News
Market Watch | 30-year-mortgage rate declines to 4.50%
The average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 4.50% in the week that ended Sept. 19 from 4.57% in the prior week, according to a Thursday report from Freddie Mac.
Bloomberg | Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Rise in August to Six-Year High
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly rose in August to the highest level in more than six years as buyers rushed to lock in interest rates before they rise further.
Market Watch | Leading indicators climbs 0.7% in August
The leading economic index for the U.S. rose 0.7% in August to 96.6, the Conference Board said Thursday.
Bloomberg | Philadelphia Fed Factory Index Increased to 22.3 in September
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index rose to 22.3 in September from 9.3 a month earlier. Readings greater than zero signal growth in the area, which covers eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Times | America’s Sinking Middle Class
In some respects, 1988 has the feel of an alien, distant era. There was no such thing as the World Wide Web then. The Soviet Union was still around; the Berlin Wall still standing. Americans elected a Republican president who would raise taxes to help tame the budget deficit.
Washington Times | Drilling to prosperity
Ordinary Americans are searching desperately for a way up and out of the crater of high unemployment and stagnant growth, and the Obama administration’s only strategy is to borrow and borrow until the economy rises to life. The resurrection strategy hasn’t worked; the way out lies right under our feet.
CATO | Capitalism’s Triumph
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” That statement came not from a tea-party leader or a congressional Republican, but from Bono, singer, celebrity, and global anti-poverty activist, speaking to Georgetown’s Global Social Enterprise Initiative last year.
Blogs
WSJ | As U.S. Imports Less Oil, Current Account Deficit Narrows
The U.S. current account deficit narrowed to a four-year low, partly reflecting the country’s diminishing appetite for foreign oil.
CATO | House Food Stamps Legislation
Farm bills traditionally contain both farm subsidies and food subsidies (e.g., food stamps). Unable to pass a traditional farm bill passed this year, the House Republican leadership separated the two components. The House passed a stand-alone farm subsidy bill in the summer and now it’s set to vote on a bill that would trim the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a.k.a., food stamps) by $39 billion over ten years.
Nerighborhood Effects | How are the states doing with pension funded ratios?
The Tax Foundation has a new pension map. It shows the funding levels of plans in the states, based on a risk-free discount rate. The numbers were crunched by State Budget Solutions, using a yield on (notional) 15-year Treasury bonds of 3.2 percent.
Library of Economics | When Does Changing Household Size Resurrect American Economic Performance?
Changing household size was a huge deal between 1970 and 1990, and no deal at all between 1990 and 2010. Since stagnationists like Tyler usually start their tale of woe in 1973, critics can and should complain that household income is a biased measure of individual income.
