News
CNN Money | Drought may cost billions in U.S. food exports
The drought baking Midwest corn and soybean crops will likely cost the U.S. food export industry billions in lost revenue.
USA Today | Drought forces farmers to sell livestock; feed is too costly
Some farmers are selling off their livestock herds because they can't afford to buy feed, marking a new level of fallout from the drought that will affect consumers and possibly the entire U.S. economy.
CNN Money | Seniors wait to get bigger Social Security benefits
Americans have gotten the message that patience pays, at least where Social Security is concerned.
Bloomberg | Service Industries in U.S. Expanded at Faster Pace in July
Service industries in the U.S. expanded in July at a faster pace than a month earlier, helped by a pickup in orders.
CNN Money | Mortgage rates rise, ending record streak
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages climbed slightly higher this week, breaking a run that saw rates match or set new record lows for 13 out of the past 14 weeks.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | A Market Alternative to Libor
By now, it should be clear that the current mechanisms designed to inform markets what banks charge each other to borrow—the London interbank offered rate being chief among them—are broken. Benchmarks such as Libor that rely on subjective assessments made by interested parties—regardless of any potential wrong-doing—simply cannot accurately reflect market realities.
Forbes | With Most Of Europe Still On Its Back, Sweden Tries Policies That Actually Work
The headlines from across the pond read “Europe Rejects Austerity” as the French and Greeks elected socialists and even some neo-national socialists to office.
WSJ | Who Really Gets Rich Off High Gas Prices?
With the average price of gas in America hovering around $3.50 per gallon for regular unleaded, it costs more than $50 to fill a typical car's 15-gallon tank this summer. Why does gas cost so much?
Market Watch | How to manage volatility as the fiscal cliff looms
As they say with foreboding in the popular television series Game of Thrones, “Winter is coming.”
WSJ | Venezuela Faces Economic Hangover
From free housing and food to straight up cash for senior citizens and pregnant mothers, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been showering his constituency through a number of social programs over the past year to shore up support ahead of his hotly contested October re-election bid.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Economic Freedom: The Freedom to Choose
The percentage of people who think it is more important that the “state guarantees nobody is in need” aligns roughly with the percentage who believe that “success in life is determined by forces outside their control.” This is no coincidence.
WSJ | Lawns, the Quiet Victims of Recession
Cautious consumers often look for places to cut, but one quiet victim of the recession has the opposite problem. Even amid recovery, lawns are often left untended.
Neighborhood Effects | Want Money Out of Politics? Eliminate Government Discrimination
In my work on government-granted privilege, I have repeatedly emphasized the surprising degree of harmony between left and right on this issue. Both abhor the tawdry nexus between corporate power, money, and politics.
WSJ | House Republicans Seek More Cost Analysis From Regulators
Two powerful U.S. House lawmakers are pressuring Wall Street’s self-policing body and two other self-regulatory groups to do more work to justify their rules.
Heritage Foundation | Rise in Food Stamps Part of Growing Dependence on Washington
America was supposed to be the land of self-government. Citizens were to govern themselves politically and morally. But such an independent citizen is proving to be less common every year.
Marginal Revolution | Investment vs. the Warfare-Welfare State
In Launching the Innovation Renaissance and my Atlantic article The Innovation Nation vs. the Warfare-Welfare State I showed that the Warfare-Welfare state has crowded out federal investment in research in development.
