News
Market Watch | Fiscal cliff isn’t America’s worst money problem
Going over the so-called fiscal cliff may, on the face of it, “improve” U.S. public finances, reduce the deficit and slow the rise of America’s debt mountain.
Bloomberg | Europe Gives Greece 2 More Years to Reach Deficit Targets
Euro finance chiefs left unanswered how they’ll fill a fresh hole in Greece’s balance sheet without tapping their own bailout-weary taxpayers for money after giving the country two extra years to trim its budget deficit.
WSJ | Italy's Big Banks Struggle With Austerity
Italy's two largest banks continue to suffer under the weight of deteriorating loans, but one-off gains from bond buybacks have helped offset sluggish core business which has been hit by austerity measures across Europe.
National Journal | Tough Road to a Debt Deal, Even for a Community-Organizer-in-Chief
President Obama’s reelection campaign managed to community-organize its way to electoral victory and a second term. Now we'll find out whether the same kind of grassroots approach can help Obama push his policy agenda through a divided Congress.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | The looming ‘fiscal cliff’
Unless action is taken soon, the United States is set to undergo one of the largest series of tax increases in the past half-century. The rapid rise in U.S. federal government spending over the past decade has been even more troubling. If the past century has taught us anything, it’s that high spending and high taxes are a recipe for economic disaster. Yet this is the course our newly re-elected president seems to favor, and it will leave him with a very tarnished legacy.
Mercatus | Reducing Debt and Other Measures For Improving U.S. Competitiveness
At more than $16 trillion, the United States’ gross national debt has grown to equal its gross domestic product—a level that for other nations has marked an economic tipping point.
