News
Bloomberg | Global Services Weaken as Europe Slides Into Recession: Economy
Services industries from Asia to Europe cooled last month after the euro-area debt crisis pulled economies including Spain and Italy into recession and damped global growth prospects.
Washington Times | Measure of U.S. home prices rises by most in 6 years
A measure of U.S. home prices jumped 4.6 percent in August compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year increase in more than six years.
Bloomberg | No Joy on Wall Street as Biggest Banks Earn $63 Billion
Four years ago today, President George W. Bush signed into law the biggest corporate rescue in American history. Even as U.S. unemployment has remained above 8 percent for 43 months, the country’s biggest banks are making almost as much as they ever have.
Market Watch | September ISM services index at 55.1 vs. 53.7
The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said its services index rose to 55.1 in September from 53.7 in August. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected the index to hold steady at 53.7. Any reading over 50 indicates more companies are expanding instead of contracting.
CNN: Money | Economists: Housing recovery finally here
Of the 14 economists who answered questions about home prices in the survey, nine believe that prices have already turned higher or will make that turn later this year.
Politico | Poll shows new attitude about government
Only 40 percent of registered voters believe promoting traditional values is an important role for government, down from 57 percent in 2008, according to a CNN/ORC survey.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | The real dangers of Arctic drilling
Shell Oil has called it quits for this year on its first Arctic drilling rig. First, there was danger of a city-size chunk of floating ice smashing into the rig just hours after exploratory drilling began. Days later, a test of its oil-spill containment dome ended in a tangled mess on the ocean bottom.
Heritage Foundation | Why the Slow Economic Recovery?
The slow economic recovery since 2009 has not hewn closely to the patterns set by previous recoveries. One explanation that matches the key facts of this recovery-less recovery is that the fixed costs of production have risen.
AEI | Social Security "never added a dime to the deficit." Really?
And today, Social Security contributes $165 billion to the overall budget deficit, thanks to the payroll tax cut, a slow economy and Baby Boomer retirements.
WSJ | Money-Fund Reboot
New support for reform should make the industry rethink its opposition.
Washington Times | CREWS AND YOUNG: Regulations and rules equal broken government
Finding the political will shouldn’t be hard. As economic growth resumes, legislators and aspiring presidents who lead the way on reform may find voters well-disposed toward them.
Blogs
The Economist: Free Echange | The incurable cost disease
The theory means that higher costs are not down to distortions, inefficiencies or market failures, but something fundamental and unavoidable.
Econlog | Freakonomics on Shale Gas
If a $100-200 billion larger economy were deemed unimportant, then policy could drive a wedge between the cost of shale gas production and the price paid by consumers.
AEI | 3 charts that show Biden is right, the middle class ‘has been buried the last 4 years’
Vice President Joe Biden is spot on when he says the middle class “has been buried the last four years.”
Café Hayek | Skidelsky on Money and the Good Life
How Much is Enough. We talk about Keynes’s prediction of a leisurely life and what constitutes the good life.
