News
CNN Money | Home prices post strongest gains in 7 years
U.S. home prices posted their strongest gains since 2006, as the housing recovery continued to gain steam.
Market Watch | Fannie, Freddie climb 25% to continue surge
The over-the-counter common shares of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each leapt over 25% on Monday, extending the 40%-plus gains seen Friday.
WSJ | States Raise College Budgets After Years of Deep Cuts
After cutting spending on public colleges and universities during the economic crisis, many state governments have begun to boost higher-education budgets once again.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Europe’s Banks Turn to U.S. Subprime for Salvation
The U.S. mortgage bonds that were exported around the globe and triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression are now helping Europe’s banks and governments repair balance sheets after jumping in value.
WSJ | Regulator for the World
Imagine if a Bush Administration official had insisted that U.S. law must reign supreme in every country where a U.S. bank does business. That's essentially the position of Chairman Gary Gensler of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). And despite a world-wide backlash, the U.S. press corps is giving him an ovation.
Blogs
Library of Economics | Are Rising Graduation Rates Good News? Two Theories, Four Answers
The nation's high school graduation rate has risen -- to 78 percent in 2010, the Education Department says in its most recent estimate. That's obviously still not where it should be, but it's the highest figure since 1974.
Calculated Risk | Dallas and Richmond Fed: Regional Manufacturing Activity mixed in May
Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region contracted at a less pronounced rate in May after pulling back in April, according to the Richmond Fed’s latest survey. ...
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | Poll: 54 percent against Obamacare
Fifty-four percent of Americans oppose President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, according to a CNN poll released Monday, while 43 percent support the law.
CNN Money | IRS role in Obamacare
The IRS has a big target on its back these days. Its leaders have been pummeled on Capitol Hill over inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Bloomberg | Obamacare Unveiled as California, New York Lead U.S.
While politicians in Washington argue over the Affordable Care Act, its ultimate fate is being decided far from Capitol Hill.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Obamacare Will Give Consumers the Wrong Information
The federal government is working hard to educate consumers about the nutritional content and health dangers hidden in your favorite foods. Restaurants increasingly are being forced to provide their customers with information on calories, sodium, sugar, and other information on nutrition and ingredients.
Politico | Poll: 54 percent against Obamacare
Fifty-four percent of Americans oppose President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, according to a CNN poll released Monday, while 43 percent support the law.
CNN Money | IRS role in Obamacare
The IRS has a big target on its back these days. Its leaders have been pummeled on Capitol Hill over inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Bloomberg | Obamacare Unveiled as California, New York Lead U.S.
While politicians in Washington argue over the Affordable Care Act, its ultimate fate is being decided far from Capitol Hill.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Obamacare Will Give Consumers the Wrong Information
The federal government is working hard to educate consumers about the nutritional content and health dangers hidden in your favorite foods. Restaurants increasingly are being forced to provide their customers with information on calories, sodium, sugar, and other information on nutrition and ingredients.
Monetary
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | The curse of the dollar?
For years, the dollar’s role as the major global currency has been termed an “exorbitant privilege” — a phrase coined by French Finance Minister and later President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Now it may be turning into an extravagant curse.
Washington Times | Preserving their monopoly on monopoly money
“The need to slough off the outworn old to make possible the productive new is universal. It is reasonably certain that we would still have stagecoaches — nationalized to be sure, heavily subsidized and with a fantastic research program to ‘retain the horse’ — had there been ministries of transportation around 1825.”
Real Clear Markets | Bernanke's Cures Are the Economy's Disease
New jobs numbers from the Labor Department due out next week will give the Federal Reserve its first clue as to how the economy performed in May, and signal whether the Fed might start reducing its accommodative monetary policy.
Heritage Foundation | Congress Should Query IMF Support for Capital Controls
Since the global financial turmoil in late 2008, increased attention has focused on the role of the IMF in the rapidly changing international monetary system and the future of U.S. support for the fund. The IMF’s recent institutional endorsement of capital controls should be a major concern for Congress in its consideration of President Obama’s request for a $63 billion increase in the U.S. funding for the organization.
Washington Post | The curse of the dollar?
For years, the dollar’s role as the major global currency has been termed an “exorbitant privilege” — a phrase coined by French Finance Minister and later President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Now it may be turning into an extravagant curse.
Washington Times | Preserving their monopoly on monopoly money
“The need to slough off the outworn old to make possible the productive new is universal. It is reasonably certain that we would still have stagecoaches — nationalized to be sure, heavily subsidized and with a fantastic research program to ‘retain the horse’ — had there been ministries of transportation around 1825.”
Real Clear Markets | Bernanke's Cures Are the Economy's Disease
New jobs numbers from the Labor Department due out next week will give the Federal Reserve its first clue as to how the economy performed in May, and signal whether the Fed might start reducing its accommodative monetary policy.
Heritage Foundation | Congress Should Query IMF Support for Capital Controls
Since the global financial turmoil in late 2008, increased attention has focused on the role of the IMF in the rapidly changing international monetary system and the future of U.S. support for the fund. The IMF’s recent institutional endorsement of capital controls should be a major concern for Congress in its consideration of President Obama’s request for a $63 billion increase in the U.S. funding for the organization.
Taxes
News
CNBC | Texas Passes Business Tax Cuts Worth More Than $1 Billion
Texas lawmakers sent Gov. Rick Perry more than $1 billion in proposed business tax cuts shortly before the end of the biennial legislative session, and the governor called a special session to address redistricting.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | In U.S. energy boom, a growing tax dodge
More energy companies are converting to a tax-free status that was once reserved for a small segment of the industry.
AEI | Fix, don't flatten, the tax code
If the sluggish U.S. economy wasn’t reason enough for tax reform, the ongoing IRS scandal demonstrates how a devilishly complex tax code enables government mischief.
CNBC | Texas Passes Business Tax Cuts Worth More Than $1 Billion
Texas lawmakers sent Gov. Rick Perry more than $1 billion in proposed business tax cuts shortly before the end of the biennial legislative session, and the governor called a special session to address redistricting.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | In U.S. energy boom, a growing tax dodge
More energy companies are converting to a tax-free status that was once reserved for a small segment of the industry.
AEI | Fix, don't flatten, the tax code
If the sluggish U.S. economy wasn’t reason enough for tax reform, the ongoing IRS scandal demonstrates how a devilishly complex tax code enables government mischief.
Employment
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Winning the jobs war
While the talk in Washington in recent weeks has veered sharply away from the issues that most affect our daily lives, the people I meet at businesses, in schools and elsewhere in our communities are still most concerned with how their leaders are going to ensure the availability of the things that mean the most to them, like well-paying jobs, quality education, and a fair opportunity for their families.
AEI | A new jobs agenda
The most pressing problem facing the United States today is not the federal budget deficit, the national debt, or excessive federal spending. It is the labor market. Yes, the United States does have a deficit problem, but we have a much more serious labor-market problem.
Politico | Winning the jobs war
While the talk in Washington in recent weeks has veered sharply away from the issues that most affect our daily lives, the people I meet at businesses, in schools and elsewhere in our communities are still most concerned with how their leaders are going to ensure the availability of the things that mean the most to them, like well-paying jobs, quality education, and a fair opportunity for their families.
AEI | A new jobs agenda
The most pressing problem facing the United States today is not the federal budget deficit, the national debt, or excessive federal spending. It is the labor market. Yes, the United States does have a deficit problem, but we have a much more serious labor-market problem.
Budget
News
CNN Money | Senior citizens struggle with mounting debt
It used to be that many Americans entered retirement having paid off their mortgages and most of their other debts. This should have been senior citizens' Golden Years.
Bloomberg | Worse-Than-Cyprus Debt Load Means Caribbean Defaults to Moody’s
Three bond restructurings totaling about $9.7 billion in the Caribbean this year are failing to ignite economic growth and may not help the region avoid more defaults, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
CNN Money | 7 million students brace for surge in loan rates
On July 1, the interest rates on student loans subsidized by Uncle Sam will most likely double to 6.8%.
WSJ | Economists Brawl Over Austerity, Debt
Harvard economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart over the weekend accused Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman of "spectacularly uncivil behavior" and of inaccurately alleging that they refused to share data supporting their work linking heavy debt levels to subsequent slow economic growth.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Why the debt-ceiling fight is low key — for now
When it comes to raising the U.S. debt ceiling, 2013 is not 2011. At least not yet.
Washignton Times | Pricking the college loan bubble
College loans remain a cruel charade. In the name of making higher education “more affordable,” students are conned into borrowing far more than they can repay in return for a university degree.
NBER | Borrowing High vs. Borrowing Higher: Sources and Consequences of Dispersion in Individual Borrowing Costs
We document cross-individual variation in U.S. credit card borrowing costs (APRs) that is large enough to explain substantial differences in household saving rates.
Blogs
Economist | Debt, growth and competing risks
Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have revived the debate over their work on debt and growth with an open letter to Paul Krugman. They accuse him of incivility, factual misstatements and general wrongness. On the first, he's guilty (but so are many economists, usefully). On the second, he is guilty of a lesser charge
CNN Money | Senior citizens struggle with mounting debt
It used to be that many Americans entered retirement having paid off their mortgages and most of their other debts. This should have been senior citizens' Golden Years.
Bloomberg | Worse-Than-Cyprus Debt Load Means Caribbean Defaults to Moody’s
Three bond restructurings totaling about $9.7 billion in the Caribbean this year are failing to ignite economic growth and may not help the region avoid more defaults, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
CNN Money | 7 million students brace for surge in loan rates
On July 1, the interest rates on student loans subsidized by Uncle Sam will most likely double to 6.8%.
WSJ | Economists Brawl Over Austerity, Debt
Harvard economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart over the weekend accused Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman of "spectacularly uncivil behavior" and of inaccurately alleging that they refused to share data supporting their work linking heavy debt levels to subsequent slow economic growth.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Why the debt-ceiling fight is low key — for now
When it comes to raising the U.S. debt ceiling, 2013 is not 2011. At least not yet.
Washignton Times | Pricking the college loan bubble
College loans remain a cruel charade. In the name of making higher education “more affordable,” students are conned into borrowing far more than they can repay in return for a university degree.
NBER | Borrowing High vs. Borrowing Higher: Sources and Consequences of Dispersion in Individual Borrowing Costs
We document cross-individual variation in U.S. credit card borrowing costs (APRs) that is large enough to explain substantial differences in household saving rates.
Blogs
Economist | Debt, growth and competing risks
Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have revived the debate over their work on debt and growth with an open letter to Paul Krugman. They accuse him of incivility, factual misstatements and general wrongness. On the first, he's guilty (but so are many economists, usefully). On the second, he is guilty of a lesser charge
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