News
CNN Money | China GDP growth slows to 7.5%
China's economy grew at a slower pace in the second quarter, continuing a trend that will test the country's leaders as they seek to execute painful structural reforms.
Market Watch | Empire State index accelerates in July
The Empire State manufacturing survey rose in July for the second month and has now been in positive territory for five of the last six months, the New York Fed said Monday.
Bloomberg | Corporate Spending Set to Surge in U.S.
Companies in the U.S. are beginning to empty their deep pockets and boost capital spending as they look past the specter of sequestration and global growth risks.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The 2016 Disability Insurance Time Bomb
Social Security for retirement and Medicare are the best known of the major entitlement programs with looming financial disasters. While some argue about when they will run out of money, their projected 75-year unfunded liabilities grow larger every year and now total $40 trillion, much worse thereafter.
Washington Times | Why Obama’s smart-government initiative is dumb
President Obama wants to make government “smarter.” Who could disagree with that? After all, it’s unlikely that even the biggest fans of big government think the way government does what it does is the very best, very smartest way imaginable. Whether you’re an anarchist, a Leninist or somewhere in between, everyone can agree that Uncle Sam could afford a few more IQ points.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | A Band-Aid for Derivatives Trading
American regulators yesterday agreed, both internally and with the European Union, on how to deal with the trading of financial derivatives beyond U.S. shores. The EU and U.S. essentially decided to treat each other’s rules as “close enough.”
Monday, July 15, 2013
Health Care
News
CNN Money | Scamming Obamacare harder than you think
The way some people have interpreted the latest Obamacare rule change, you'd think the administration was inviting people to steal from the government.
WSJ | Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk
The long upward curve of U.S. health-care spending finally seems to be flattening. But is it temporary or the start of a lasting change? With health-care costs nearing 18% of the nation's gross domestic product—$2.7 trillion in 2011—the health of the economy itself is at stake.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Why the President's ObamaCare Maneuver May Backfire
President Obama's announcement on July 2 that he is suspending the Affordable Care Act's employer health-insurance mandate may well have exposed his actions to judicial review—even though that is clearly what he sought to avoid.
NBER | Heterogeneity in Cost-Sharing and Cost-Sensitivity, and the Role of the Prescribing Physician
In this paper, we use individual level data on purchases of one of the most prescribed categories of drugs (cholesterol-lowering statins) to study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Obamacare Exchange Contractor Target of Major Fraud Investigation
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration over the Independence Day holiday quietly awarded “a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion” to Serco, a British company, to help develop the federal insurance exchange. Now comes word from London that Serco is one of two companies under investigation by British authorities for overbilling government contracts.
CNN Money | Scamming Obamacare harder than you think
The way some people have interpreted the latest Obamacare rule change, you'd think the administration was inviting people to steal from the government.
WSJ | Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk
The long upward curve of U.S. health-care spending finally seems to be flattening. But is it temporary or the start of a lasting change? With health-care costs nearing 18% of the nation's gross domestic product—$2.7 trillion in 2011—the health of the economy itself is at stake.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Why the President's ObamaCare Maneuver May Backfire
President Obama's announcement on July 2 that he is suspending the Affordable Care Act's employer health-insurance mandate may well have exposed his actions to judicial review—even though that is clearly what he sought to avoid.
NBER | Heterogeneity in Cost-Sharing and Cost-Sensitivity, and the Role of the Prescribing Physician
In this paper, we use individual level data on purchases of one of the most prescribed categories of drugs (cholesterol-lowering statins) to study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Obamacare Exchange Contractor Target of Major Fraud Investigation
Last week, The New York Times reported that the Obama Administration over the Independence Day holiday quietly awarded “a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion” to Serco, a British company, to help develop the federal insurance exchange. Now comes word from London that Serco is one of two companies under investigation by British authorities for overbilling government contracts.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | Bernanke Boom Signaled by Yield Surge as Market Recalculates
The worst first half for Treasuries in four years has wrung the unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus out of bond prices as investors now look to low inflation and slow economic growth to contain yields.
WSJ | Banks Cautious as Profits Rise
Two of the nation's largest banks reported better-than-expected profits Friday, but executives warned that mortgage lending could drop in the second half of 2013 if interest rates stay elevated.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | The 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act
Senators John McCain and Elizabeth Warren are giving it a shot. The Arizona Republican and Massachusetts Democrat last week unveiled their “21st-Century Glass-Steagall Act,” which would restore the barrier between commercial banking and investment banking first established by the Banking Act of 1933.
Forbes | Want To Break Up The Banks? Be Very Careful What You Wish For
A popular refrain on the left AND right ever since the financial crisis* is that to ensure nothing like it happens again, the banks must be broken up. Explicit here is that if no bank is too large, no one entity can ‘threaten the financial system’ if calamity strikes. They also presume that smaller banks mean no more bailouts. Both are nice thoughts, yet totally divorced from reality.
Fortune | Sorry, but hedge funds aren't going away
Hedge funds may be a media piñata right now, but they aren't going away. Nor should they.
Bloomberg | Should Fed’s Policies Rule the World?
Up to 60 percent of global transactions are conducted in U.S. dollars, more than one-third of world economic output is produced in dollar bloc economies, and an even greater share of global assets are priced in the currency, or linked currencies. This role as the de facto global currency for more than six decades has made the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy one of the U.S.’s greatest exports.
Blogs
WSJ | Fed’s Plosser: Time to Taper Bond Buying, End by Close of Year
One of the Federal Reserve‘s leading opponents of its bond-buying stimulus efforts called on the central bank to begin shrinking the purchases and stop them by year-end.
WSJ | Vital Signs Chart: Tracking the Dollar
The buck stops here? The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against seven currencies, has risen about 6.5% this year as investors position for a gradual end to the Federal Reserve’s currency-weakening easy-money policies.
Bloomberg | Bernanke Boom Signaled by Yield Surge as Market Recalculates
The worst first half for Treasuries in four years has wrung the unprecedented Federal Reserve stimulus out of bond prices as investors now look to low inflation and slow economic growth to contain yields.
WSJ | Banks Cautious as Profits Rise
Two of the nation's largest banks reported better-than-expected profits Friday, but executives warned that mortgage lending could drop in the second half of 2013 if interest rates stay elevated.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | The 21st-century Glass-Steagall Act
Senators John McCain and Elizabeth Warren are giving it a shot. The Arizona Republican and Massachusetts Democrat last week unveiled their “21st-Century Glass-Steagall Act,” which would restore the barrier between commercial banking and investment banking first established by the Banking Act of 1933.
Forbes | Want To Break Up The Banks? Be Very Careful What You Wish For
A popular refrain on the left AND right ever since the financial crisis* is that to ensure nothing like it happens again, the banks must be broken up. Explicit here is that if no bank is too large, no one entity can ‘threaten the financial system’ if calamity strikes. They also presume that smaller banks mean no more bailouts. Both are nice thoughts, yet totally divorced from reality.
Fortune | Sorry, but hedge funds aren't going away
Hedge funds may be a media piñata right now, but they aren't going away. Nor should they.
Bloomberg | Should Fed’s Policies Rule the World?
Up to 60 percent of global transactions are conducted in U.S. dollars, more than one-third of world economic output is produced in dollar bloc economies, and an even greater share of global assets are priced in the currency, or linked currencies. This role as the de facto global currency for more than six decades has made the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy one of the U.S.’s greatest exports.
Blogs
WSJ | Fed’s Plosser: Time to Taper Bond Buying, End by Close of Year
One of the Federal Reserve‘s leading opponents of its bond-buying stimulus efforts called on the central bank to begin shrinking the purchases and stop them by year-end.
WSJ | Vital Signs Chart: Tracking the Dollar
The buck stops here? The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against seven currencies, has risen about 6.5% this year as investors position for a gradual end to the Federal Reserve’s currency-weakening easy-money policies.
Taxes
News
Politico | No rush to fill in the blanks on tax reform
Senate Finance Committee leaders are running into a problem with their “blank slate” approach to tax reform: Many of their colleagues aren’t interested in filling in the blanks.
WSJ | U.S. Delays Rollout of Offshore Tax Dragnet
The Treasury Department said it would delay for six months the implementation of a global regulatory system that aims to make it harder for Americans to hide money offshore.
Politico | Lawmakers wrestle with cutting big tax breaks
As lawmakers wade into the specifics of overhauling the Tax Code, they’ll find it tough to enact major cuts in tax rates — for many, the only reason to bother with all the controversy that will come with a once-in-a-generation overhaul — without slicing a wide swath of tax breaks benefiting millions of Americans.
Blogs
CATO | Debating Tax Havens
I never thought I would wind up in Costco’s monthly magazine, but I was asked to take part in a pro-con debate on “Should offshore tax havens be illegal?”
Politico | No rush to fill in the blanks on tax reform
Senate Finance Committee leaders are running into a problem with their “blank slate” approach to tax reform: Many of their colleagues aren’t interested in filling in the blanks.
WSJ | U.S. Delays Rollout of Offshore Tax Dragnet
The Treasury Department said it would delay for six months the implementation of a global regulatory system that aims to make it harder for Americans to hide money offshore.
Politico | Lawmakers wrestle with cutting big tax breaks
As lawmakers wade into the specifics of overhauling the Tax Code, they’ll find it tough to enact major cuts in tax rates — for many, the only reason to bother with all the controversy that will come with a once-in-a-generation overhaul — without slicing a wide swath of tax breaks benefiting millions of Americans.
Blogs
CATO | Debating Tax Havens
I never thought I would wind up in Costco’s monthly magazine, but I was asked to take part in a pro-con debate on “Should offshore tax havens be illegal?”
Employment
News
CNN Money | Twinkies are back, but most jobs are not
Twinkies are back in stores. But most of the jobs of the people that make them won't be returning any time soon.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | High tech and the long road to ‘full employment’
Here’s a somber thought: We may never — or at least not anytime soon — regain “full employment,” meaning an unemployment rate between, say, 4 percent and 5.5 percent. It is now four years from the recovery’s start, and the number of jobs is still 2.2 million below the pre-recession peak.
Forbes | The Untold Unemployment Story: A Loss Of 162,000 Full-Time Jobs In June
You would not have gotten the real story about the June unemployment report on the front page of any newspaper. If you can find a reporter who can think for himself or herself, he or she is a treasure who should be promoted to run the entire paper.
CNN Money | Twinkies are back, but most jobs are not
Twinkies are back in stores. But most of the jobs of the people that make them won't be returning any time soon.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | High tech and the long road to ‘full employment’
Here’s a somber thought: We may never — or at least not anytime soon — regain “full employment,” meaning an unemployment rate between, say, 4 percent and 5.5 percent. It is now four years from the recovery’s start, and the number of jobs is still 2.2 million below the pre-recession peak.
Forbes | The Untold Unemployment Story: A Loss Of 162,000 Full-Time Jobs In June
You would not have gotten the real story about the June unemployment report on the front page of any newspaper. If you can find a reporter who can think for himself or herself, he or she is a treasure who should be promoted to run the entire paper.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Earth To Keynesians, Government Spending Isn't Demand
Keynesians continue to claim the recent recession and weak recovery have as their root cause a shortage of demand. If only the government would spend more money in the short run to augment demand from the private sector, we could fully recover.
Real Clear Markets | Earth To Keynesians, Government Spending Isn't Demand
Keynesians continue to claim the recent recession and weak recovery have as their root cause a shortage of demand. If only the government would spend more money in the short run to augment demand from the private sector, we could fully recover.
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