News
National Journal | Coal’s Future Hinges on Unproven Technology
Climate-change regulations announced by the Obama administration on Tuesday put the future of coal-fired electricity in some doubt because the only way plants could meet the new standard is through a very expensive technology that is not yet commercially viable.
CNN Money | Energy prices seen rising if speculation is limited
One of the most influential consultants in the oil industry said Wednesday that limiting speculation in oil markets will lead to less energy production, fewer jobs and increased prices for consumers.
Market Watch | OECD sees strong U.S. growth, Europe to lag
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Thursday said economic growth in the Group of Seven industrial economies will pick up speed in the first half of 2012, but warned that the recovery remains fragile and that North America is likely to outpace a lagging Europe.
Bloomberg | Economy in U.S. Grew at 3% Annual Rate in Fourth Quarter
The economy in the U.S. grew at a 3 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2011, the same as previously estimated, while corporate profits climbed at the slowest pace in three years, raising the risk that business investment and hiring will cool.
Politico | Senators push Export-Import Bank renewal
A solid bloc of Senate Republicans, led by South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, began a renewed push Thursday for action on Export-Import Bank legislation that fell victim to partisan maneuvering last week when the GOP denied Democrats the votes needed to cut off debate.
WSJ | OECD Sees Europe, U.S. Drifting Apart
The economies of Europe and North America will diverge in the first half of this year, with European budget cuts dragging on demand while the U.S. economic recovery picking up steam, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report published Thursday.
USA Today | Economy grew 3% in 4Q 2011, jobless claims still falling
The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3% pace in the final three months of 2011 but that growth likely slowed in the first three months of this year as businesses cut back on restocking their shelves.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CATO | Rapid GDP Growth--Best Antidote for Poverty
Rapid GDP growth is the best antidote for poverty. That is the big message that comes blaring out of the poverty data for 2009-10. Record GDP growth of 8.5% per year between 2004-05 and 2009-10 has reduced poverty at a record rate of 1.5 percentage points per year, double the 0.7 percentage points per year in the preceding 11 years.
CRS | Federal Pell Grant Program of the Higher Education Act: How the Program Works, Recent Legislative Changes, and Current Issues
The federal Pell Grant program, authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA; P.L. 89-329), is the single largest source of federal grant aid supporting postsecondary education students.
WSJ | Federal Budgets and Class Warfare
A cardinal rule of American campaigns is that candidates must appeal to the party base during primary elections and then move to the center to win moderates and independents in November. This year, on the issues of taxes and spending, that shift can't come soon enough—and not just for the Republican nominee.
Washington Times | Level playing field for American mining
Earlier this month, President Obama announced the United States is filing a challenge with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China’s export restrictions on rare earth minerals. This marks the second time since 2009 our nation has brought a WTO case against China over mineral export restrictions
WSJ | We're Not France, Yet
Maybe the United States dodged a bullet this week. Make that a deep-penetration bunker buster into the original idea of America. On Tuesday, the justices of the Supreme Court sounded, on balance, to be disposed against affirming the Obama health-care law's mandate.
Forbes | Friedrich von Hayek Predicted the Limp Obama Economy
Warning that the results of government attempts to tinker with the economy can be foreseen only in terms of broad patterns rather than precise results, Friedrich von Hayek noted that trying to pin down outcomes is doomed: “This way,” he said in his Nobel prize lecture of 1974, “lies charlatanism and worse.”
Blogs
WSJ | States Post Uneven Gains in Income
Many Americans saw their incomes rise faster in 2011 than the year before, but a lot depended on which state you lived in.
Café Hayek | Cronyism and Mercantilism are Siblings
Robert Rubin’s and Vin Weber’s defense of the Export-Import Bank features all of the sophistry and economic naivete that have forever marked mercantilist apologies for interest-group privileges
