News
CNN Money | Obama cuts refinance costs for some mortgages
Borrowers with some federally insured mortgages will be able to refinance into lower interest rate loans more easily and cheaply under a plan unveiled Tuesday by the Obama administration.
Bloomberg | Productivity in U.S. Cools as Labor Costs Jump
The productivity of U.S. workers rose at a slower pace in the fourth quarter and labor costs jumped, indicating businesses are reaching the limit of wringing efficiency from their workforce.
NY Times | The Geography of Government Benefits
The share of Americans’ income that comes from government benefit programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, more than doubled over the last four decades, rising from 8 percent in 1969 to 18 percent in 2009.
CNN Money | Lehman Brothers: The final chapter
Defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers moved into its final chapter Tuesday, but it will take years before the 161-year-old financial firm will close the book on its storied history.
Market Watch | Obama says he wants lower gas prices
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he was concerned higher gas prices were hurting consumers and his administration was trying to find short-term steps to bring prices lower.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CBO | How Much Does the Federal Government Support the Development and Production of Fuels and Energy Technologies?
The federal government has used both tax preferences and spending programs to provide financial support for the development and production of fuels and energy technologies in recent decades.
Washington Times | Convention to bolster exports and jobs
Our political parties remain locked in fierce debate over whether the U.S. economic recovery should be financed by increased tax revenues or cuts in government spending. With the presidential campaign in high gear, there is little reason for optimism that this ideological logjam will be broken soon.
Forbes | Foreign Industrial Investment Is Reshaping America
Declinism may be all the rage in intellectual salons from Beijing to Barcelona and Boston, but decisions being made in corporate boardrooms suggest that the United States is emerging the world’s biggest winner.
Politico | The right way to fund transportation
Word that the House Transportation bill is running off the rails might be the best news yet for transit.
WSJ | America Is Stuck With the Mideast
The Middle East is on fire. As waves of populist, ethnic and religious unrest sweep the region, long-established regimes totter like ninepins, violent conflicts explode in once-quiet countries, and all the rules seem up for grabs.
FOX Business | China Blasts U.S. Trade Bill, Says Won't Adjust Yuan
A U.S. trade bill targeting Chinese imports goes against international rules and Beijing will not adjust the value of its currency to try to bridge a trade deficit that is Washington's problem to fix, China's commerce minister said on Wednesday.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Politics and a New Trade Bureaucracy
President Obama just announced plans to borrow millions of dollars from countries likeChinato create a new federal bureaucracy tasked with policing the trade practices of countries likeChina. The new bureaucracy is more about politics than trade.
Library of Economics | Paul Krugman on IS-LM
The immediate problem was a huge shortfall of demand, as the private sector moved from large financial deficit to large financial surplus.
CATO | Corporate Welfare: A Bipartisan Love Story
I have previously discussed how multiple levels of government work together to provide businesses with taxpayer money (see here and here). And while Republican policymakers have enjoyed making political hay out of the Obama’s administration’s Solyndra problem, the truth is that both parties are willing partners in the corporate welfare racket.
Daily Capitalist | The U.S. Economy Can Handle $4 Per Gallon Of Gasoline
S&P’s “Lookout Report” from its Global Markets Intelligence division released a study yesterday that, while not exactly agreeing with me, says that gasoline prices won’t hurt the economy unless it gets to $5 p/g.
