News
Bloomberg | Industrial Production in U.S. Increases 1.1%, Most in a Year
Industrial production in the U.S. climbed in November by the most in a year, a sign manufacturing (IPMGCHNG) is bolstering the world’s biggest economy.
Politico | Federal workers' pensions targeted in budget deal
Distinctly unpopular among voters and a scant presence in most congressional districts, federal workers have become an easy target in the hunt for budget savings.
FOX Business | Foreigners Head Back into U.S. Assets
Foreigners rushed back into U.S. assets in October, after they fled from them in September on fears that the government could default on some of its debt obligations, U.S. Treasury data showed on Monday.
National Journal | How One Mayor Pulled Back His City From Potential Bankruptcy
Angel Taveras had been in office barely eight weeks when his chief of staff walked in with the news. Michael D'Amico had just come from a somber meeting with the city's municipal finance review panel. D'Amico sat in the ancient couch in the mayor's second-floor City Hall office. The window behind him looked out on Providence's "Superman building," a city icon strikingly like the Daily Planet tower of comic-book fame, which was on its way to total vacancy.
Bloomberg | Euro-Area Factory Output Expands Faster Than Forecast: Economy
Euro-area factory output grew at a faster pace than economists forecast in December, led by Germany, as the currency bloc continued its gradual recovery from a record-long recession.
Market Watch | U.S. Markit flash PMI slightly lower in December
The U.S. flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index inched lower to a 54.4 reading in December from 54.7 in November, but still signaled solid business conditions, Markit said Monday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Hidden Danger in Public Pension Funds
The threat that public-employee pensions pose to state and local government finances is well known—witness the federal ruling earlier this month that Detroit's pension obligations are not sacrosanct in a municipal bankruptcy. Less well known is that pensions are larger and their investments riskier than at any point since public employees began unionizing in earnest nearly half a century ago.
Real Clear Markets | Mortgage Originators Must Have Skin In the Game
The Dodd-Frank financial regulation reform law passed after the 2008 financial crisis is mostly a misguided over-regulation of the financial sector that punishes financial firms with costs and compliance burdens for little gain.
CNN Money | How 2013 shaped up
So how did last year's predictions work out? Here's what Money magazine's December 2012 issue said would happen -- and how the year turned out.
Daily Caller | Paul Ryan saves the GOP from itself
If the GOP wants to retake the Senate and hold the House in 2014, the key issues must be the catastrophic pitfalls of Obamacare and better economic growth. A shutdown would be a distraction. It would take the heat off Obama and Obamacare, and all the Democrats who falsely promised that if you like your insurance and doctor, you can keep them.
Blogs
Economist | The new European Union
It has been a brutal half decade for the European Union. Given the tempestuousness, it is interesting to note that real per capita output across the EU is about where it was in 2008. While many countries have had it bad in many ways at many times over the past five years, the most significant economic shift in the EU has been shift in its internal economic order.
WSJ | Number of the Week: Half of U.S. Lives in Household Getting Benefits
49.2%: Percent of the population that lives in a household where at least one member received some type of government benefit in the fourth quarter of 2011.
