News
CNN Money | Cyber Monday sales surge 20% to record high
Cyber Monday sales jumped 20.6% year-to-year, making it the biggest online shopping day in history, according to an analysis released by IBM Tuesday.
Bloomberg | Americans Due to Replace Oldest Goods Since JFK; Jewelry? FDR
Americans have been holding on to their wobbly washing machines and sagging sofas even longer than their grandparents did 50 years ago, setting the stage for a rebound in consumer spending as old household goods wear out.
Mass Live | Editorial: Will 2013 stock rally spread to rest of U.S. economy?
Stocks this year have been up. And up and up. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has hit 43 new all-time highs. The S&P 500 has also been regularly setting new records.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Obama’s obesity epidemic
Federal food programs are now feeding more than 100 million Americans. The number of recipients has soared in recent years, thanks in part to Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign pledge to abolish childhood hunger by 2015. The food-aid explosion is worsening the nation’s obesity epidemic, though, and making a mockery of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign.
WSJ | Illinois's Fake Pension Fix
Democrats in Illinois have dug a $100 billion pension hole, and now they want Republicans to rescue them by voting for a plan that would merely delay the fiscal reckoning while helping to re-elect Governor Pat Quinn. The cuckolded GOP seems happy to oblige on this quarter-baked reform.
Washington Times | From protector to destroyer
Did you ever buy a game or device for which the rule book or instruction manual was so thick and detailed that you were not able to comprehend it in a reasonable period of time, so you either discarded or failed to use the product?
Fortune | Giant pool of money that ate the U.S. not as awful as initially thought
You would think that having an extra $70 trillion dollars lying around would be a good thing. But then NPR had to go and ruin that.
CATO | How States Talk Back to Washington and Strengthen American Federalism
Effective federalism requires that state officials be able to secure relief from national directives that impose undue burdens on state governments or improper constraints on state policy discretion. Many analysts focus on clearly legitimate and occasionally effective tactics such as lobbying or lawsuits.
Blogs
WSJ | Secondary Sources: Regulation, Next Debt Battle, EU Red Tape
A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Library of Economics | College Economics: Incomplete, But Not Taught "Backwards"
What should students learn in their introductory economics courses? Are we, as Mike Konczal argues, "teaching economics backwards" (HT: Justin Wolfers via Twitter)? I'm sympathetic to Konczal's argument that we need to focus more of our attention on the institutions that make markets possible in the first place, but I think starting with a complex economy operating below it's potential would be a mistake.
Heritage Foundation | Tea Party Supporters Should Continue to Back Free Trade
Recent media reports have questioned whether “Tea Party” members support free trade. Historically, the record is clear: Tea partiers were America’s original free traders.
Library of Economics | Ryan Avent on Economic Growth and Jim Crow Laws
Neither did economic growth magically free American slaves or end Jim Crow. There was nothing inevitable about the end of institutionalised racism in America, and without the end of institutionalised racism in America growth would manifestly not have led to greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.
