to increase the rate of innovation and to do that we need to put innovation at the center of our national vision.
WSJ | The 1.7% Year
The U.S. economy continued its progress as a good news-bad news story, with yesterday's report that fourth quarter growth was 2.8%. That's an acceleration from the 1.2% average of the previous three quarters, but it's still well below cruising speed for 30 months into a recovery after a deep recession
Daily Finance | 5 Intriguing (and Less Painful) Fixes for Social Security
There's widespread worry about the long-term solvency of Social Security. The potential remedies we hear the most about aren't pretty
WSJ | The Solyndra Rule
President Obama keeps pushing the (Warren) Buffett rule that nobody making more than $1 million a year should pay less than 30% in taxes. He'd do better by the economy if he adopted a Solyndra Rule
Washington Times | Obama’s next bailout
On Jan. 23, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun L.S. Donovan met in Chicago with several Democratic state attorneys general (AGs) in an attempt to strong-arm them into signing up for an administration-backed agreement to settle the “robo-signing” scandal.
WSJ | The Coming Tech-led Boom
In January 1912, the United States emerged from a two-year recession. Nineteen more followed—along with a century of phenomenal economic growth. Americans in real terms are 700% wealthier today.
Blogs
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of Jan 29th
The key report is the January employment report to be released on Friday, Feb 3rd. Other key reports include the Case-Shiller house price index on Tuesday, the ISM manufacturing index on Wednesday, vehicle sales on Wednesday, and the ISM non-manufacturing (service) index on Friday.
WSJ | Economists React: GDP ‘Less Impressive Than It Looks’
Muddling through is the best term that can be applied to the current economic environment, even though the risks of a downturn have been reduced.
Atlantic | When Will Housing Hit Bottom?
The National Association of Realtors is (quelle surprise!) quite bullish on the future of the housing market. Not so fast, says Lance Roberts of StreetTalk Advisors:
Daily Capitalist | The Meaning Behind Q4 GDP Numbers
While there were some positive signs in the report, the report was obscured by a potential negative indicator, inventory build, which signals trouble for Q1 2012. And there are other things.
WSJ | Outsized Impact of Inventories on GDP Growth
For U.S. gross domestic product growth, the disappointment devil is in the details
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list declines to 958 Institutions
Here is the unofficial problem bank list for Jan 27, 2012.
Keith Hennessey | The President’s economic policy priorities
There is nothing wrong with prioritizing long-term economic problems and challenges; in fact, quite the opposite. Washington usually focuses only on problems and challenges that will bite before the next election.
