News
USA Today | Defense cuts starting to pinch economy
Tighter defense budgets are starting to pinch the nation's economy, slowing a sluggish recovery even before sharper spending cuts could kick in next year.
CNN Money | Federal government misses small business contract goal - again
For the sixth year in a row, the government has missed its goal to award 23% of all federal contract dollars to small businesses.
Market Watch | Draghi: Euro-area bank lending remains subdued
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, at a press conference following the rate cut announced by the central bank Thursday, said loan growth in the euro area remains subdued.
NY Times | Cost to Protect U.S. Secrets Doubles to Over $11 Billion
The federal government spent more than $11 billion to protect its secrets last year, double the cost of classification a decade ago — and that is only the part it will reveal.
Econ Comments & Analysis
LA Times | The real national security threat: America's debt
Our growing national debt is a threat not only to domestic programs but to a U.S. tradition of an activist foreign policy that helped America prosper.
Reuters | Analysis: Stockton, California new paradigm for struggling cities
Stockton, California, the largest city in the United States to ever file for bankruptcy, could create a new template for struggling cities and potentially lift the stigma that scars municipalities if they seek court protection from creditors.
WSJ | Slouching Toward Debt Union
On Friday euro-zone leaders agreed—or rather, Angela Merkel conceded—that their joint bailout funds may now be used both to buy up sovereign bonds directly and to start bailing out banks with European funds.
Blogs
Neighborhod Effects | Actuarial camouflage II: Normal Cost Methods
As part of the new GASB rules for public sector pensions not only will the rules guiding discount rate selection change, amortization periods will shrink from 30 to 15 years. This reflects the average number of service years remaining for current employees.
Daily Finance | Lower College Loan Interest Rates Won't Fix the Student Debt Crisis
Outstanding student loans having topped the $1 trillion mark, but it's down at the individual level where that debt burden has built up that former students are finding it difficult to bear. With jobs still hard to come by, young adults are looking for any break they can get.
Economics One | Debt Fireworks Continue On This Independence Day
Well, after two more years of Long Term Budget Outlooks (2011 and 2012) the CBO projections unfortunately look virtually the same. The problem has not been fixed as my grand daughter requested in my Economics 1 class at Stanford nearly three years ago.
