General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | U.S. growth remains modest, Fed says
The U.S. economy continued to grow modestly across much of the nation in the past month, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday, based on interviews with thousands of business contacts.
WSJ | Sluggish Growth Seen Into Next Year
The unemployment rate registered a dramatic 0.5 percentage-point drop over the past two months, but economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey don't expect that pace of decline to continue.
Market Watch | U.S. trade gap widens as exports fall again
The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.1% in August to $44.2 billion as exports declined for the third month in a row, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
WSJ | Weakness Spreads to Emerging Markets
Weakness in major economies is starting to infect formerly fast-growing emerging markets, top global economic officials warned, raising fears of a prolonged world-wide slowdown and renewed finger-pointing over blame.
Market Watch | U.S. wholesale prices rise 1.1% in September
Producer prices climbed sharply in September for the second month as gasoline prices jumped, a government report said Friday.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
John Taylor | Simple Proof That Strong Growth Has Typically Followed Financial Crises
People are looking for answers to why the economy is growing so slowly. Is the answer that economic growth is normally weak following deep recessions and financial crises, as, for example, Kenneth Arrow argued in the presidential election event with me this week at Stanford? Or is poor economic policy the answer, as I argued?
Café Hayek | Some Links
Nick Gillespie sat down recently, at Reason’s Washington office, to chat for about six minutes with Russ.  It’s a great conversation.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Business Journal | Electronic health records improve quality of patient care, study says
A new study has found electronic health records are associated with better physician performance — good news for the 60 percent of Texas physicians who report using them.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Weak job picture, uncertainty drove QE3: minutes
The sluggish job market and worries about Europe’s debt crisis, Chinese growth and the so-called fiscal cliff closer to home pressed the Federal Reserve into launching its third round of large-scale bond buys, according to minutes released Thursday.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
LJ World | Economist calls for flat tax, less spending
Arthur Laffer laid out his prescription for an economic turnaround during a talk at Kansas University on Thursday, using his doctrine of supply-side economics: less government spending and a flat tax.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | Over the cliff with Obama
No other issue is paralyzing the U.S. economy more than the unsettled question of where taxes are headed in the years to come.

Employment

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Which State Distorted Jobless Claims Data?
An unexpected shift in seasonal reporting by one state sent jobless claims tumbling last week.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Greece's State Budget Gap Narrows Despite Recession
Greece's state budget deficit narrowed sharply in the first nine months of 2012 beating targets set by the country's creditors, but the fiscal improvement comes at a high price as the country's five-year recession sends jobless numbers to a fresh record high, data showed Thursday.
Bloomberg | G-7 Discusses Potential Fiscal Measures If Growth Falters
Some Group of Seven nations raised the possibility of extra fiscal measures if the global recovery weakens, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said after a G-7 meeting in Tokyo yesterday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | Overhauling the budget process
It is a simple idea and a good one. Before the start of each fiscal year, before tax dollars are spent and more public debt is incurred, Congress is supposed to pass a set of laws telling the American people the plan for spending their money.