General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Homebuyers clueless about mortgages
The housing market is heating up, yet many house hunters are not prepared to take on the biggest purchases of their lives.
Market Watch | Too-big-to-fail rules need work: Fed's Plosser
Current rules about handling troubled too-big-to-fail financial institutions are insufficient, with too much discretion in the hands of regulators and more standardization needed in the case of bankruptcy, Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said Thursday at a conference in New York
CNN Money | Student debt delays spending, saving - and marriage
Piles of student loan debt are leading some borrowers to put off saving for retirement, buy a home and even get married -- and now many regret taking out the loans in the first place.
Fortune | U.S. citizens ditch passports in record numbers
If the recent quarter's pace continues, 2013 will become a landmark year for saying goodbye to America, tax-wise.
Washington Times | Bailed-out Fannie Mae to return $59 billion to taxpayers
Fannie Mae will return nearly $59 billion to taxpayers after experiencing its best-ever profits last quarter, the mortgage giant announced Thursday morning.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Market Watch | Lacker: Living wills best alternative to bailouts
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said ending "too big to fail" perceptions will be tough but the best way is to require firms to establish "living wills" that would facilitate rapid and orderly resolution and would not expose taxpayers to extraordinary financial support.
Washington Times | Keeping America afloat
The old saying “he who rules the seas rules the world” is still relevant today. National and global interests — for America, in particular — are inextricably linked to the seas. With oceans covering 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, they are just as important now as they were centuries ago when exploration and discovery were possible only by setting sail.
The Hill | Rejuvenate US growth with spending control
America faces an alarming growth gap — a gap between where our economy is in the present recovery compared with where our economy should be in an average recovery.
Real Clear Markets | Obama Now 'Owns' The U.S. Economy
President Obama's continued sequester attacks implicitly admit one thing: He now "owns" the economy. For four years, America's economic ennui was successfully attributed to his predecessor. Now beginning his second term, the "previous administration" is his own... and so is the economy that comes with it.
CBO | Macroeconomic Analysis of Legislative Proposals
As part of its budget resolution for fiscal year 2014, the Senate incorporated a “request for supplemental estimates” from CBO.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Why Were Young People Hit Harder by the Recession?
One of the biggest factors, a new paper suggests, is the larger mortgage debt young households under 45 had relative to their assets compared to older people in the run-up to the financial crisis — and the fact that much of their wealth came from owning homes.
Library of Economics | Happy Hayek Day: Is it Investment? Is it Consumption?
Measurement is obviously problematic. The BEA counts "education" as "consumption spending" (see Cowen & Tabarrok's macro principles book, p. 103), for example, and this is definitely true for some students and some degrees. If people are in school to acquire human capital, then schooling should probably be counted as investment.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Big price swings among hospitals driving costs
The Obama administration posted reams of data Wednesday about the wildly different hospital charges for the most common procedures, shoring up extensive research suggesting broad variation is a major cost driver in the U.S. health system.
CNBC | US Spending on Medicines Fell for First Time in 2012
Patent expirations on big-name drugs such as Lipitor and Plavix has resulted in modestly less spending on medicines in the U.S. for the first time in at least 55 years, according to a report released on Thursday.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | ECB Says Rate Cut Is Consistent With Low Inflation in Euro Area
The European Central Bank said low inflation in the 17-nation euro area allowed policy makers to cut interest rates last week, as economists lowered forecasts for consumer prices and economic growth.
Bloomberg | Central Banks Keep Easing After 511 Cuts Fail to Spur Economies
Global central bankers are poised to ease monetary policy even further after a wave of interest-rate cuts from India to Poland.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Heritage Foundation | Research Review: Zero Lower Bound Interest Rates
In monetary policy, zero is an important number. Nominal interbank interest rates cannot normally sink below zero—that would mean one bank was paying the other to borrow its money.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Fed’s Evans: Low Inflation to Persist for Years
U.S. inflation, now running about 1.5%, is below the Federal Reserve‘s long-term objective and should stay that way for years, although it’s too soon for the central bank to react with a policy shift, the president of the Chicago Fed said Thursday.

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
LA Times | First, fix the tax code
The federal government is expected to hit its statutory credit limit later this month, setting the stage for yet another battle between the Obama administration and the House GOP over raising the debt ceiling.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Tax reform: Have your say
The two main drivers of a congressional effort to overhaul the U.S. tax code are asking for public input on what changes to make to the mammoth set of rules.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Jobless claims fall to another 5-year low
Jobless claims fell to another five-year low last week, signaling that layoffs are back to pre-recession levels.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Meet Generation Jobbed
Twitter has reduced historical memory to minutes, but think back to what had the political class atwitter last week. Back then the air filled with worry on the left that Barack Obama was losing his juice after the gun-control setback, the sequester backfire and the Syrian red-line roll-up.

Budget

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Politico | Excessive student loan debt drains economic engine
While a college degree can be a key to the American dream, for many Americans, unmanageable student debt has turned into a nightmare. There appears to be growing consensus that unmanageable debt burdens are not just a problem for individual borrowers but for all of us.