News
WSJ | Euro-Zone Bank Lending to Businesses Rises
European Central Bank figures showed that private-sector credit grew on an annual basis for the first time in three months, as July's cut in interest rates and unorthodox policy measures from earlier in the year made themselves felt.
Market Watch | U.S. grew at 1.7% pace in second quarter
The U.S. economy expanded somewhat faster in the second quarter than originally reported because of higher consumer spending and slower growth in imports, the government said Wednesday.
WSJ | Despite Drought, Farm Income Should Rise
Income on U.S. farms is expected to climb this year to its highest level in nearly four decades, the Department of Agriculture said, despite the severe drought that has afflicted much of the nation's farm belt.
Market Watch | Pending home sales hit more than 2-year peak
Pending home sales climbed 2.4% in July to the highest level since April 2010, when a home-buyer tax credit was set to expire.
USA Today | Gas prices cross $3.75 a gallon as Labor Day looms
Gas prices continued their unrelenting rise, crossing the $3.75 a gallon threshold, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports in its weekly survey. The price increase comes at a difficult time, with Labor Day vacation weekend only a week away.
WSJ | Japan Cuts Economic View Amid Slowing Exports
The Japanese government cut its view of the economy in August for the first time in 10 months as slowing exports weighed on production and consumer spending failed to expand.
CNBC | The US Economy and the Future of Growth: Well This Is Depressing
The United States has produced one of the most successful economic stories in human history.
Econ Comments & Analysis
RCM | The New York Fed's False Assertion of AIG Bailout Profits
The government reasoned that cancelling the derivatives by buying the securities at full value was the cheapest way out of AIGFP's troubles.
Daily Finance | Think Federal Workers Are Overpaid? Look Closer to Home
The advantage only swings toward the private sector when workers possess a master's degree or better. What's more, when you factor in the value of generous government perks, even private sector master's degree-holders lose out.
Washington Times | DEAN: Government programs never die
Ronald Reagan once observed that nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program. How right he was.
WSJ | A Grand Old Growth Party
Above all, voters want to hear how Republicans will restore prosperity.
Heritage Foundation | Hydraulic Fracturing: Critical for Energy Production, Jobs, and Economic Growth
While Americans continue to be disappointed by dismal jobs reports and a high unemployment rate, one of the few recent bright spots in the U.S. economy has been energy production, particularly the shale oil and shale gas revolution.
Blogs
EconLog | Household Incomes Declined During Recovery
The study shows that real median household income declined more during the current recovery than it did during the recent recession.
Daily Capitalist | Bad Advice More Popular Than Ever
At some point this is all going to go horribly wrong, what with UK sovereign risk and banking risk having become effectively fused (under the last Labour government). The only thing we don’t know is when.
NRO: The Corner | Croynism: Utility Edition
Exelon executives and administration officials held a large number of meetings at the White House, and ultimately, the executive branch enacted a number of policies and regulations that favored the company at the expense of its competitors. Lipton, for instance, highlights:
AEI | Fuel economy standards to tighten
The Obama administration has plunged ahead with it’s plan to drastically increase the average fuel economy of the U.S. automobile fleet.
Heritage Foundation | Cronyism: Crushing the Free Market and Promoting Rent-Seeking
A recent report by Mercatus Center scholar Matthew Mitchell lists the various forms that government-granted privileges take and explains their harmful consequences, including less economic growth, more government spending, and rent-seeking.
Café Hayek | Predicting the Inevitable
Depending on the severity of the damage done by Isaac, prices of staple goods such as gasoline, bottled water, and plywood will spike in south Louisiana and Mississippi – price increases that will (here’s the prediction) spark a litany of economically uninformed laments about greed and “price gouging.”
