News
CNN Money | For sale: U.S. highways and bridges
State and local governments are in desperate need of cash for all manner of road, building and bridge repair, and are increasingly turning to private money for funding.
Washington Post | US current account trade deficit fell to $107.5 billion in third quarter, lowest since 2010
The U.S. current account trade deficit narrowed in the July-September quarter to the smallest level since late 2010, but the improvement may not last.
Market Watch | Dec. NAHB builder confidence highest since 2006
A gauge of confidence among home builders rose in December to the highest level since April 2006, with respondents encouraged by declining inventory and good sales conditions, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Tuesday.
Bloomberg | China Foreign-Investment Declines for 12th Time in 13 Months
Foreign direct investment in China fell for the 12th time in 13 months, suggesting the nation’s economic-growth rebound has yet to attract a fresh influx of capital spending from abroad.
WSJ | Struggling Greeks Face Harsh Winter
The spread of economic hardship is fraying Greece's social fabric and straining its political cohesion as the country enters the harshest winter of its three-year-old debt crisis. Even the tightknit Greek family—an institution that has helped the population to absorb a collapse in employment—is under pressure as household incomes dwindle.
WSJ | U.S. to Sell Bulk of TARP Banks
The Treasury in 2013 hopes to clear out its portfolio of banks that took bailout funds during the financial crisis, including scores of institutions that have missed dividend payments owed to the government.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | EPA regulates water
The environmentalist movement has gone off the deep end. It’s bad enough that the courts have allowed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare carbon dioxide, one of the essential components of life on this planet, to be a pollutant. Now the same bureaucratic zealots are going after water itself.
Mercatus | Regulatory Benefits: Examining Agency Justification For New Regulations
This study attempts to shed some light on whether the benefits claimed by the federal agencies are likely to be achieved. In contrast to other validation studies, the study focuses on the agencies’ benefit claims rather than the actually measured benefits.
Washington Times | Obama’s money misunderstanding
In times past, political leaders would lay out their domestic and foreign policies in clear, coherent terms. President Obama talks about getting our fiscal house in order but fails to propose any meaningful spending cuts.
Washington Times | Next generation won’t inherit the American dream
President George W. Bush was fond of saying that he would not be around when the real history of his administration was written. Whether that is true in the digital age is unclear.
Blogs
Economist | At the top of an underperforming class
For those who started out the year optimists on American growth (such as me), 2012 was sobering. It looks like America will end the year having grown about 2%, according to Deutsche Bank, marginally below the average pace since the recovery began in mid-2009.
