News
CNN Money | Rising gas prices aren't as bad as you think
In 1981, when oil prices spiked following the Iranian Revolution, gasoline represented nearly 5% of the nation's spending, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 2011, only 3.7% of spending went to gas, even though prices averaged at their highest level ever that year.
WSJ | Banks Seek Delay on 'Volcker Rule'
Senators from both parties are working to give regulators more time to write the rule, potentially easing banks' concerns that their activities will run afoul of the law as a July deadline passes.
Bloomberg | Osborne Says U.K. to Avoid Recession as He Keeps Austerity Push
Forecasts from the nonpartisan Office for Budget Responsibility show the economy expanding 0.8 percent this year, up from a November estimate of 0.7 percent, Osborne told Parliament in London today. Gross domestic product shrank 0.2 percent in the last three months of 2011.
CNN Money | The fake housing recovery
When is a homebuilder not a homebuilder? When it's in an index of homebuilder stocks, of course!
Econ Comments & Analysis
NBER | Sizing Up Repo
We measure the repo funding extended by money market funds (MMF) and securities lenders to the shadow banking system, including quantities, haircuts, and repo rates by type of underlying collateral.
CNN Money | Speculators are driving up gas prices - Opinion
Gas prices have skyrocketed more than 40% in the last few months and are almost $5 a gallon in many places. Americans once again want to know why costs are climbing so high and so quickly. The answer? Not the Persian Gulf, but Wall Street.
Market Watch | Regulator: Volcker rule may not be OK'd by July
"The goal is going to be to try to move this as quickly as we can," Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told reporters after speaking at an American Bankers Association event.
Real Clear Markets | Truth In Government Lending Is Long Overdue
The federal government has taken over large swaths of consumer lending, most notably the $10 trillion home mortgage and $1 trillion student lending markets. The government's share of new loans for each now approaches 100%.
Washington Times | Obama’s bogus rules
The White House is pushing the idea that President Obama is a business-friendly regulation cutter. That’s about as likely as the works of Ayn Rand showing up in the first lady’s book-club reading list.
Forbes | Christina Romer Fluffs Her Supply-Side Economics
President Obama’s main economic advisor from early on in his term, Christina Romer, is trying to discredit supply-side economics.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Stimulus Dollars Disproportionately Went to States Represented by Dems
According to a new report on President Obama’s stimulus package and its effect on the economy, the amount of stimulus money that went to each state was correlated with the number of Democrats in each state’s congressional delegation.
Heritage Foundation | Flat-Earth Thinking on Gas Prices?
President Obama blasted oil-drilling advocates last week, equating their solution for high gas prices to people who didn’t believe the Earth is round.
