News
Bloomberg | Era of Falling Food Prices Seen at End on Growth in Population
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has said global food output must rise 70 percent by 2050 to feed a world population expected to grow to 9 billion
Market Watch | Obama says he has stabilized economy
President Barack Obama said Monday that his administration has managed to stabilize the economy and the challenge now is to take it to the next level.
Bloomberg | Euro Markets Rebound on Draghi-Merkel Policies
Such signs of improvement reflect mounting bets that the euro will last and the two-year debt crisis won’t, as emergency loans from European Central Bank President Draghi take hold and leaders including German Chancellor Merkel pivot from crafting tougher fiscal rules to considering bigger bailout funds.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CATO | Fixing Mortgage Finance: What to Do with the Federal Housing Administration?
While Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and private subprime lenders have deservedly garnered the bulk of attention and blame for the mortgage crisis, other federal programs also distort our mortgage market and put taxpayers at risk of having to finance massive financial bailouts.
Bloomberg | The Hidden Burden of Ultra-Low Interest Rates
The hope is that by making mortgages and other loans cheaper, ultra-low rates eventually may revive economic growth.
Washington Post | World economy’s uncharted territory
We’ve entered a zone of ignorance where familiar experience and ideas count for less.
NY Times | Do Manufacturers Need Special Treatment?
A successful argument for a government manufacturing policy has to go beyond the feeling that it’s better to produce “real things” than services.
Forbes | President Obama's State Of The Union Confusion And Deception
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) last week was another exhibition of what I have called calculated deception.
Washington Times | The Great Keystone XL Pipeline Massacre
What the Great Keystone XL Pipeline Presidential Massacre of 2012 affirms is the president’s out-of-touch energy policy: Oil is bad.
NBER | Immigrants, Welfare Reform, and the U.S. Safety Net
Beginning with the 1996 federal welfare reform law many of the central safety net programs in the U.S. eliminated eligibility for legal immigrants, who had been previously eligible on the same terms as citizens.
Blogs
Calculated Risk | Recovery Measures
If the economy adds 243 thousand payroll jobs per month on average (the January report), it will take another 2 years to get back to the pre-recession employment peak.
Calculated Risk | Schedule for Week of February 5th
The key economic release is the December trade balance report to be released on Friday.
The American | Happy Reagan Day, 2012!
Ronald Wilson Reagan, America’s 40th president, was born on Feb. 6, 1911. His presidency left America prouder and stronger and better. And his economic policies ushered in a Long Boom as this chart from the Joint Economic Committee (via the Heritage Foundation) shows:
Calculated Risk | Unofficial Problem Bank list unchanged at 958 Institutions
This is an unofficial list of Problem Banks compiled only from public sources.
