News
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Services, Manufacturing Contracted in August: Economy
Euro-area services and manufacturing output contracted for a seventh straight month in August, adding to signs of a deepening economic slump as European leaders struggle to contain the fiscal crisis.
Market Watch | Home-equity loans could sink retirement hopes
Some call it a ticking time bomb, while others call it nothing more than a potential problem. But whatever it is, pre-retirees and retirees who have a balance on their home equity line of credit, or HELOC, will need to plan for the day when that debt reaches its 10-year anniversary.
Bloomberg | China’s Manufacturing May Contract at Faster Pace in August
China’s manufacturing may contract at a faster pace in August, a private survey showed, signaling more monetary and fiscal stimulus may be needed to secure a second-half rebound in economic growth.
CNN Money | The middle class falls further behind
America's middle class has endured its worst decade in modern history," the Pew Research Center said in its report. "It has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some -- but by no means all -- of its characteristic faith in the future.
National Journal | Pew: Pessimism Grows Among Middle Class; Many Blame Congress for Their Plight
Pew surveyed 2,508 adults from July 16-26 and about half identified themselves as middle class. Of those, 85 percent said that maintaining their standard of living is harder now than it was 10 years ago. And the largest share of the blame goes to Congress. When middle-class respondents were asked what role Congress played in their difficulties, 62 percent said it deserved “a lot” of the blame, while 29 percent said it bears only “a little.”
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | PATTERSON: Government of unions, by unions, for unions
Unfair auto pension deals possibly illegal.
RCM | Obama's Unfortunate Regulatory Legacy
For market-inducing business regulation to be successful the technology employed must match the market demand. Furthermore, everything necessary to connect these two critical components must be fully implemented.
WSJ | The SEC Does Dodd-Frank
Two new rules that raise business costs, no rule for easier job creation.
Reuters | COLUMN: Against all odds, American manufacturers are winning
Despite cheaper labor abroad, currency manipulation, intellectual property theft, and subsidies to foreign competitors, these American manufacturers are winning. Many of them are small or medium-sized businesses that are family owned.
Washington Times | PERKINS: Sequestration is bad for Virginia
Conservative estimates suggest that Northern Virginia will lose tens of thousands of jobs in both the private and public sectors and billions in revenue. In addition, the trickle-down effect will be felt in the real estate market, food industry and throughout the various service-oriented small businesses that make up the local economy.
AEI | Greece can unbind itself from torment
In Greece's present day context, one has to wonder whether it might not have been more apt for Prof Pagoulatos to have considered the alternative Greek myth about the punishment Zeus meted out to Prometheus by binding him to a rock and having an eagle eat out his liver on a daily basis.
CNN Money | Everything you need to know about where things stand in Europe
Summer fun in Europe is about to come to a screeching halt, as fund managers and government officials will return in September to what appears to be a hopeless situation.
Blogs
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Even if ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Gets Resolved, Outlook Is Anemic
The most distressing aspect of the Congressional Budget Office’s outlook for 2013 isn’t the fact that the U.S. economy will fall into recession if the ‘fiscal cliff’ of looming tax increases and spending cuts becomes reality.
AEI | Wait, both the Reagan and Bush recoveries were better than Obama’s
Cutter counts the job gains from the low point of Obama’s term forward. The low point was February 2010 when U.S. nonfarm payrolls measured 129,244,00. In July, they measured 133,245,000 for a gain of 4.0 million jobs in 27 months. If you measure the Reagan recovery the same way, he created 8.0 million new jobs in 27 months.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Housing Better, Still Not Normal
Housing continues its slow creep toward stability. Normalcy is a long way off. The National Association of Realtors announced July sales of existing homes rose to an annual rate of 4.47 million, close to expectations.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Foreigners Invest in U.S. Manufacturing
If the U.S. manufacturing revival is real, shouldn’t it be showing up at least partly as more foreign investment in American plants?
