News
FOX Business | Mortgage Applications Skid as Interest Rates Jump
Interest rates on home mortgages rose last week to hit their highest level in over a year, sapping demand from potential homeowners, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Regulated States of America
In "Democracy in America," published in 1833, Alexis de Tocqueville marveled at the way Americans preferred voluntary association to government regulation. "The inhabitant of the United States," he wrote, "has only a defiant and restive regard for social authority and he appeals to it . . . only when he cannot do without it."
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Health Care
News
WSJ | Health-Insurance Exchanges Are Falling Behind Schedule
Government officials have missed several deadlines in setting up new health-insurance exchanges for small businesses and consumers—a key part of the federal health overhaul—and there is a risk they won't be ready to open on time in October, Congress's watchdog arm said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Young Won't Buy ObamaCare
Media outlets lately have emphasized the challenge of enticing healthy young adults to sign up for ObamaCare, "exactly the type of person insurance plans, states and the federal government are counting on to make health reform work," as the L.A. Times put it. These pieces are useful as far as they go, but miss a key point that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito managed to convey in many fewer words during last year's Supreme Court argument on ObamaCare.
Blogs
WSJ | Medical Costs Register First Decline Since 1970s
U.S. consumers’ health-care costs fell in May for the first time in almost four decades, the latest evidence that government policies and an expansion in generic drugs are holding back prices.
WSJ | Health-Insurance Exchanges Are Falling Behind Schedule
Government officials have missed several deadlines in setting up new health-insurance exchanges for small businesses and consumers—a key part of the federal health overhaul—and there is a risk they won't be ready to open on time in October, Congress's watchdog arm said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Young Won't Buy ObamaCare
Media outlets lately have emphasized the challenge of enticing healthy young adults to sign up for ObamaCare, "exactly the type of person insurance plans, states and the federal government are counting on to make health reform work," as the L.A. Times put it. These pieces are useful as far as they go, but miss a key point that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito managed to convey in many fewer words during last year's Supreme Court argument on ObamaCare.
Blogs
WSJ | Medical Costs Register First Decline Since 1970s
U.S. consumers’ health-care costs fell in May for the first time in almost four decades, the latest evidence that government policies and an expansion in generic drugs are holding back prices.
Monetary
News
Market Watch | Three pitfalls the Fed faces on path to tapering
It has become fairly clear after all of the talk and turbulence surrounding the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting that the central bank wants to pull back on its easy policy stance if it can.
Bloomberg | Low Inflation Gives Bernanke Time to Press on With QE: Economy
The lowest inflation since the brink of the Kennedy-era economic boom in the 1960s is buying time for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to press on with the central bank’s $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Businessweek | Why Less Fed Stimulus Is Actually Good for the Stock Market
Volatility and hand-wringing over the Federal Reserve’s possible tapering plans obscures the fact that equities actually rise when the central bank dials back stimulus. Bloomberg’s Whitney Kisling writes that the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained an average of 16 percent over two years the last four times the Fed started raising interest rates.
Real Clear Markets | All Eyes Are On the Fed, And That's the Problem
To read the financial and economic commentariat right now is to know that all eyes are on the Federal Reserve. Will it or won't it cease buying Treasuries and agency paper, will it or won't it raise the rate it sets for short-term credit? If the pundits are to be believed, such information will impact the allocation of trillions of dollars worth of investment.
WSJ | The Fed Takes Aim at Foreign Banks
Senior officials from Germany, France, Japan and the European Commission have expressed deep concern to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the Fed's proposed new regulatory regime for foreign banks under Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Their concerns are likely to be raised in meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers, and they deserve to be.
Blogs
WSJ | What to Expect From Fed Today
The meeting comes after several weeks of high drama in the markets sparked by the Fed’s attempts to explain how and when it might pull back from its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, and confusing investors in the process. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s challenge: Lay the groundwork for pulling the program back later in the year without alarming the markets with a sense that the central bank is about to slam on brakes.
Economist | Bernanke: mission accomplished
When Mr Bernanke speaks to the press tomorrow after the release of the Fed's latest policy statement and economic projections, his task will be to explain why those other factors justify the probable reduction in asset-purchases by late this year, despite the fact that the Fed remains well short of the programme's stated goals.
Market Watch | Three pitfalls the Fed faces on path to tapering
It has become fairly clear after all of the talk and turbulence surrounding the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting that the central bank wants to pull back on its easy policy stance if it can.
Bloomberg | Low Inflation Gives Bernanke Time to Press on With QE: Economy
The lowest inflation since the brink of the Kennedy-era economic boom in the 1960s is buying time for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to press on with the central bank’s $85 billion in monthly bond purchases.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Businessweek | Why Less Fed Stimulus Is Actually Good for the Stock Market
Volatility and hand-wringing over the Federal Reserve’s possible tapering plans obscures the fact that equities actually rise when the central bank dials back stimulus. Bloomberg’s Whitney Kisling writes that the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained an average of 16 percent over two years the last four times the Fed started raising interest rates.
Real Clear Markets | All Eyes Are On the Fed, And That's the Problem
To read the financial and economic commentariat right now is to know that all eyes are on the Federal Reserve. Will it or won't it cease buying Treasuries and agency paper, will it or won't it raise the rate it sets for short-term credit? If the pundits are to be believed, such information will impact the allocation of trillions of dollars worth of investment.
WSJ | The Fed Takes Aim at Foreign Banks
Senior officials from Germany, France, Japan and the European Commission have expressed deep concern to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the Fed's proposed new regulatory regime for foreign banks under Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act. Their concerns are likely to be raised in meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers, and they deserve to be.
Blogs
WSJ | What to Expect From Fed Today
The meeting comes after several weeks of high drama in the markets sparked by the Fed’s attempts to explain how and when it might pull back from its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, and confusing investors in the process. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke‘s challenge: Lay the groundwork for pulling the program back later in the year without alarming the markets with a sense that the central bank is about to slam on brakes.
Economist | Bernanke: mission accomplished
When Mr Bernanke speaks to the press tomorrow after the release of the Fed's latest policy statement and economic projections, his task will be to explain why those other factors justify the probable reduction in asset-purchases by late this year, despite the fact that the Fed remains well short of the programme's stated goals.
Taxes
News
Politico | G-8 tax call won’t be answered quickly on Hill
Lawmakers from both parties are almost universally singing the praises of a new international plan to crack down on global tax evaders but that won’t translate into legislative action any time soon.
Politico | Conservatives rally against online sales tax
A powerful cohort of small-government advocates is trying to prevent the Marketplace Fairness Act from gaining any traction in the House before it is even taken up by committee.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | The microwave tax
The Energy Department is once more deciding what kind of appliances are good for you. Like the “standards” the federal government imposed on light bulbs, toilets, washing machines and other essentials, the rules are all about taking choices from consumers and requiring them to buy machines that don’t work or don’t work as well as they once did.
Politico | G-8 tax call won’t be answered quickly on Hill
Lawmakers from both parties are almost universally singing the praises of a new international plan to crack down on global tax evaders but that won’t translate into legislative action any time soon.
Politico | Conservatives rally against online sales tax
A powerful cohort of small-government advocates is trying to prevent the Marketplace Fairness Act from gaining any traction in the House before it is even taken up by committee.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | The microwave tax
The Energy Department is once more deciding what kind of appliances are good for you. Like the “standards” the federal government imposed on light bulbs, toilets, washing machines and other essentials, the rules are all about taking choices from consumers and requiring them to buy machines that don’t work or don’t work as well as they once did.
Employment
News
Politico | Unions eye fight over role of federal contractors
Unions representing federal employees are gearing up for a battle against government contractors after the revelation that the National Security Agency leaks came from a 29-year-old at Booz Allen Hamilton.
CNN Money | Men are disappearing from the workforce
In the 1950s, nearly every man in his prime working years was in the labor force, a category that includes both those who are employed and those actively applying for jobs. The "participation rate" for men ages 25 to 54 stood at 97.7% in early 1956, but drifted downward to a post-war record low of 88.4% at the end of 2012. (It ticked up very slightly at the start of this year to 88.6%.)
NY Post | Skip the internship
What’s an internship worth? As much as it pays, apparently. Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures had violated federal and New York minimum-wage laws by not paying its production interns.
Washington Post | Obama warns of lost generation due to high youth unemployment in Europe
President Barack Obama is suggesting Europe may need to adjust its economic policies to tackle high youth unemployment.
Politico | Unions eye fight over role of federal contractors
Unions representing federal employees are gearing up for a battle against government contractors after the revelation that the National Security Agency leaks came from a 29-year-old at Booz Allen Hamilton.
CNN Money | Men are disappearing from the workforce
In the 1950s, nearly every man in his prime working years was in the labor force, a category that includes both those who are employed and those actively applying for jobs. The "participation rate" for men ages 25 to 54 stood at 97.7% in early 1956, but drifted downward to a post-war record low of 88.4% at the end of 2012. (It ticked up very slightly at the start of this year to 88.6%.)
NY Post | Skip the internship
What’s an internship worth? As much as it pays, apparently. Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures had violated federal and New York minimum-wage laws by not paying its production interns.
Washington Post | Obama warns of lost generation due to high youth unemployment in Europe
President Barack Obama is suggesting Europe may need to adjust its economic policies to tackle high youth unemployment.
Budget
News
Politico | Right wing, John Boehner in Hastert rule fight
The hope among GOP leaders is that an expected failure of the Salmon effort will show the insurgents that they are only marginal figures in the party — and send a warning to other rank-and-file Republicans that sticking their neck out for the fringe isn’t an effective strategy.
National Journal | Senators Scramble to Prevent Doubling of Student-Loan Rates
As the clock ticks down toward the doubling of some student-loan interest rates, a group of senators has been scrambling to come to an agreement to solve the problem.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | How to teach Americans to save? Treat them like children
A new study suggests a different type of bank account could get people to save more.
Heritage Foundation | Soaring National Debt Remains a Grave Threat
Federal government debt has nearly doubled since President Barack Obama took office and is projected to increase 50 percent over the next decade—and then rise rapidly thereafter—under existing policies. As federal debt has soared, so have concerns about America’s future.
Politico | Right wing, John Boehner in Hastert rule fight
The hope among GOP leaders is that an expected failure of the Salmon effort will show the insurgents that they are only marginal figures in the party — and send a warning to other rank-and-file Republicans that sticking their neck out for the fringe isn’t an effective strategy.
National Journal | Senators Scramble to Prevent Doubling of Student-Loan Rates
As the clock ticks down toward the doubling of some student-loan interest rates, a group of senators has been scrambling to come to an agreement to solve the problem.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | How to teach Americans to save? Treat them like children
A new study suggests a different type of bank account could get people to save more.
Heritage Foundation | Soaring National Debt Remains a Grave Threat
Federal government debt has nearly doubled since President Barack Obama took office and is projected to increase 50 percent over the next decade—and then rise rapidly thereafter—under existing policies. As federal debt has soared, so have concerns about America’s future.
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