News
Market Watch | NFIB small-business index edges higher in February
The National Federation of Independent Business on Tuesday said its small-business confidence index edged up 1.9 points to 90.8% in February, but it remained low by historical standards.
Bloomberg | Truck Stocks Buoyed by Growth in U.S. Economy: EcoPulse
Shares of companies that own and operate their truck fleets are outperforming those that act as brokers for trucking services, driven by stronger U.S. freight activity.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Times | Realities Behind Prosecuting Big Banks
Are banks too big to jail? If there was any doubt about the answer to that question, Eric H. Holder Jr., the nation’s attorney general, last week blurted out what we’ve all known to be true but few inside the Obama administration have said aloud: Yes, they are.
Bloomberg | Cut Global Red Tape to Promote Economic Growth
Imagine that you own a small but rapidly growing company in Vermont, and that your products are starting to sell in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. You would probably hate it if those states forced you to comply with inconsistent and redundant regulatory requirements.
WSJ | The Ethanol Gas-Pump Surcharge
With gas prices above $4 a gallon in many parts of the U.S., consumers have a right to know why. Crude oil prices have fallen by 1% since the end of February even as gas prices are up 12%, according to an analysis by Reuters. So higher oil prices aren't the answer. Blame this one, at least in part, on Washington and ethanol.
US News | Financial Innovation Key to Future of Homeownership
The housing bubble and ensuing financial crisis not only wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, but it also shook public confidence in financial markets and robbed Americans of their faith in homeownership as a stable iconic pillar of middle class security.
Mercatus | Key Assumptions Behind CBO's GDP Outlook
Since CBO’s projected debt and deficit figures are contingent on other economic indicators like GDP, examining the assumptions underlying these figures is critical. Under a more realistic assumption of GDP growth, actual debt in 2023 might be even higher than the 77 percent of GDP projected in the CBO’s baseline scenario.
AEI | Realty, Unreality: Are low appraisal values a problem in housing?
Headlines such as Unrealistically Low Appraisal Values in Up Markets a Problem and Low Valuation in Home Appraisals Causing Steady Level of Contract Glitches are commonly used by the National Association Realtors (NAR).
Blogs
WSJ | Secondary Sources: Housing and Inflation, Economy-Market Disconnect, Sandy Bounceback
A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Health Care
News
National Journal | House GOP Confident on Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan
Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the federal budget in 10 years would have been, until recently, cause for House Republicans to fret. But emboldened by last year’s elections, in which they say attacks on Ryan’s previous proposals fizzled, the House GOP believes it can adopt the Budget Committee chairman’s new proposal and avoid backlash at the same time.
CNN Money | How Obama plans to save Medicare
The White House often says President Obama has a plan for reforming entitlements, particularly Medicare.
National Journal | House GOP Confident on Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan
Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the federal budget in 10 years would have been, until recently, cause for House Republicans to fret. But emboldened by last year’s elections, in which they say attacks on Ryan’s previous proposals fizzled, the House GOP believes it can adopt the Budget Committee chairman’s new proposal and avoid backlash at the same time.
CNN Money | How Obama plans to save Medicare
The White House often says President Obama has a plan for reforming entitlements, particularly Medicare.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | Banks’ Debt Addiction Said to Face Scrutiny at Basel Group
A planned international limit on bank indebtedness will be on the agenda of every meeting of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision this year as regulators seek to wean lenders off their addiction to debt, according to three people familiar with the talks.
Politico | Senate is ground zero in megabank debate
It’s rare that the Obama administration and Wall Street banks find themselves on the same side of an attack. But both are facing increasingly uncomfortable questions from both the left and the right, particularly in the Senate, about whether the problem of too-big-to-fail banks has been eradicated more than four years after Lehman Brothers’ demise shook the financial world.
Bloomberg | Banks’ Debt Addiction Said to Face Scrutiny at Basel Group
A planned international limit on bank indebtedness will be on the agenda of every meeting of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision this year as regulators seek to wean lenders off their addiction to debt, according to three people familiar with the talks.
Politico | Senate is ground zero in megabank debate
It’s rare that the Obama administration and Wall Street banks find themselves on the same side of an attack. But both are facing increasingly uncomfortable questions from both the left and the right, particularly in the Senate, about whether the problem of too-big-to-fail banks has been eradicated more than four years after Lehman Brothers’ demise shook the financial world.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Hidden Tax Behind Wall Street Reform
As it has in years past, Congress is now considering changing the tax rules regarding "carried interest," a kind of investment earnings often taxed at a rate lower than that of ordinary income. This matter will doubtless be resolved politically, as there is no clear right or wrong answer economically. To paraphrase Churchill, messy fighting among lobbyists, lawyers and demagogues is the worst way to settle such things, except for all the other ways.
Blogs
WSJ | Number of Entrepreneurs in Russia Falls After Tax Rise
The number of entrepreneurs in Russia has fallen 7% in the past three months after obligatory insurance contributions were doubled, the economy ministry said Monday.
WSJ | The Hidden Tax Behind Wall Street Reform
As it has in years past, Congress is now considering changing the tax rules regarding "carried interest," a kind of investment earnings often taxed at a rate lower than that of ordinary income. This matter will doubtless be resolved politically, as there is no clear right or wrong answer economically. To paraphrase Churchill, messy fighting among lobbyists, lawyers and demagogues is the worst way to settle such things, except for all the other ways.
Blogs
WSJ | Number of Entrepreneurs in Russia Falls After Tax Rise
The number of entrepreneurs in Russia has fallen 7% in the past three months after obligatory insurance contributions were doubled, the economy ministry said Monday.
Employment
News
Market Watch | U.S. hiring plans steady in second quarter
Employers are expecting to hold hiring steady in the second quarter, with gains in a wide variety of industries and across the country, according to Manpower’s employment-outlook survey released Tuesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Sequestration myth
The head of the Obama White House National Economic Council, Gene Sperling, who is a lawyer, has been claiming that “all economists” agree that sequestration will cost 750,000 jobs.
LA Times | Why we shouldn't raise the minimum wage
In announcing his wrongheaded proposal to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour, President Obama spoke in lofty terms: "In the wealthiest nation on Earth," he said in his State of the Union address last month, "no one who works full time should have to live in poverty."
Blogs
Library of Economics | The Myopic Empiricism of the Minimum Wage
Unlike most opponents of the minimum wage, I admit that David Card and Alan Krueger's famous research on the topic is well-done. How then can I continue to embrace (and teach!) the textbook view that the minimum wage significantly reduces employment of low-skilled workers?
Market Watch | U.S. hiring plans steady in second quarter
Employers are expecting to hold hiring steady in the second quarter, with gains in a wide variety of industries and across the country, according to Manpower’s employment-outlook survey released Tuesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Sequestration myth
The head of the Obama White House National Economic Council, Gene Sperling, who is a lawyer, has been claiming that “all economists” agree that sequestration will cost 750,000 jobs.
LA Times | Why we shouldn't raise the minimum wage
In announcing his wrongheaded proposal to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour, President Obama spoke in lofty terms: "In the wealthiest nation on Earth," he said in his State of the Union address last month, "no one who works full time should have to live in poverty."
Blogs
Library of Economics | The Myopic Empiricism of the Minimum Wage
Unlike most opponents of the minimum wage, I admit that David Card and Alan Krueger's famous research on the topic is well-done. How then can I continue to embrace (and teach!) the textbook view that the minimum wage significantly reduces employment of low-skilled workers?
Budget
News
Politico | Patty Murray budget: $1 trillion in new revenue
Sen. Patty Murray’s new budget plan calls for raising tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion while cutting spending by roughly the same amount over the next decade, according to people familiar with the proposal.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The GOP Plan to Balance the Budget by 2023
On Tuesday, we're introducing a budget that balances in 10 years—without raising taxes. How do we do it? We stop spending money the government doesn't have. Historically, Americans have paid a little less than one-fifth of their income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent more.
Politico | Easing sequester’s burden on states
With federal dollars accounting for more than a third of total state spending, states have plenty of reason to be troubled by what many thought would never happen: sequestration.
Heritage Foundation | How to Get Welfare Spending Under Control
Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent nearly $20 trillion (adjusted for inflation) on means-tested welfare assistance for the poor. Means-tested programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income Americans.
Blogs
Economist | Can we agree that...
Because it is always a good time to relitigate America's fiscal stimulus, the blogosphere has spent the past week or so relitigating America's fiscal stimulus. Rather than plunge headlong into the fray, I'll attempt to distill some fiscal policy truths that should be reasonably acceptable to most participants.
Politico | Patty Murray budget: $1 trillion in new revenue
Sen. Patty Murray’s new budget plan calls for raising tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion while cutting spending by roughly the same amount over the next decade, according to people familiar with the proposal.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The GOP Plan to Balance the Budget by 2023
On Tuesday, we're introducing a budget that balances in 10 years—without raising taxes. How do we do it? We stop spending money the government doesn't have. Historically, Americans have paid a little less than one-fifth of their income in taxes to the federal government each year. But the government has spent more.
Politico | Easing sequester’s burden on states
With federal dollars accounting for more than a third of total state spending, states have plenty of reason to be troubled by what many thought would never happen: sequestration.
Heritage Foundation | How to Get Welfare Spending Under Control
Since the beginning of the War on Poverty, government has spent nearly $20 trillion (adjusted for inflation) on means-tested welfare assistance for the poor. Means-tested programs provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income Americans.
Blogs
Economist | Can we agree that...
Because it is always a good time to relitigate America's fiscal stimulus, the blogosphere has spent the past week or so relitigating America's fiscal stimulus. Rather than plunge headlong into the fray, I'll attempt to distill some fiscal policy truths that should be reasonably acceptable to most participants.
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