News
CNN Money | Home building slows, but still going strong
The pace of home building slowed slightly in November but remained near the four-year high reached the previous month, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Bloomberg | German Business Confidence Rises for a Second Month
German business confidence increased for a second month in December, signaling Europe’s largest economy may support a euro-area recovery next year.
CNN Money | Port strike looms as talks break down
A strike at container ports from Boston to Houston appears more likely after talks broke down Tuesday, leaving businesses worried about a crippling shutdown set to start in less than two weeks.
WSJ | U.S. Economy Will Face Drag Next Year
Deal or no deal, the U.S. economy will face a drag of some kind from Washington budget policy next year. The White House and GOP are just negotiating how much.
Bloomberg | An Economics Masterpiece You Should Be Reading Now
The most valuable new book I’ve read this year is Justin Yifu Lin’s “The Quest for Prosperity.” George Akerlof, a Nobel laureate in economics and a man not given to reckless overstatement, calls it “a masterpiece.” I’d say that’s right.
CNN Money | S&P boosts Greece's credit rating
Standard and Poor's boosted Greece's credit rating by several notches Tuesday, citing the broad commitment to keep Greece in the eurozone.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | The choices: raise taxes, go over the cliff or kick the can
Kicking the can may be the least-repugnant remaining resolution to the “fiscal cliff.” The only alternatives appear to be simply going over the cliff, or a Republican cave-in on income tax rates in exchange for mostly cosmetic spending reductions.
Market Watch | Fitch: Fiscal cliff is top threat to world economy
The U.S. fiscal cliff -- the combination of massive spending cuts and tax hikes set to begin taking effect Jan. 1 unless politicians reach a budget deal -- is the "single biggest near-term threat to the world economy, given its potential to tip the U.S. into an unnecessary and avoidable recession," Fitch Ratings said Wednesday in its biannual sovereign review and outlook report.
Washington Times | Staying prosperous
The world’s becoming a more prosperous place. That’s good news for many countries — just not the United States.
Mercatus | The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Didn't Work
In early 2009, President Obama predicted that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would "jump-start our economy," "create new jobs," and provide "many years of economic growth."
AEI | How to restructure Social Security
Washington is abuzz with talk of entitlement reform. In his latest offer on the fiscal cliff negotiations, President Obama has proposed slowing the growth of entitlement spending. More generally, both parties recognize that returning these entitlement programs to solvency will entail politically painful cuts to promised benefits, increases in tax revenues, or both.
Washington Times | Federal rules cost $10,000 per employee
What do the Progressive Policy Institute, former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, former presidential candidate Herman Cain and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have in common? An idea for rolling back overregulation.
Blogs
WSJ | Secondary Sources: U.S. vs. World, Mortgages, Keynesianism
A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Café Hayek | Cataloging Our Progress: Basic Lawn Care
Using my Sears Fall/Winter 1956 catalog, I searched for the lowest-priced basic lawn-care items available at Sears in 1956, constrained only by the requirement that the ‘big’ items – lawn mower and lawn edger – be gasoline- or electric-powered rather than fully manual.
Market Watch | Why a recession may be coming no matter what fiscal-cliff deal is reached
Spoiler alert: We could already be in a recession. This is not the conventional wisdom. The common narrative goes some like talks look ugly, but in the end things will get resolved either before Jan. 1 or later in the month and the economy gets a new lease on life
WSJ | Fed’s Fisher: U.S. Companies Not Able to Perform
U.S. companies “have the resources they need to do what we want them to do–in this case, invest in job creation,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said. “But as long as that fence of uncertainty is in place, they will not be able to perform,” the policy maker said.
Heritage Foundation | Beware! Regulations Incoming!
The problem, of course, is not simply the number and cost of new regulations. The larger concern is about the way these regulations are actually being made and enforced. The process is often unconstitutional and empowers bureaucrats instead of American citizens.
