News
CNN Money | What next for Cyprus?
The tiny nation with giant banks and a crushing government debt has soundly rejected a €10 billion bailout offer from the European Union because of public revulsion over the main string attached: a tax on bank deposits.
Bloomberg | Freddie Mac Sues Multiple Banks Over Libor Manipulation
Freddie Mac (FMCC) sued Bank of America Corp., UBS AG (UBSN), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and a dozen other banks over alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, saying the mortgage financier suffered substantial losses as a result of the companies’ conduct.
CNN Money | America's infrastructure is finally getting a bit better
America's recent wave of infrastructure spending is beginning to pay off.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | The reality of high-frequency trading
Is high-frequency trading a threat to our financial markets or an important innovation that benefits today’s investors? Judging by the rhetoric coming from some in Washington and elsewhere, it’s easy to perceive high-frequency trading as a one-sided battle pitting merciless, lightning-fast machines against earnest but doomed investors.
NY Times | Lesson Learned After Financial Crisis: Nothing Much Has Changed
We’ve been told that so many times since the near-death experiences of the financial crisis. Bankers and regulators have flipped roles: now it’s the bankers who are cautious and their overseers who are aggressive.
AEI | Do special enterprise zones undermine capitalism and our safety?
Smugglers are adept at taking advantage of the myriad tariffs and tax rates between jurisdictions. With increasingly cheap globalized transport and tax free zones cropping up all over the globe, smugglers, terrorist financiers and organized crime have found boundless illicit opportunities.
Blogs
WSJ | Is Economy Facing Another False Spring?
Many economists expect growth to slow some from the first quarter of the year into the second quarter as federal spending policies start to bite. Still, they don’t see a repeat of the past three years, when hopeful starts gave way to discouraging summers.
WSJ | Houses Are Getting Bigger Again
The sequester will hurt government spending, and higher taxes may slow consumer spending. But the U.S. housing sector looks willing and able to be an important contributor to growth this year.
