News
Politico | Standard and Poor's chief John Chambers: Default worse than 2008
Standard and Poor’s chief John Chambers warned Wednesday that failing to raise the debt ceiling and defaulting on the debt could be worse than the 2008 economic collapse.
Bloomberg | Cities Fixing Budgets Prove Haven Amid U.S. Impasse: Muni Credit
Municipal bonds are rallying the most in six months against federal debt, showing how bolstered local-government budgets are making city and state borrowings a haven from political turmoil over a possible U.S. default.
WSJ | Fiscal Uncertainty Chips Away at U.S. Prestige
As the world's pre-eminent economic power, the U.S. has been the cornerstone of the global financial system since World War II. Now, observers say that prestige may have been badly dented by Washington's latest display of fiscal dysfunction, limiting the U.S.'s ability to get things done abroad.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | The Obamacare Rollout Debacle Is A Hayekian 'Teaching Moment'
The necessity of re-learning fundamental truths at regular intervals should not surprise beings whose moral history begins with succumbing to the false temptation of the serpent before the Tree of Knowledge that “ye shall be as gods.” The debacle of the rollout of Obamacare is yet another moment for re-learning the fundamental truth about how little we know about what we think we can control.
NY Times | Chastening the Giant Banks
From the Gordon Gekko 1980s until the mortgage meltdown in 2007-8, the financial industry came to dominate the world economy. On this extraordinary and sometimes terrifying ride, banks reaped incredible profits while management and staff received generous salaries and lush bonuses.
Real Clear Markets | U.S. Farm Policy Amounts To $80 Billion For Rich People
Alice doesn't just live in Wonderland anymore; she seems to be everywhere. On ABC, in numerous op ed columns (along with the entire Corleone family in one case), and even hiding out in multiple DC monuments. She has also, apparently, invaded many Congressional offices.
Washington Times | Food-stamp looting
A computer-software glitch over the weekend briefly removed spending limits from certain food-stamp debit cards, setting off a run on supermarkets in several states. The incident provides a glimpse at what society looks like when it becomes dependent on the government just to eat.
Politico | America’s role in the world
President Barack Obama’s reluctance to intervene in Syria has occasioned yet another round of soul-searching on America’s role in the world. His reflective speech at the U.N. General Assembly has led commentators to wonder whether the United States remains willing to play its traditional and indispensable role in maintaining world order.
WSJ | A Carbon Reckoning
The Obama Administration's Environmental Protection Agency has spent the last few years stretching its legal authority, and now it will have to defend its actions before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the Justices agreed to review how far the agency can go in regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
