General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Europe Manufacturing Expands for First Time in Two Years
Euro-area manufacturing unexpectedly expanded in July for the first time in two years, led by Germany, adding to signs the currency bloc’s economy is emerging from a record-long recession.
Gallup | In U.S., Economic Confidence Stalls
Americans are less upbeat about the economy now than they were in May and June. Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index held steady at -12 last week, but the current score is substantially lower than the five-year weekly high of -3 reached in late May and early June.
National Journal | What to Do With the Highway Trust Fund?
Any discussion of the surface-transportation bill in recent years has focused on the Highway Trust Fund, and that dynamic shows no signs of changing anytime soon.
FOX Business | New Home Sales Hit Five-Year High
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes vaulted to a five-year high in June, showing little signs of slowing in the face of higher mortgage rates.
CNN Money | Are big banks driving up commodity prices?
Think you're paying more for gas, electricity and soda? You could be right. And some people think big banks could be to blame.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Treasury's Fannie Mae Heist
The federal government currently is seizing the substantial profits of the government-chartered mortgage firms, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taking for itself the property and potential gains of private investors the government induced to help prop up these companies. This conduct is intolerable.
Washington Times | Accommodating failure
President Obama hopes to take the nation’s attention away from the IRS scandals and a royal baby (good luck with that) with a speech Wednesday. His topic, the economy, isn’t an obvious one, considering miserable economic growth numbers and 7.6 percent unemployment.
Trulia Trends | Sorry, Mom and Dad: The Kids Aren’t Moving Out Yet
Household formation is the most important measure of the housing recovery that hasn’t bounced back yet. The latest population data show that young adults are still living with their parents – even if they have jobs.
Mercatus | A Market-Driven Nominal GDP Targeting Regime
In recent decades, there has been a worldwide shift toward market-driven economic policies, including privatization, deregulation of market access, bandwidth auctioning, congestion pricing, and tradable pollution permits.
AEI | GSE reform bills are right to end Fannie and Freddie
We, at last, have two bills in Congress – one in the House and one in the Senate – addressing the long-festering problem of what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and proposing a housing finance sector without them.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Construction Index Dips in June, Still Shows Growth
A leading indicator of U.S. construction activity dipped slightly in June, but remained in positive territory for the second-straight month, reflecting recovery in the commercial real-estate sector.
Neighborhood Effects | Why Regulations Fail
Last week, David Fahrenthold wrote a great article in the Washington Post, in which he described the sheer absurdity of a USDA regulation mandating a small town magician to develop a disaster evacuation plan for his rabbit (the rabbit was an indispensible part of trick that also involved a hat).
WSJ | Majority of Americans Say U.S. Still in Recession
The economy may be sputtering along. But it hasn’t been in recession for more than four years. More than half of Americans think it still is.
Calculated Risk | A Few Comments on New Home Sales
As I noted over the weekend, the key number in the existing home sales report is not sales, but inventory. It is mostly visible inventory that impacts prices. When we look at sales for existing homes, the focus should be on the composition between conventional and distressed, not total sales. So, for those who follow housing closely, the existing home sales report on Monday was solid even though sales were down.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Smooth Sailing So Far for Plan to Fix Medicare-Payment Formula
It was 13 minutes of smooth sailing on Day Two of a markup to repeal a long-maligned Medicare-payment formula for physicians.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | Obamacare's Success Hinges On the Young Taking Bribes
The success of Obamacare hinges on whether young professionals are willing to trade away some of their job aspirations for the certainty of government aid.
CATO | Behind the Times’ ObamaCare ‘News’
The Obama administration has been quick to seize on a report last week in The New York Times that the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, will reduce premiums for individually purchased insurance in New York from $1,000 per month to just $300, a phenomenal 70 percent reduction. ObamaCare is a success! Happy days are here again. Or not.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | U.S. Health Spending: One of These Things Not Like Others
That the U.S spends a lot of money on health care is a refrain many Americans are familiar with, but the latest health expenditure data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development still are striking.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | 5 things to know about rising rates
After years of decline to rock-bottom levels, interest rates are on the rise. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage was recently 4.35%, more than a point above the 2012 low of 3.3%.
Bloomberg | European Banks Face Capital Gap With Focus on Leverage
Europe’s biggest banks, which more than doubled their highest-quality capital to $1 trillion since 2007 to meet tougher rules, may have further to go as regulators scrutinize how lenders judge the riskiness of their assets.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Can Jack Lew Save Financial Reform?
Three years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, it’s time to be honest about financial-sector reform: It hasn’t gone well. (If you doubt this, read these articles by former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman.)
The American | The European Central Bank’s Clay Feet
The Book of Proverbs teaches that pride goes before the fall. Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), should take heed of that lesson. For at the very same time that he is trumpeting the great success of his “whatever it takes to preserve the Euro” statement made last year, the European economic periphery is again showing the clearest signs of economic and political distress.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Senators unsure of steps for tax reform
There are just a few days left for senators to explain which tax breaks they’d like to see survive tax reform, and once the deadline passes, one important question will linger: What happens next?

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
CNBC | Auto job boom rolls on as Ford expands, again
Ford is expanding again. This time, the country's second-largest automaker is adding 800 jobs, primarily in vehicle development.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | IMF’s Lagarde Drops Proposal to Back Argentina in Debt Case
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde withdrew a proposal to back Argentina in the country’s legal battle over its defaulted debt, citing opposition from the U.S., the fund’s largest shareholder.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Politico | Debt ceiling drama returns
The rapidly approaching fight over lifting the nation’s borrowing limit won’t only pit Republicans against President Barack Obama but also pit Republicans against Republicans.
Forbes | In My Native City Of Detroit, Atlas Has At Long Last Shrugged
I’m sad. Detroit is my native city. It’s decline from being arguably the world’s richest city to being America’s “first Third Word city” is tragic, politically criminal, and a warning to other Americans.
Washington Post | Detroit casts a shadow on munis
Although a municipality filing for bankruptcy protection is rare, you ought to be paying attention to what happens to bondholders in the case of Detroit.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Debt limit talks won’t hurt growth this year, say Wall Street economists
Wall Street economists don’t believe that coming negotiations over raising the U.S. borrowing limit will hurt growth this year, according to a report by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.