News
CNN Money | JPMorgan to exit commodities businesses
JPMorgan said Friday it is exiting the business of owning physical commodities, including electricity, oil and aluminum.
WSJ | Scientists Envision Fracking in Arctic and on Ocean Floor
Scientists in Japan and the U.S. say they are moving closer to tapping a new source of energy: methane hydrate, a crystalline form of natural gas found in Arctic permafrost and at the bottom of oceans.
Washington Times | Economy hums along, proves taxing and spending prognosticators wrong
The U.S. economy has fared better than expected this year after widespread fears that $85 billion of automatic spending cuts and sharp increases in taxes imposed at the beginning of the year would snuff out growth.
CNBC | Obama says income gap is fraying US social fabric
In a week when he tried to focus attention on the struggles of the middle class, President Obama said in an interview that he was worried that years of widening income inequality and the lingering effects of the financial crisis had frayed the country’s social fabric and undermined Americans’ belief in opportunity.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Half full or half empty? Jobs and GDP differ
GDP says U.S. growth is subpar, but the monthly jobs report suggests the economy is on the upswing. What’s an investor to do?
Forbes | For The Sake Of The Economy, Obama Should Keep His Eye Off Of The Ball
Last Wednesday in Illinois, President Obama unwittingly explained how economies grow. Our 44th president asserted without a hint of irony that “Washington has taken its eye off the ball.” Exactly!
Washington Post | Bankrupt Detroit needs to reinvent itself
If nothing else, Detroit’s bankruptcy marks the symbolic closure of an era when heavy industry dominated the U.S. economy and, through its factories, the United States dominated the world. We think of our time as a period of wrenching change, but it’s not in the same league as the tumultuous transformations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
FOX Business | It Isn’t You: The Economy Still Stinks
Did you listen to President Obama’s speech on the economy the other day? No? Me neither. At least not much of it. What little I could stomach sounded like the same old partisan politics, pointless policies, finger pointing, and pandering to middle-class voters.
NBER | Family Welfare Cultures
Strong intergenerational correlations in various types of welfare use have fueled a long standing debate over whether welfare dependency in one generation causes welfare dependency in the next generation.
AEI | Fact-free 'middle out economics'
Here’s how Obama rewrites economic history: The shared national purpose of World War II was followed by a golden age of shared prosperity in the 1950s and 1960s. Unions were strong, taxes high, pension benefits guaranteed — thanks to a grand egalitarian bargain between Big Government, Big Business, and Big Labor. “But over time, that bargain began to fray,” Obama said.
Blogs
WSJ | Children With Parents on Government Assistance More Likely to Become Dependent
Does dependence on government assistance in one generation cause dependency in the next? A new economics paper suggests it does.
WSJ | IMF: Manufacturing Could Lift Long-Term U.S. Growth
A resurgent manufacturing sector is poised to lift long-term U.S. growth if exporters can capture a bigger share of fast-growing Asian markets, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | Mississippi Insurance Commissioner’s Affordable Care Act plan
After suffering through a high-profile intraparty squabble with the governor and averting a near disaster for the state’s insurance marketplace, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is giving another go at running an Obamacare exchange.
WSJ | More Doctors Steer Clear of Medicare
Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Affordable Care Act's Rate-Setting Won't Work
Continuing efforts by congressional Republicans to "defund" further implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even if it takes shutting down the federal government, are willfully destructive. As Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) told the press last week, "I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard . . . as long as Barack Obama is president the Affordable Care Act is gonna be law."
Politico | Mississippi Insurance Commissioner’s Affordable Care Act plan
After suffering through a high-profile intraparty squabble with the governor and averting a near disaster for the state’s insurance marketplace, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is giving another go at running an Obamacare exchange.
WSJ | More Doctors Steer Clear of Medicare
Fewer American doctors are treating patients enrolled in the Medicare health program for seniors, reflecting frustration with its payment rates and pushback against mounting rules, according to health experts.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Affordable Care Act's Rate-Setting Won't Work
Continuing efforts by congressional Republicans to "defund" further implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even if it takes shutting down the federal government, are willfully destructive. As Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) told the press last week, "I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard . . . as long as Barack Obama is president the Affordable Care Act is gonna be law."
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | ECB Board Members Call for Publication of Meeting Minutes
Two European Central Bank Executive Board members said the minutes from policy meetings should be published, adding to signs the ECB may soon follow other major central banks in taking the step to increase transparency.
CNN Money | Dollar coin advocates renew push to replace dollar bill
People who want to replace the flimsy dollar bill with a sturdier metal coin are pushing their cause again.
Forbes | Investors who love QE should fear Larry Summers
One of Obama's top choices of the next head of the Federal Reserve has some reservations about current monetary policy.
Bloomberg | Investors Are Lab Rabbits in Central Bank Experiments
The European Central Bank and Bank of England are emulating Ben S. Bernanke’s experiment in offering monetary-policy guidance to financial markets. Investors could well end up being the guinea pigs.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Bernanke’s lame-duck status having policy impact
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s perceived lame-duck status adds a wild card for markets trying to understand monetary policy, as the central bank prepares to meet this week.
Politico | Pulling the plug on failed financial institutions
The legislation we supported in 2010 does create death panels. But they found them in the wrong place. The U.S. federal government now has the power to terminate the lives of large, heavily indebted financial institutions — not frail, gravely ill old people.
NY Times | Not Too Big to Fail
New rules on bank capital, recently proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other bank regulators, are a welcome step toward a safer and sounder financial system. And they come at a politically timely moment. Big banks invariably argue that new rules will impede their ability to thrive and, in the process, harm the economy. But their profits are soaring, even as the economy slows, a situation that makes their shopworn anti-regulatory argument all the more threadbare.
Blogs
Economist | The new monetary ideology
Quantitative easing, which almost no one had heard of five years ago, is the great new discovery in macroeconomic policy. Policymakers put their faith in it as the engine of recovery; variations in the quantity of money supplied by the central bank has graduated from an emergency measure to a permanent tool.
Bloomberg | ECB Board Members Call for Publication of Meeting Minutes
Two European Central Bank Executive Board members said the minutes from policy meetings should be published, adding to signs the ECB may soon follow other major central banks in taking the step to increase transparency.
CNN Money | Dollar coin advocates renew push to replace dollar bill
People who want to replace the flimsy dollar bill with a sturdier metal coin are pushing their cause again.
Forbes | Investors who love QE should fear Larry Summers
One of Obama's top choices of the next head of the Federal Reserve has some reservations about current monetary policy.
Bloomberg | Investors Are Lab Rabbits in Central Bank Experiments
The European Central Bank and Bank of England are emulating Ben S. Bernanke’s experiment in offering monetary-policy guidance to financial markets. Investors could well end up being the guinea pigs.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Bernanke’s lame-duck status having policy impact
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s perceived lame-duck status adds a wild card for markets trying to understand monetary policy, as the central bank prepares to meet this week.
Politico | Pulling the plug on failed financial institutions
The legislation we supported in 2010 does create death panels. But they found them in the wrong place. The U.S. federal government now has the power to terminate the lives of large, heavily indebted financial institutions — not frail, gravely ill old people.
NY Times | Not Too Big to Fail
New rules on bank capital, recently proposed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other bank regulators, are a welcome step toward a safer and sounder financial system. And they come at a politically timely moment. Big banks invariably argue that new rules will impede their ability to thrive and, in the process, harm the economy. But their profits are soaring, even as the economy slows, a situation that makes their shopworn anti-regulatory argument all the more threadbare.
Blogs
Economist | The new monetary ideology
Quantitative easing, which almost no one had heard of five years ago, is the great new discovery in macroeconomic policy. Policymakers put their faith in it as the engine of recovery; variations in the quantity of money supplied by the central bank has graduated from an emergency measure to a permanent tool.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Heritage Foundation | Expanding Education Choices: From Vouchers and Tax Credits to Savings Accounts
Education is on the verge of a new frontier. Online virtual schools are spreading around the country, and charter schools now account for some 2 million students. Parents are able to find hundreds of educational applications on an iPad or use programs such as Skype or instant messaging to find tutoring programs for their children anywhere in the world.
Heritage Foundation | Expanding Education Choices: From Vouchers and Tax Credits to Savings Accounts
Education is on the verge of a new frontier. Online virtual schools are spreading around the country, and charter schools now account for some 2 million students. Parents are able to find hundreds of educational applications on an iPad or use programs such as Skype or instant messaging to find tutoring programs for their children anywhere in the world.
Employment
News
CNN Money | Amazon hiring 7,000 workers
Amazon announced plans Monday to hire 7,000 workers for its U.S. operation, with most jobs offering pay and benefits far above typical retail wages, the company said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Keystone Contradictions
As President Obama continues his income inequality tour, the contradictions multiply. In the latest example, the President disparaged the number of jobs that would be created by the Keystone XL pipeline even as laments the lack of opportunities for the middle class.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Green Jobs: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. President
In his speech at Knox College, President Obama laid out his plan for the Detroitification of America: higher taxes, higher spending, increased minimum wages, more mandates, and rerouting the path of upward mobility through tried-and-failed social programs.
CNN Money | Amazon hiring 7,000 workers
Amazon announced plans Monday to hire 7,000 workers for its U.S. operation, with most jobs offering pay and benefits far above typical retail wages, the company said.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Keystone Contradictions
As President Obama continues his income inequality tour, the contradictions multiply. In the latest example, the President disparaged the number of jobs that would be created by the Keystone XL pipeline even as laments the lack of opportunities for the middle class.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Green Jobs: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. President
In his speech at Knox College, President Obama laid out his plan for the Detroitification of America: higher taxes, higher spending, increased minimum wages, more mandates, and rerouting the path of upward mobility through tried-and-failed social programs.
Budget
News
WSJ | Grand Bargain Eludes Budget Negotiations
Top White House officials are stepping up meetings with Senate Republicans in hopes of averting a deadline-driven clash over federal spending this fall, according to people familiar with the sessions. But the two sides remain far apart on basic questions of whether to raise tax revenue and how to rein in the cost of Medicare.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | An Examination of Student Loan Interest Rate Proposals in the 113th Congress
The interest rates that borrowers pay on federal student loans made through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program are specified in statutory language of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. For the past two years, one type of loan—Direct Subsidized Loans—has been made with a fixed interest rate of 3.4%.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Sequestration “Meat Cleaver” Is Really a Scalpel
In his speech yesterday, President Barack Obama referred to sequestration as a “meat cleaver” again, when news reports in fact show that the cuts have been much more targeted and much less devastating than he claims.
WSJ | Grand Bargain Eludes Budget Negotiations
Top White House officials are stepping up meetings with Senate Republicans in hopes of averting a deadline-driven clash over federal spending this fall, according to people familiar with the sessions. But the two sides remain far apart on basic questions of whether to raise tax revenue and how to rein in the cost of Medicare.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | An Examination of Student Loan Interest Rate Proposals in the 113th Congress
The interest rates that borrowers pay on federal student loans made through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan program are specified in statutory language of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. For the past two years, one type of loan—Direct Subsidized Loans—has been made with a fixed interest rate of 3.4%.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Sequestration “Meat Cleaver” Is Really a Scalpel
In his speech yesterday, President Barack Obama referred to sequestration as a “meat cleaver” again, when news reports in fact show that the cuts have been much more targeted and much less devastating than he claims.
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