News
Politico | BP’s traveling a different road to redemption
Three years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, BP’s post-disaster demeanor has gone from contrite to combative.
Businessweek | The Economy Is ‘Stuck in Second Gear.’ Does It Have a Third?
On the heels of Friday’s tepid jobs report, numerous references have been made to the U.S. economy being “stuck in second gear.”
Bloomberg | BofA Cuts Jobs as Mortgage Slump Traps JPMorgan, Wells Fargo
Mortgage lenders including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) that feasted on refinancings as interest rates reached all-time lows are now warning that the drop in demand may be steeper than expected.
Market Watch | China industrial output, retail sales top forecast
Chinese economic data released Tuesday showed a stronger-than-anticipated picture for the industrial and retail sectors, sending stocks higher.
Bloomberg | Development Banks Lend Record $108.9 Billion to Clean Energy
Development banks worldwide lent a record $108.9 billion to renewable energy and energy-efficient technology last year as they scale back investment in coal-fired power plants, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Weak Recovery Explains Rising Inequality, Not Vice Versa
Last year at this time a debate raged about whether economic growth and job creation has been abnormally slow compared with previous recoveries from recessions in the United States. Now that the growth rate has declined to 1.6% over the past year from 2.8%, the debate is no longer about whether. It's about why.
NY Times | What Might Have Been, and the Fall of Lehman
As we observe the five-year anniversary of the financial crisis — Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy five years ago this coming weekend — the most intriguing hypothetical question about those fateful days is what would have happened had the government bailed out Lehman.
WSJ | More on Fracking and the Poor
Last week we reported on a study showing that the U.S. oil and natural gas revolution may be the country's best antipoverty program, and the evidence keeps coming. A new report from IHS Global Insight estimates that fracking added the equivalent of a cool $1,200 to real household disposable income on average in 2012.
CNN Money | Google's Schmidt: Technology can drive job growth
It's been debated since at least the days of the Luddites: Does technology create or destroy jobs?
WSJ | Mortgage Lenders, Home Buyers Feel Rate Squeeze
A rise in interest rates is slamming homeowners' demand for mortgages, prompting large and midsize banks to cut jobs and warn investors of declining profitability in the home-loan business.
Blogs
Economist | The protectionism that wasn't
“When it comes to international trade, actually it’s not the Great Depression, it’s worse.” So said Paul Krugman in 2009. Global markets were certainly rattled by the financial crisis. Trade plummeted. Credit seized up, investors became nervous and consumers tightened their belts. And it became harder to shift bikes to Belgium and cotton to Canada.
