News
WSJ | Cost of Bailing Out Fannie and Freddie Expected to Fall Sharply
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, the companies' federal regulator, released a report on Friday that estimated they will pay between $32 billion and $78 billion to the U.S. Treasury through 2015. The baseline forecast assumes that the companies would end up costing taxpayers $76 billion by the end of 2015, down from the current tab of $142 billion.
WSJ | Greek, European Officials Dispute Budget Reprieve
Greece said Wednesday that a loan agreement it is negotiating with its creditors would give the country an additional two years to meet its budget targets in exchange for deep budget cuts and other measures.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Lame Duck Congress's Fiscal Duty
The fiscal cliff that is looming on Jan. 2—a $500 billion combination of rising tax rates and expiring preferential tax policies—is a historic and completely obvious threat to our economy. In 2008, no one knew that the financial system was about to face cardiac arrest. But every American knows that unless Congress acts quickly, we will be hit with economy-crushing tax increases at the start of the New Year.
Bloomberg | How Congress Prevented the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ of the 1840s
The U.S. is quickly approaching a “fiscal cliff,” a combination of scheduled tax increases and automatic spending cuts that could seriously disrupt the economy. It’s a grim situation, but not an unprecedented one.
WSJ | How to Cut Spending at the Grass Roots
Pooling services among municipalities, cross-training public employees, using cooperative purchasing networks: The list is long and the savings substantial.
SIEPR | A Note On the Effects of the Higher National Debt On Economic Growth
The financial crisis, deep recession and anemic recovery have been accompanied by massive policy interventions. Their overall short-run impact on the economy remains controversial: Some claim these policies prevented a much worse recession, others that they delayed recovery.
Blogs
Economics One | Exploding Debt Still Threatens America
Back in May 2009 I wrote “Exploding Debt Threatens America” in the Financial Times. Unfortunately the federal debt is still exploding, but fortunately we are learning more about the threat thanks to research reported and carefully explained in a new piece by my colleague Michael Boskin.
