News
Politico | The $38 billion nuclear waste fiasco
Doing nothing often has a cost — and when it comes to storing the nation’s nuclear waste, the price is $38 billion and rising.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Manufacturing Expands More Than Estimated
Euro-area manufacturing output grew more than initially estimated in November, led by Germany, the currency bloc’s largest economy.
National Journal | Congress Is Running Out of Time
The House returns to session on Monday with just seven more days on the legislative schedule this year and time running out on a budget deal, a farm-bill reauthorization, and a long list of other items requiring action by year's end.
Market Watch | U.S. construction spending up in October
Outlays for U.S. construction projects rose in October after falling in September, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
FOX Business | Manufacturing Activity Highest Since April 2011
The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest pace in 2-1/2 years last month, an industry report showed on Monday, while the pace of hiring in the sector also accelerated.
CNN Money | Food stamp cuts hit hard this Thanksgiving
"The food stamp cuts that came down November 1 took 76 million meals out of the New York City economy alone," she said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | The Democratic Party Is Now The Party Of Big Business
The traditional view of American political parties and their special interest groups is that the Republican Party represents big business and social conservatives while the Democratic Party represents labor unions and the poor.
Real Clear Markets | We Have a Failure of Economic Vocabulary
Among our problems is a failure of economic language. We lack the words and concepts to describe observable reality. By conventional wisdom, the Great Recession is long over.
Forbes | The Great Depression Was Ended by the End of World War II, Not the Start of It
A common fallacy is that the Great Depression was ended by the explosive spending of World War II. But World War II actually institutionalized the sharp decline in the standard of living caused by the Depression. The Depression was actually ended, and prosperity restored, by the sharp reductions in spending, taxes and regulation at the end of World War II, exactly contrary to the analysis of Keynesian so-called economists.
Washington Times | Spending on social welfare rose as economy tanked during recession
Spending on social welfare programs soared by $500 billion to $2.1 trillion during the Great Recession, but the increase was almost entirely due to the historic surge in unemployment to 10 percent rather than a liberalization of benefits by the government, according to two studies out this month.
Mercatus | Government Report on Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations Fails to Capture Full Impact of Rules
Each year, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) produces a report on the benefits and costs of federal regulations, using Regulatory Impact Analyses (RIAs) created by federal agencies. The OIRA report and the underlying agency RIAs together provide an estimate of the effects regulations are likely to have on the economy upon implementation.
Blogs
WSJ | World-Wide Factory Activity, by Country
Much of the world’s factory sector was expanding in November, as manufacturers in the U.S. posted their strongest month since April 2011 and much of the euro zone rebounded.
Library of Economics | Robert Murphy on Why Government Can't Run Like a Business
We often hear people, including businessmen, lament the fact that the government doesn't seem to be run like a business. Many of them want it to.
