News
CNN Money | Fannie, Freddie ease lending crunch during shutdown - See more at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/08/real_estate/mortgage-lending-shutdown/index.html?iid=HP_LN#sthash.NurkA9KH.dpuf
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have relaxed rules that would have kept banks from approving mortgages during the government shutdown. - See more at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/08/real_estate/mortgage-lending-shutdown/index.html?iid=HP_LN#sthash.NurkA9KH.dpuf
Bloomberg | IMF Cuts Global Outlook While Warning of U.S. Default Threat
The International Monetary Fund cut its global outlook for this year and next as capital outflows further weaken emerging markets and warned that a U.S. government default could “seriously damage” the world economy.
CNN Money | A 1-month shutdown: $50 billion economic blow
If the week-long government shutdown stretches to a month, it would mean a $50 billion blow to the U.S. economy. - See more at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/07/news/economy/shutdown-economic-impact/index.html?iid=SF_E_LN#sthash.AA0MB96Y.dpuf
Bloomberg | German Exports Increased in August on Euro-Area Recovery
German exports (GRBTEXMM) rose in August amid signs the economic recovery is continuing in the euro area, the country’s biggest trading partner.
Market Watch | No global leadership as economy slides toward edge
As financial movers and shakers gather in Washington later this week, the world is not a happy place. Five years after Lehman and three years after the great recession in the U.S. supposedly ended, the engines of global growth are either slowing or sputtering.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | If They Tell You They Predicted The Financial Crisis, They're Lying
As early as June 12, 2006, and many times after that, this column at varying locales pointed to the rush into housing as a very negative economic signal. The aforementioned 2006 Op-ed noted that the housing boom of the Bush era made his economic presidency most similar to that of Jimmy Carter's.
CATO | Stepping on the Bureaucrat’s Cape
Should government employees have privileges and legal immunities that the rest of us do not have? The government shutdown battle is, in part, a dispute about the extra subsidies members of Congress and their staffs are slated to get from Obamacare.
Washington Times | The shutdown as an opportunity
It would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic for our nation. No, not the government shutdown, but the relentless assault by President Obama — and his Senate sidekick Harry Reid — on fundamental constitutional procedures for making laws, applying them and enforcing them.
FOX Business | U.S. on the Gridlocked Road to Recession?
Washington politicians are playing a dangerous game with this government shutdown. If it continues for a long period, the U.S. economy could take a tailspin back into recession.
CATO | Why Growth Is Getting Harder
For over a century, the trend line for the long-term growth of the U.S. economy has held remarkably steady. Notwithstanding huge changes over time in economic, social, and political conditions, growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita has fluctuated fairly closely around an average annual rate of approximately 2 percent. Looking ahead, however, there are strong reasons for doubting that this historic norm can be maintained.
Blogs
Market Watch | U.S. foreclosures drop 34% over past year: CoreLogic
U.S. home foreclosures plunged over the past year, but the number of troubled properties remains high, with elevated rates of distressed properties in certain states, according to data released Tuesday.
WSJ | Small-Business Optimism Index Slips
The National Federation of Independent Business‘s small-business optimism index fell to 93.9 last month from a revised 94.1 in August that was first reported as 94.0.
Library of Economics | Fun Facts on Disability Insurance
The U.S. disability rate fell 25% between 1977 and 1987, then more than doubled. The staunchest health care skeptics should be baffled. Unless, of course, the availability of free money makes people sick to their stomachs...
