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Thursday, August 29, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Big banks paying U.S. for mortgage mess
Regulators at the Federal Housing Finance Agency are on the verge of scoring some of the government's biggest victories against Wall Street banks since the financial crisis.
Politico | March on Washington anniversary: Obama calls for economic fairness
President Barack Obama celebrated the progress made in the 50 years since the March on Washington but called for action on the “great unfinished business” of the civil rights movement: economic fairness for all Americans.
FOX Business | U.S. Bank Earnings Rise to $42.2B in 2Q
U.S. bank earnings rose to a record high $42.2 billion during the second quarter of 2013 as trading income jumped and banks reduced the funds they set aside in case of losses.
CNN Money | Employers play Obamacare blame game
No more health benefits for spouses. Higher deductibles for employees. More cost-sharing.
Bloomberg | Economy in U.S. Grew More Than Forecast in Second Quarter
The U.S. economy expanded at a faster pace in the second quarter as a smaller trade deficit and gains in inventories overshadowed the effects of federal budget cutbacks.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Consumer Comfort in U.S. Declines to a More Than Four-Month Low
Consumer confidence fell for a third straight week to the lowest level in more than four months as Americans’ views on the economy, finances and spending soured.
Bloomberg | Five Reasons Housing Isn’t Ready to Drop Dead
Hissss! That’s the sound of the air coming out of the housing market. At least that’s what some folks thought they heard when the U.S. Census Bureau reported a 13.4 percent dive in new home sales in July, the biggest decline in more than three years and one that coincided with a sharp increase in mortgage rates.
AEI | A Qualified Residential Mortgage ≠ a Qualified Mortgage
Today, six federal agencies issued a Proposed Risk Retention Rule calling for a Qualified Residential Mortgage to be equal to a Qualified Mortgage (QRM = QM). 

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Vital Signs: Profits Are Outpacing GDP Growth
Corporations continue to rake in the cash. Aftertax profits increased 2.6% in the second quarter from the first quarter, said the Commerce Department Thursday. Compared to a year ago, profits are up 5.8% while nominal gross domestic product increased just 3.1%.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Obama's Affordable Care Act Looking a Bit Unaffordable
Independent National Journal analysis finds premiums higher under Obamacare as employers weigh dropping coverage.
CNN Money | Employers play Obamacare blame game
No more health benefits for spouses. Higher deductibles for employees. More cost-sharing.
WSJ | Prepaid Debit Cards Allowed as Health-Insurance Payment
The Obama administration said Wednesday it would require insurers to let uninsured Americans pay for health coverage this fall with prepaid debit cards rather than limit them to bank-account transfers, though it won't require insurers to accept automatic monthly payments from credit or debit cards.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Here Comes the Unaffordable Careless Act
Harvard (and later Columbia) sociologist Robert K. Merton wrote in 1936 about the "unanticipated consequences of purposive social action." Pity that Barack Obama, an alumnus of both universities, either never read or took to heart Merton's warnings. It would have saved Americans a lot of misery.

Monetary

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Fortune | Banks win another reprieve from post-crisis regs
Regulators have, once again, backed down on a piece of financial regulation put in place in the wake of the financial crisis. And that's too bad.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Economist | Different rates and different fates
In a new paper, Kevin O’Rourke and Alan Taylor compare the American and euro-area currency zones. Optimists argue that if a big, diverse economy like America manages to have a single currency, Europe should too. Optimists, if not already disillusioned, will find more to dislike in this new analysis.

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Investors | Jack Kemp's Tax Reform Ideas Would Still Work Today
The uncertain political contours of the debate in a divided Congress about how and when to pursue tax reform make us hearken back for inspiration to a reform template from a decade ago: to do the job with five surgically precise amendments to the income tax.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Jobless Claims in U.S. Fell More Than Forecast Last Week
The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell more than forecast last week, a sign that the U.S. labor market continues to make progress.
Bloomberg | Fast-Food Strikes Expand Across U.S. to 50 Cities
Fast-food workers in 50 U.S. cities plan to walk off the job today in an attempt to ratchet up pressure on McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Wendy’s Co. to raise wages.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | 'McWages' Can Be the Path to the Middle Class
My first job, at age 14, was washing dishes at a Big Boy restaurant in my hometown of Detroit. It was a job that gave me a strong work ethic and taught valuable skills that helped me move from the kitchen to eventually owning nine of my own restaurants.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Unemployment Rate Falls in Most Cities, But Pockets of Weakness Remain
Unemployment has fallen in nine of every ten U.S. cities over the past year, but the jobless rate remains staggeringly high in some pockets of the country struggling to boost their economies.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
NY Times | Mr. Boehner Wants a Debt Fight
Just when Speaker John Boehner should be warning his members not to use the debt ceiling as a threat, he is doing exactly the opposite. Instead of reminding lawmakers that they are obligated to pay for the debts they voted to incur, he is once again waving the dull saber of default.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CRS | The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases
Total federal debt can increase in two ways. First, debt increases when the government sells debt to the public to finance budget deficits and acquire the financial resources needed to meet its obligations.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
FOX Business | Small-Business Credit Conditions Improve
New research shows small-business credit conditions are improving in 2013, though the recovery is uneven across the United States.
National Journal | Americans’ Confidence in the Economy Is Still Trapped in the Negatives
At the beginning of the summer, polls suggested that Americans were almost starting to feel better about the economy. But as back-to-school season picks up, consumer confidence in the economy remains stuck in the negatives—and it's heading further south.
FOX Business | Mortgage Applications Fall, Rates Hit '13 HIgh
Applications for U.S. home loans fell for a third straight week as average mortgage rates hit their highest level this year, although demand for purchase loans increased, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
Bloomberg | Merkel Blames SPD’s Schroeder for Greece’s Euro Entry
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to pin the blame for the euro-region’s debt turmoil on her Social Democratic predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, saying he should never have let Greece into the single currency area.
Market Watch | Pending home sales fall 1.3% in July
Led by drops in most of the U.S., sales contracts on homes fell 1.3% in July, a second month of declines, as mortgage rates continued to rise, according to data released Wednesday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | More Young Adults Live With Parents
The share of young adults living with their parents edged up last year despite improvements in the economy—a sign that the effects of the recession are lingering.
AEI | FHA Watch, August 2013 (Vol. 2, No. 8)
In 1997 and 2002, the National Training and Information Center (NTIC) published two studies confirming earlier criticisms of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) weak underwriting and program management practices going back to the early 1960s.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Café Hayek | People are Rational and Self-Interested
Perhaps the most common way for people who do not like the conclusions of basic economic analyses to dismiss those conclusions is to allege that the assumptions used in the analyses are absurd.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Michigan moves toward Medicaid change
Michigan took a big step Tuesday toward signing up for Obamacare’s massive Medicaid expansion, giving GOP Gov. Rick Snyder a long-sought victory to bring billions of federal dollars to implement a major part of the president’s health care law.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Medicaid Reform That Works
Medicaid's annual price tag has exploded to $250 billion and is expected to rise even faster once ObamaCare expands the rolls by 30 million. So everyone wants to reduce costs, which is why liberal Rhode Island is the place to look.
Washington Times | Ending Republican blunders over Obamacare
The Las Vegas Sun recently reported that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on a local TV program that Obamacare could lead to a single-payer national health insurance program.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | The Fed's millionaires
Financial disclosure forms released Tuesday show that all seven current members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors have assets worth more than $1 million.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | In Washington, Every Problem Is a Bank
We've been among those who find it preposterous that Washington's new board of regulatory wise men will spot emerging financial risks before they threaten the economy. After all, members of the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) represent most of the same bureaucracies that failed to spot risks before the last crisis—and in many cases created them.
Real Clear Markets | It's Time To Ask If Dodd-Frank Will Help, or Hinder?
Last week, President Obama met with the top regulators to talk about financial reform. Given the daunting amount of Dodd-Frank implementation work on regulators' plates, a presidential pep talk was in order. In addition to words of encouragement for the weary regulators, the discussion ought to have included some soul-searching and tough love.
Bloomberg | The Fed and the Emerging Markets Peril
U.S. officials have taken to the airwaves over the last few days to absolve the Federal Reserve of blame for the recent turmoil in emerging markets, a response to some of the debate that arose from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual meeting last week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Switzerland Considers Tax Deal With U.S.
Switzerland is again considering a comprehensive plan that would allow the country's banks to settle with U.S. authorities probing possible assistance given to American tax evaders.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Fiscal Times | Tax Reform Could Be Easier Than Congress Thinks
The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation issued a press release Monday touting some “good news for tax reformers”: An analysis by experts at the foundation found that a plan to dramatically simplify both the individual and corporate tax codes would cost about $1.5 trillion less than projected.

Employment

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | It's Fact, Not Anecdote, That ObamaCare Is Turning Us Into A Part-Time Nation
The Obama administration continues to discount the huge impact its health overhaul law is having in turning America into a part-time nation, calling reports anecdotal and not based on complete data.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | U.S. missing 7.4 million jobs, economist calculates
How long is it going to take before the number of Americans who hold a job is considered “normal?” Try seven and a half to eight years.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
WSJ | California Sells $764 Million in Debt
California sold $764 million in debt Tuesday at lower-than-expected interest rates, a vote of investor confidence in the state's improved finances.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | Another looming debt-ceiling battle
Hold on to your wallets and put your savings in a safe place, because Congress returns next week from its monthlong August recess.
Investors | Crisis? What Crisis? White House In Denial Over Budget
The federal government says it will hit its debt ceiling in October, earlier than expected. That's not shocking, but the White House's cavalier attitude is. It says it'll do "nothing" to fix this chronic problem.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
CATO | And Next Year There Will Be an Eighth Budget “Showdown”
The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold counts six budget “showdowns” in Washington over the past two and half year. The looming battle this fall over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling will be number seven. That led Fahrenthold to examine what the six showdowns have accomplished with regard to the size of government. 

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Increased at Slower Pace
Residential real-estate prices increased in June at a slower pace, a sign the rate of improvement in the housing market is cooling.
MSN Money | Food prices heading higher
In recent weeks, I've been talking a lot about the specter of inflation. Most of this has to with the Federal Reserve, the banking system, and other high-finance issues. But there's another source of inflation bubbling up that'll hit every man, woman, and child in this country: Higher food prices.
Bloomberg | Consumer Confidence Index in U.S. Increases to 81.5
Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly increased in August as Americans grew more optimistic about the prospects for the world’s largest economy.
Bloomberg | America Resilient Five Years After Great Recession
Ethan Harris, former chief U.S. economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., recalls packing his family photos and top research into a suitcase five years ago on the Friday before the company went under.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Public Colleges Boost Economic Growth
The U.S. makes up less than a tenth of the world's population, but we have more than three-fourths of the world's greatest colleges and universities. Students from all over the world flock to America to obtain college degrees, and as we compete with other nations, America's dominance in this area is a tremendous asset. But affordable, public higher education is quickly disappearing—with grave consequences for the nation's future.
WSJ | Biggest Changes in a Decade Greet Students
Millions of students heading back to school are finding significant changes in the curriculum and battles over how teachers are evaluated, as the biggest revamps of U.S. public education in a decade work their way into classrooms.
Bloomberg | Don’t Blame the Fed for Asia’s Problems
It’s time to set our clocks back in Asia. (ADXY) Not to 1997, as many are recommending, but to 1994.
Mercatus | An Economy Buried by Regulations
A recent news report outlined the rather staggering growth in federal regulations over the years. RegData, a tool developed by myself and colleague Omar Al-Ubaydli for the Mercatus Center, documents how many regulatory restrictions have been put in place by the federal government.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | See the cities where home-price growth is cooling the most
Some cities are seeing  moderation in the home prices that have been racing higher for months, according to data released Tuesday morning.
CNBC | The 5% recovery: Why most are still in recession
How strong the economic recovery has been since the Great Recession ended in 2009 probably depends on viewpoint.

Health Care

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Mercatus | Disability Insurance Trust Fund Nears Insolvency
This week’s charts show total receipts, expenditures, and assets left in the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund. Data from the 2013 Trustees Report show that the disability fund is currently predicted to be three years from insolvency.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | Obamacare Quiz for Employers
In a new paper, Heritage’s Alyene Senger explains how “Obamacare will impose new health coverage costs, the employer mandate, compliance regulations, and new taxes on all businesses.”

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Four downsides of a chattier Fed
When Ben Bernanke finishes his term in January, one of his key legacies will be a more talkative Federal Reserve.
Market Watch | Fed's Williams: Hard to return policy to normal
It will be a challenge to adjust monetary policy back to normal, said John Williams, the president of the San Francisco Fed Bank, on Tuesday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | The Danger of an All-Powerful Federal Reserve
Interest rates make the headlines, but the Federal Reserve's most important role is going to be the gargantuan systemic financial regulator. The really big question is whether and how the Fed will pursue a "macroprudential" policy.
CNBC | Lessons learned from the Fed’s $745 billion mistake
Have the Fed's massive interventions to keep down long-term interest rates failed to neutralize expectations driving the bond market behavior?

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CRS | Federal Excise Taxes: An Introduction and General Analysis
This report provides an introduction and general analysis of excise taxes.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Barbara Boxer pushes $10 minimum wage
Sen. Barbara Boxer thinks minimum wage should be raised to be about $10 an hour to help close the ever-growing gap between the working poor and the rich and to promote a healthy nation.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | How Far Are We From Full Employment?
The economy has expanded in all but one calendar quarter since the recovery began. Unfortunately, progress in pushing down the unemployment rate and improving worker compensation has been modest.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | A Good Omen For Jobless Rate
Consumers think the labor market is improving this month and that could move the Federal Reserve closer to tapering its bond-buying program.
WSJ | Stuck Working Part-Time? Blame the Economy
More than four years after the recession ended, nearly a fifth of American workers are part-timers, well above normal levels. More than 8 million people are working part-time because they can’t find full-time jobs. That’s given rise to fears of deep, structural shifts in the U.S. labor market due to technology, globalization or perhaps the new health care law, which will require companies to provide health insurance to full-time employees.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | U.S. to hit debt limit in mid-October, Lew says
The U.S. government will hit the debt ceiling and be unable to borrow money to pay its bills in the middle of October unless Congress votes to increase the federal debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Monday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
National Journal | Fiscal Fights Looming, Can Simpson-Bowles Group Get Congress to Move?
Fix the Debt effort has the cash to make campaigns difficult for uncompromising members. If only it would use it effectively.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Short-term deals on budget, debt ceiling now more likely: analyst
The Treasury Department’s fresh estimate that it will hit the debt limit in mid-October increases the likelihood that Congress will kick the can down the road for a few months, said Stan Collender, a budget expert, in a blog post Tuesday.

Monday, August 26, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Durable-Goods Drop Imperils Outlook for U.S. GDP Pickup
Orders for durable goods dropped in July by the most in almost a year, calling into question the strength of the projected pickup in U.S. growth.
Politico | When energy dreams fall short
If the energy visions of past years had come true, throngs of Americans would be using switchgrass to fuel their cars and running their homes on electricity from nuclear fusion or carbon-capturing coal plants.
CNN Money | Merger to create second biggest stock exchange
In yet another blow to Nasdaq, two of its main rivals-- BATS and Direct Edge-- announced a merger Monday morning that will create the second largest stock exchange by volume.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Economic Confidence Seen Up to 17-Month High
Economic confidence in the euro area probably rose to the highest level in 17 months in August, adding to signs that the currency bloc’s recovery from a record-long recession is gathering pace.
Washington Times | Spendopedia: Federal waste collection site opens on Internet
Has government waste become so bad that we need an encyclopedia to keep track? One watchdog group seems to think so and has started a publicly edited, crowdsourced website that compiles cases of fiscal abuse, modeled after the popular site Wikipedia.
CNBC | Home prices across the US defy gravity despite rising rates
The surge in home prices over the past year may have some homebuyers wondering if the market has gotten ahead of itself. Rising interest rates aside, however, housing prices in most parts of the country appear to have plenty of room to move higher if the wider economic recovery remains intact.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Bankers Haven't Gone Rogue—Regulators Have
Readers of the Journal surely have noticed that hardly a day goes by without a story about some new federal fine or legal action against a major international bank. Banks have always had problems and the usual element of corporate misbehavior. But by historical measure, the government's current assault on financial institutions is not normal.
Politico | The real threat to the open Internet
What started as a commercial dispute over TV rights (known as “retransmission consent”) between CBS and Time Warner Cable (TWC) has escalated in a troublesome wayhar. A breakdown in carriage negotiations that affects some three million television subscribers is also denying access to Internet content to more than 11 million TWC broadband subscribers.
Economic Times | We're all still hostages to the big banks
Nearly five years after the bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. touched off a global financial crisis, we are no safer. Huge, complex and opaque banks continue to take enormous risks that endanger the economy.
Bloomberg | Rapid U.S. Growth Is Missing, Not Gone Forever
We are now about five years into the deleveraging, and the related slow global growth, that followed the 2008 financial crisis. My forecast is for another five years of unwinding the excess borrowing by banks worldwide, U.S. consumers and many other sectors.
AEI | Get onboard shale revolution
As an economist, the transparent political melodrama over the production of shale gas concerns me. Energy companies are unable to drill for natural gas on government land and in some states like California and New York, because of unreasonable restrictions on the advanced drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Economist | What was mercantilism?
Mercantilism is one of the great whipping boys in the history of economics. The school, which dominated European thought between the 16th and 18th centuries, is now considered no more than a historical artefact—and no self-respecting economist would describe themselves as mercantilist.
Market Watch | Regulators may let lenders avoid holding stake in mortgages without 20% down payment
Federal regulators may ease rules on the types of mortgage securities in which lenders will be required to keep a stake, according to recent news reports.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Judging Obamacare: A How-To Guide
When some of the Affordable Care Act's most critical features go into effect Oct. 1, so too will a massive struggle between the law's advocates and allies, as supporters attempt to convince Americans that the law is helping them afford their insurance, while critics scramble to prove it's sending insurance premiums skyward.
Washington Times | UPS dropping health coverage for working spouses
Citing in part the new health care law, the United Parcel Service said it will drop health coverage for about 15,000 working spouses of employees who are eligible for coverage from their own employers.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Heritage Foundation | Obamacare’s Impact on Today’s and Tomorrow’s Taxpayers: An Update
At a time when the nation has nearly $17 trillion in national debt and is running annual trillion-dollar budget deficits, largely attributed to existing entitlements, Obamacare creates two new entitlements projected to cost nearly $1.8 trillion over the next decade.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: Should We Delay or Defund Obamacare?
Conservatives are united in one idea: Obamacare is devastating policy for America. To halt its destructive effects, some are saying Congress should merely delay the law. But to truly stop it, Obamacare must be defunded.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Fed seen making first taper move in September
The Federal Reserve seems on track for a small reduction in the pace of its asset purchase program in September, according to experts attending the central bank’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole.
Bloomberg | Bond Yields Show Selloff Beating ’09 Peaking Until Rate Rise
As the U.S. bond market suffers its worst rout since 2009, the gauge that historically signals more pain for fixed-income investors is instead suggesting yields (USGG10YR) are near their peak.
CNN Money | Fed warned of global risks to tapering
As the Federal Reserve prepares to gradually wind down its stimulus program, some fear that the policy reversal could cause emerging economies to fall like dominoes.
Bloomberg | ECB Council Members Split in Jackson Hole Over Rate Cuts
European Central Bank Governing Council members are split over whether scope remains for further interest-rate cuts as evidence mounts that the euro-area economy is on the mend.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | Monetary Fight Follies: Milton Friedman's Monetarism Vs. Milton Friedman's 'Market' Monetarism
For readers seeking comic relief with a small amount of policy mixed in, they need look no further than the debate over which side the late, great Milton Friedman would take with regard to the Fed’s perversion of money in the form of “quantitative easing” (QE).
Washington Post | Obama should settle the battle for the Fed soon
The struggle to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve has turned into a soap opera. Bernanke, it is widely assumed, has told President Obama that he doesn’t want a third four-year term — or has been informed that he won’t be reappointed.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Japan Sales-Tax Decision Due by Early October, Amari Says
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make a decision on a sales-tax increase by early October, before a gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Indonesia, according to Economy Minister Akira Amari.
Bloomberg | Lessons of 1986 Show IRS Code Revision Tougher This Time: Taxes
The lessons of the last big revision to the tax code in 1986 show it’s going to be harder to get things done this time.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Washington Times | Greece may get another $13.36 billion bailout, says E.U. official
Germany’s commissioner to the European Union says he expects a future aid package for Greece to amount to a little more than 10 billion euros ($13.36 billion) — which is much smaller than the country’s existing two rescue deals.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | American Incomes Face Tough Slog Over Next Few Decades
After peaking at $56,648 in February 2002, the typical income of an American household—the median level of wages, stock-market returns and other earnings, or the point at which half earn more, and half earn less—slumped before nearly matching its peak in January 2008, one month into the Great Recession, when adjusted for inflation, according to an analysis of government data by Sentier Research.

Budget

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | If Republicans Want Budget Cuts, They Must Empower The Spenders
When the sequester budget cuts went into effect in the spring, Democrats in general and multitudes of Obama Administration officials in particular warned of devastating impacts on federal government programs, employees, and citizens who depend on government services. Now, after several months and with the fiscal year nearing its conclusion, it turns out that the sequester cuts have been accomplished with little pain and much less impact than promised.
Washington Post | After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged
After 21 / 2 years of budget battles, this is what the federal government looks like now:
Washington Times | Holding the line on spending
Shortly after returning from August recess, Congress will consider a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government past Sept. 30.

Friday, August 16, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Productivity in U.S. Rises Above Forecast as Output Grows
The productivity of U.S. workers rose more than projected in the second quarter as the world’s largest economy expanded.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Exports Increase 3% as Inflation Holds Below 2%
Euro-area exports increased for the first time in three months, led by a rebound in Germany, while inflation held steady at 1.6 percent as the economy gathers strength after the longest recession since the debut of the single currency.
Politico | 'Obama phone' supporters at odds
Less than two years after regulators overhauled the low-income phone service known as Lifeline, supporters are turning on each other over additional reforms. Their biggest beef: how to deliver the phones.
CNN Money | Shrimp shortage leads to record high prices
Shrimp prices are skyrocketing to all-time highs, amid a disease that's plaguing the three largest prawn producers: Thailand, China and Vietnam. White shrimp prices are nearing $6 a pound, up 56% from a year ago, according to an Urner Barry index.
Bloomberg | Housing Starts in U.S. Rise on Multifamily Properties
New-home construction in the U.S. climbed in July, reflecting a rebound in multifamily projects that overshadowed a slowdown in single-family properties.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
NY Times | No Banker Left Behind
The Detroit bankruptcy case has been cast as a contest between bondholders and pensioners that can be resolved only by shared sacrifice.
Washington Times | The ‘new’ NLRB
President Obama’s environmental regulations and tax increases are job killers enough, and now employers must also deal with a fully reconstituted National Labor Relations Board, with two new Democrats and two new Republicans. Mark Pearce, a Democrat, is a holdover as board chairman, which gives the Democrats a 3 to 2 advantage. They’re likely to use the advantage to their partisan advantage. The unions have waited, not so patiently, for the day.
Politico | If Congress won't lead, states and cities will
Americans cringe at Washington’s dysfunction, and rightly so: This Congress could become the least effective one in decades. Partisan divides are keeping much-needed solutions to immigration, education reform, and deficit reduction out of reach. So it’s not surprising that state and local leaders across the country are bypassing Washington and charting their own course for action.
Mercatus | The Social Responsibility of Economists
In the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008, the economics profession has been criticized for its apparent complicity in promoting the interests of corporations and the financial industry at the expense of the public interest, which has resulted in increased scrutiny of professional economic ethics.
AEI | Tips for millennials who want a mortgage
Millennials – those born in the 1980s or 1990s – have been raised with lofty American dreams of going to college and owning their own home. However, such dreams are expensive and have already placed millennials in debt. According to The Project on Student Debt, the average amount of student loan debt for the Class of 2011 was $26,600. As our generation moves out into the workforce, already burdened with student debt, how can we successfully take on mortgages?

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | David Axelrod: More fixes for Obamacare
“I have to believe that’s going to be the case,” Axelrod said. “Any time you implement something like this, it’s new and there’s no doubt that it’s complicated, there will be changes along — there should be changes along the way.”

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Politico | How to destroy Obamacare from within
As a Sept. 30 budget deadline approaches, many in the Republican Party are pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. The law’s most radical opponents are even threatening to shut down the government by refusing to pass a continuing resolution, which would fund existing government programs at current or slightly adjusted levels.

Monetary

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | There's a Very Real, and Growing, Dollar Funding Problem
It may be an artifact of evolutionary biology, or it may just be that the human animal is a unique species, but there is no discounting just how complex human systems can become. Logic and reason do not always apply, though they are applied in trying to understand the billions of interactions that occur with both regular and irregular frequency. From understanding it is hoped, and then abused, that control can be established as a mechanism to "humanize" seemingly impersonal forces.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Fed’s Bullard Says Impact of Easy Money Remains a Concern
Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis President James Bullard said Thursday that the impact of the Fed’s easy-money policies on the stability of the financial system remains a concern for the central bank, but he doesn’t see any asset bubbles that pose imminent danger to the U.S. economy.

Taxes

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Library of Economics | Taxes: Who Pays? My Latest from LearnLiberty
Economics offers a lot of cool and counterintuitive insights. One of the most fun, I think, is the independence of the legal incidence and the economic incidence of a tax. In other words, if demanders are not very responsive to changes in the price of a good, sellers can pass some or even most of a tax on to demanders even when sellers are responsible for writing the check to the government.
Economist | The most fatuous regulation
There ought to be an award for the most fatuous tax rule—a fatuette, perhaps—and if so, I would like to make a nomination. Mrs Buttonwood hails from America and, although not really receiving much in the way of services from the US government, has to fill in a tax form every year.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Where the jobs are
It's still a tough job market, but opportunities have been on the rise in these counties, making them great places to live and work.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Debt of One Quadrillion Yen? Not a Problem
Haruhiko Kuroda doesn’t wear a wizard’s hat when he arrives at Bank of Japan headquarters each morning. Once inside, I do wonder if he dons a cloak, waves a magic wand and concocts mysterious potions.
AEI | 14 ways to help the unemployed get back to work
As the economy continues its rocky path to recovery, helping Americans find work has taken center stage. AEI's Michael Strain has these recommendations for getting people back to work.

Budget

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | The Counterfeiting And Theft Underlying Keynesian Stimulus Fantasies
Keynesians continue to argue that we can strengthen the economy simply by spending more money. Because people and businesses are not spending enough for their liking, they want to see governments spend more, either by running a bigger deficit or by printing money.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Foreigners Stampede Out of U.S. Securities Ahead of Fed Tapering
Private foreign investors sold U.S. bonds, equities and other long-term securities at record levels in June, spooked by news that the Federal Reserve would likely start cutting back its cash injections into the American economy later this year.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Affording a home harder for average buyer
Stagnant incomes, higher home prices and climbing mortgage rates made affording a home a lot more difficult for the average homebuyer during the second quarter.
Bloomberg | Europe Growing Again Means Boost for Global Economy
The euro area is turning into more of a help than a hindrance for the world economy.
CNN Money | More mergers on the horizon
Following several years of relatively lackluster M&A activity, it now seems that market conditions are ripe for a new wave of deals.
Bloomberg | Rise in U.S. Retail Sales Points to Pickup in Spending
Retail sales rose in July for a fourth consecutive month, showing American households are regaining momentum as employment climbs.
MarketWatch | Business inventories flat in June
Business inventories were flat in June at a seasonally adjusted $1.65 trillion, according to data from the Commerce Department. Compared to a year ago, inventories were up 3.5%. May's inventories were revised to show a 0.1% drop instead of an initally reported 0.1% gain.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Politico | President Obama’s phony recovery
The truth may be more ingenious than most of us realize. Continued bickering serves as a distraction from what should be the biggest scandal of all: the phony recovery.
RCM | With Immigration, Congress Shouldn't Set Wages
Our immigration system is a mess that serves no one, least of all we Americans. The House bills have the potential to be giant leaps in the right direction.
CNN Money | The credit crunch is officially over
Banks are finally lending more than when Lehman fell, but much of the new lending is going to corporations.
Washington Times | PUGLIARESI: Obama’s Keystone pipe blockage
President Obama continues to delay approval for construction of the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, a $5.3 billion project that would bring Canadian oil sands production to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.
AEI | Government mortgage guarantees lead to bailouts
Given the spectacular failures of U.S. housing finance and the enormous cost to taxpayers of two massive bailouts in twenty years, the housing industry should be required to show why it needs government support again.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Cato Institute | Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work
When residents in Connecticut consider getting a job, they assume they would be better off having a job than not. They’d be wrong. Because in Connecticut, it pays not to work.
Economist | Are we doomed?
If the trials of the last half decade yield one-tenth the intellectual dividend of those of the 1930s, then the world has good reason to expect the future to be quite a lot better than the past, in much the same way that the recent past is a world apart from the horrors of the 1930s.
MarketWatch | House Republicans have decided against a government shutdown, report says
House Republicans will not tread into a shutdown battle with the Obama White House, according to a report from conservative publication National Review.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | GDP Is, Like, Totally Overrated
Investors rely too heavily on the quarterly gross domestic product report to understand the current economy. And they’re not even looking at the right figures.