General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Affording a home harder for average buyer
Stagnant incomes, higher home prices and climbing mortgage rates made affording a home a lot more difficult for the average homebuyer during the second quarter.
Bloomberg | Europe Growing Again Means Boost for Global Economy
The euro area is turning into more of a help than a hindrance for the world economy.
CNN Money | More mergers on the horizon
Following several years of relatively lackluster M&A activity, it now seems that market conditions are ripe for a new wave of deals.
Bloomberg | Rise in U.S. Retail Sales Points to Pickup in Spending
Retail sales rose in July for a fourth consecutive month, showing American households are regaining momentum as employment climbs.
MarketWatch | Business inventories flat in June
Business inventories were flat in June at a seasonally adjusted $1.65 trillion, according to data from the Commerce Department. Compared to a year ago, inventories were up 3.5%. May's inventories were revised to show a 0.1% drop instead of an initally reported 0.1% gain.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Politico | President Obama’s phony recovery
The truth may be more ingenious than most of us realize. Continued bickering serves as a distraction from what should be the biggest scandal of all: the phony recovery.
RCM | With Immigration, Congress Shouldn't Set Wages
Our immigration system is a mess that serves no one, least of all we Americans. The House bills have the potential to be giant leaps in the right direction.
CNN Money | The credit crunch is officially over
Banks are finally lending more than when Lehman fell, but much of the new lending is going to corporations.
Washington Times | PUGLIARESI: Obama’s Keystone pipe blockage
President Obama continues to delay approval for construction of the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline, a $5.3 billion project that would bring Canadian oil sands production to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.
AEI | Government mortgage guarantees lead to bailouts
Given the spectacular failures of U.S. housing finance and the enormous cost to taxpayers of two massive bailouts in twenty years, the housing industry should be required to show why it needs government support again.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Cato Institute | Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work
When residents in Connecticut consider getting a job, they assume they would be better off having a job than not. They’d be wrong. Because in Connecticut, it pays not to work.
Economist | Are we doomed?
If the trials of the last half decade yield one-tenth the intellectual dividend of those of the 1930s, then the world has good reason to expect the future to be quite a lot better than the past, in much the same way that the recent past is a world apart from the horrors of the 1930s.
MarketWatch | House Republicans have decided against a government shutdown, report says
House Republicans will not tread into a shutdown battle with the Obama White House, according to a report from conservative publication National Review.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | GDP Is, Like, Totally Overrated
Investors rely too heavily on the quarterly gross domestic product report to understand the current economy. And they’re not even looking at the right figures.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Uninsured next year? Here's your Obamacare penalty
Thinking of ignoring the Obamacare mandate to get health insurance next year? It could cost you.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Cato Institution | Big Business Gets Yet Another ObamaCare Delay That Individuals Don’t
The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling, federal officials have granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all on some costs, in 2014…

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg |
Import Prices in U.S. Increase Less Than Forecast on Auto Plunge
The cost of goods imported into the U.S. rose less than forecast in July, reflecting the biggest drop in automobile import prices in more than 20 years.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Fed's Yellen Says Stance on Banks Hardened
Contender for Fed Chairman Says Crisis Made Her Rethink Views on Regulation.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Jackson Hole Agenda Leaked
The agenda of the annual Jackson Hole (Wyo.) symposium held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is a closely guarded secret; those invited are asked to keep the program contents under wraps until the event starts.

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | U.S. Expats Balk at Tax Law
The U.S.'s crackdown on global tax evaders is prompting some Americans in Asia to rethink their citizenship, attorneys there say, in part amid an increasing burden of paperwork required by U.S. tax law.
Mercatus Center | The Tax Burden Among Varying Income Percentiles
The Americans at the lower half of the income spectrum (or 70 million returns) paid 2.4 percent of the federal personal income tax revenue. The wealthy disproportionately fund the US federal government through personal income taxes.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Why 26% of U.S. women still choose not to work
Sixty years ago, American women began heading off to the workplace in droves. But in the last couple of decades, that trend has completely stalled out.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
The Telegraph | So you think Europe's debt crisis is finally over? Time to think again
One of the factors underpinning renewed confidence in the UK economy is the belief that the crisis in Europe is now essentially over.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CNN Money | 3 reasons why Greece's budget surplus is a mirage
For the past few years, we've heard little but bad economic news from Greece. The financially-strapped nation in the middle of Europe's ongoing debt crisis has reported a budget surplus during the first seven months of this year following months of deep cuts to government spending.
WSJ | U.S. Budget Deficit Shrinks as Revenues Rise
Improving Numbers Temporarily Ease Pressure on Congress.