News
CNN Money | 2014: When the economy finally takes off
When will America's economy finally stop limping along? 2014. That's what a growing number of economists are predicting.
Bloomberg | World Bank Is Told to Dump Rankings From ‘Doing Business’
The World Bank should stop ranking countries on how business-friendly they are, according to an independent review that said an annual listing creates perverse incentives for governments.
Market Watch | National activity index less negative in May
The national activity index compiled by the Chicago Fed rose to a negative 0.30 from negative 0.52 in April, while the three-month moving average dropped to negative 0.42 from negative 0.13 in April.
WSJ | Slow-Motion U.S. Recovery Searches for Second Gear
Many economists now predict 2014 will be the best year for growth since 2005, while joblessness is expected to click below 7% next year for the first time since 2008. Houses are selling again, the energy sector is booming and jobs, while not plentiful, are being created at a steady pace. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve upped its estimate for next year's expansion as well.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | Why the economy can't save stocks from Bernanke
Following the two-day 550 point decline in the Dow Jones industrial average last week, a number of commentators recommended stock investors follow Churchill: Keep calm and carry on.
Forbes | 'Welfare State' Doesn't Adequately Describe How Much America's Poor Control Your Wallet
Many people choose to become Democrats when they are young because of a humane belief that government policies in America are stingy in providing resources to the poor. William Voegeli fingered the attitude in his book, Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State: “no matter how large the welfare state, liberal politicians and writers have accused it of being shamefully small” and “contemptibly austere.”
Politico | Undermining immigration reform with high costs
The goal of immigration reform is to make our immigration system rational, accountable and workable. Bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows and into the system is a big part of that — it protects families, prevents exploitation and ensures that American workers and good employers are not undercut by unfair competition.
Blogs
WSJ | World Trade Increased in April
The volume of world trade rose in April following two straight months of decline, a reflection of modest growth in the global economy growth.
WSJ | Number of the Week: Will Higher Rates Kill Housing?
$96: How much more your monthly payment would be with a 4.5% 30-year mortgage rate than a 3.5% rate, assuming a 20% down payment on a $208,000 home (the median price in the May existing-home sales report).
Monday, June 24, 2013
Health Care
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Health Care: A Free Lunch Paid For By The Healthy
Two big promises were made in the effort to pass the Affordable Care Act: that insurance coverage would be extended to those with pre-existing conditions,and that subsidies would be provided to people who could not afford insurance. In both cases, the extension of benefits will be accomplished by making other (healthier or richer) people pay for these new free lunches.
Politico | Cure for affordable medical devices
For years, Medicare has been paying sky-high prices for basic equipment like wheelchairs and walkers based on outdated and overpriced payment rates. It was a great deal for the industry, but not a great one for taxpayers and people with Medicare.
Real Clear Markets | Health Care: A Free Lunch Paid For By The Healthy
Two big promises were made in the effort to pass the Affordable Care Act: that insurance coverage would be extended to those with pre-existing conditions,and that subsidies would be provided to people who could not afford insurance. In both cases, the extension of benefits will be accomplished by making other (healthier or richer) people pay for these new free lunches.
Politico | Cure for affordable medical devices
For years, Medicare has been paying sky-high prices for basic equipment like wheelchairs and walkers based on outdated and overpriced payment rates. It was a great deal for the industry, but not a great one for taxpayers and people with Medicare.
Monetary
News
CNN Money | BIS to global central banks: Time to reduce stimulus
Global investors freaked out last week with just a hint from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. could pull back on its stimulus program later this year.
Bloomberg | Fed Monetary Course Hard to Undo for Bernanke Successor: Economy
The Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has committed itself to a monetary strategy for this year and beyond that will be difficult to undo under a new chairman.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | A deflationary rate hike?
In the aftermath of Ben Bernanke’s announced timetable for ending Fed bond purchases, long-term interest rates have jumped up while stock prices have cratered down.
Fortune | A new era for the U.S. dollar
Against the world's major currencies, the value of the greenback has been strengthening on signs that the U.S. economy is improving -- a development that hasn't happened in recent years. Who knows what might transpire months from today, but some analysts and traders have taken the recent rally as a sign of the beginning of the end of the dollar's slump.
WSJ | Stopping Bank Crises Before They Start
In recent months the realization has sunk in across the country that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform legislation is a colossal mess. Yet we obviously can't go back to the status quo that produced a financial catastrophe in 2007-08. Fortunately, there is an alternative.
Washington Post | Cheap money can’t buy a strong economy
For more than four years, central banks around the world — led by the Federal Reserve — have aggressively pumped money into their economies to stimulate faster revival. These infusions are huge. From 2007 to today, the assets of major central banks nearly doubled from $10.4 trillion to $20.5 trillion, reports the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in its just-released annual report.
CATO | The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States
There is, in informal discussions and even in some academic writings, a tendency to treat U.S. monetary history as divided between a gold standard past and a fiat dollar present. In truth, the legal meaning of a "standard" U.S. dollar has been contested, often hotly, throughout U.S. history, and a functioning (if not formally acknowledged) gold standard was in effect for less than a quarter of the full span of U.S. history.
Blogs
Economist | I'm a central banker, get me out of here
Central banks are unable to repair banks’ broken balance sheets, to put public finances back on a sustainable footing, to raise potential output through structural reform. What they can do is to buy time for those painful actions to be taken. But that time, provided through unprecedented programmes of monetary stimulus since the financial crisis of 2008, has been misspent.
CNN Money | BIS to global central banks: Time to reduce stimulus
Global investors freaked out last week with just a hint from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. could pull back on its stimulus program later this year.
Bloomberg | Fed Monetary Course Hard to Undo for Bernanke Successor: Economy
The Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has committed itself to a monetary strategy for this year and beyond that will be difficult to undo under a new chairman.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | A deflationary rate hike?
In the aftermath of Ben Bernanke’s announced timetable for ending Fed bond purchases, long-term interest rates have jumped up while stock prices have cratered down.
Fortune | A new era for the U.S. dollar
Against the world's major currencies, the value of the greenback has been strengthening on signs that the U.S. economy is improving -- a development that hasn't happened in recent years. Who knows what might transpire months from today, but some analysts and traders have taken the recent rally as a sign of the beginning of the end of the dollar's slump.
WSJ | Stopping Bank Crises Before They Start
In recent months the realization has sunk in across the country that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform legislation is a colossal mess. Yet we obviously can't go back to the status quo that produced a financial catastrophe in 2007-08. Fortunately, there is an alternative.
Washington Post | Cheap money can’t buy a strong economy
For more than four years, central banks around the world — led by the Federal Reserve — have aggressively pumped money into their economies to stimulate faster revival. These infusions are huge. From 2007 to today, the assets of major central banks nearly doubled from $10.4 trillion to $20.5 trillion, reports the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in its just-released annual report.
CATO | The Rise and Fall of the Gold Standard in the United States
There is, in informal discussions and even in some academic writings, a tendency to treat U.S. monetary history as divided between a gold standard past and a fiat dollar present. In truth, the legal meaning of a "standard" U.S. dollar has been contested, often hotly, throughout U.S. history, and a functioning (if not formally acknowledged) gold standard was in effect for less than a quarter of the full span of U.S. history.
Blogs
Economist | I'm a central banker, get me out of here
Central banks are unable to repair banks’ broken balance sheets, to put public finances back on a sustainable footing, to raise potential output through structural reform. What they can do is to buy time for those painful actions to be taken. But that time, provided through unprecedented programmes of monetary stimulus since the financial crisis of 2008, has been misspent.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | The insatiable governments
The Group of Eight concluded their summit last week with grand promises to pursue “proper tax justice in our world,” in the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron. His Orwellian turn of phrase at first sounds good; who doesn’t like justice? But what “justice” here means is pursuing profitable corporations that seek refuge in business-friendly nations. If implemented, consumers would pay more for just about everything they buy.
Washington Times | The insatiable governments
The Group of Eight concluded their summit last week with grand promises to pursue “proper tax justice in our world,” in the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron. His Orwellian turn of phrase at first sounds good; who doesn’t like justice? But what “justice” here means is pursuing profitable corporations that seek refuge in business-friendly nations. If implemented, consumers would pay more for just about everything they buy.
Employment
News
Washington Post | Unemployment rate rises in Maryland and Virginia in May and holds steady in D.C.
Employment in the Washington region appears to have avoided a sequester-related bruising in May, a Friday report from the Labor Department showed, although the jobless rate rose in Maryland and Virginia and remained high in the District.
Washington Post | Unemployment rate rises in Maryland and Virginia in May and holds steady in D.C.
Employment in the Washington region appears to have avoided a sequester-related bruising in May, a Friday report from the Labor Department showed, although the jobless rate rose in Maryland and Virginia and remained high in the District.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | Six long-run tax and budget realities
The United States confronts a severe long-run fiscal imbalance. Federal spending on healthcare programs and other entitlements is projected to outstrip federal revenue over the next 50 years and beyond. The decisions of precisely how and when to address the imbalance will be made through the political process and will reflect the values that the American people express through their elected representatives.
AEI | Six long-run tax and budget realities
The United States confronts a severe long-run fiscal imbalance. Federal spending on healthcare programs and other entitlements is projected to outstrip federal revenue over the next 50 years and beyond. The decisions of precisely how and when to address the imbalance will be made through the political process and will reflect the values that the American people express through their elected representatives.
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