News
Bloomberg | OECD Lifts European Growth Forecasts on Recovery
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lifted its growth forecasts for Germany, France and the U.K. while urging the region’s most-indebted nations to step up changes to improve competitiveness.
National Journal | Whose Economy Is It?
A national gathering of fiscal conservatives was the ideal setting for Florida Gov. Rick Scott to test-drive the central message of his reelection campaign: The state's economy is improving on my watch after fizzling under my Obama-friendly predecessor, Charlie Crist.
Bloomberg | Construction Spending in U.S. Climbed in July to Four-Year High
Construction spending in the U.S. increased in July to the highest level in four years, propelled by gains in residential real estate.
CNN Money | U.S. manufacturing picks up
Activity at U.S. factories continued to pick up in August, another sign of a recovery in global manufacturing.
Bloomberg | Black Homeownership Dying Where Obama Revitalized
Helene Pearson’s belief in homeownership was shattered in Roseland, the mostly black Chicago neighborhood where President Barack Obama got his start as a community organizer.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CNN Money | Are we ready for the next meltdown?
Okay, folks. It's been five years since Lehman Brothers failed, setting off a chain of unanticipated consequences that came within inches of melting down the world's financial system.
Washington Times | The Obamanomics decline
Fewer Americans will be returning to the work force after the traditional Labor Day holiday. Labor force participation is at the lowest point since the malaise of the Carter presidency. President Obama’s economic policies have guaranteed a lower standard of living for Americans.
Washington Times | Ending flaky trade barriers
Cornflakes are one of the most popular breakfast foods in the world, and 15 years ago, Norway banned them.
NBER | The Decline, Rebound, and Further Rise in SNAP Enrollment: Disentangling Business Cycle Fluctuations and Policy Changes
Approximately 1-in-7 people and 1-in-4 children received benefits from the US Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in July 2011, both all-time highs.
Blogs
Economist | What was the Great Divergence?
A few centuries ago it would have been difficult to tell Europe apart from the rest of the world—in economic terms, at least. Indeed, half a millenium ago Europe might justly have been considered a laggard. The three inventions which, in the words of Karl Marx, “ushered in bourgeois society” were not invented in Europe. Gunpowder, the compass and the printing press were probably all invented in China.
WSJ | Vital Signs: Demand for Factory Goods Soars
Manufacturers wrote up more orders in August, supporting the idea that the factory sector is back in expansion mode this quarter. The Institute for Supply Management’s survey of manufacturers showed its new orders index increased to 63.2 in August from 58.3 in July.
Economist | Against the tide
With each great rush of capital into or out of a region of the world, and with the blooming of crisis that seems inevitably to follow such swings, macroeconomists inch ever further away from the assumption that free capital flows are always and everywhere a good thing.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Health Care
News
Washington Times | Obamacare casualty: Longshoremen cut ties with AFL-CIO, citing health plan
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its 40,000 members said goodbye to the AFL-CIO, cutting longtime ties in part because of Obamacare.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: Countdown to Obamacare Exchanges
In just 27 days, the Obamacare exchanges are scheduled to open, and people who don’t get health insurance through their employers (or through the government already) will start buying coverage.
Washington Times | Obamacare casualty: Longshoremen cut ties with AFL-CIO, citing health plan
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its 40,000 members said goodbye to the AFL-CIO, cutting longtime ties in part because of Obamacare.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Morning Bell: Countdown to Obamacare Exchanges
In just 27 days, the Obamacare exchanges are scheduled to open, and people who don’t get health insurance through their employers (or through the government already) will start buying coverage.
Monetary
News
CNBC | Halting easy money could derail recovery: OECD
The global economic recovery is at risk of being derailed if the "unconventional" monetary policies which have injected cheap loans into the financial system are not maintained, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Misconceptions About Fed’s Bond Buying
To combat the recession that began in 2007, the Federal Reserve and some other central banks have been buying large amounts of long-term bonds. The novelty of this quantitative easing makes the policy especially prone to popular misconceptions.
Forbes | A Monetary Policy Masterpiece Of A Book That Everyone Should Read
In the 17th century Great Britain was an economic afterthought. It’s hard to imagine this today, but its economy was 1/8th the size of India’s.
CNBC | Halting easy money could derail recovery: OECD
The global economic recovery is at risk of being derailed if the "unconventional" monetary policies which have injected cheap loans into the financial system are not maintained, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | Misconceptions About Fed’s Bond Buying
To combat the recession that began in 2007, the Federal Reserve and some other central banks have been buying large amounts of long-term bonds. The novelty of this quantitative easing makes the policy especially prone to popular misconceptions.
Forbes | A Monetary Policy Masterpiece Of A Book That Everyone Should Read
In the 17th century Great Britain was an economic afterthought. It’s hard to imagine this today, but its economy was 1/8th the size of India’s.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | A carbon tax would make no sense
All too many bad ideas get endlessly recycled — the carbon tax is one of them. A carbon tax could be a tax on coal, oil and gas carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants and other sources. Do you know how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere? It is a little less than 400 parts per million. Do you know what the optimum level of carbon dioxide is? No one does, even though some have the extreme conceit to think they do.
Fortune | How tax dodgers can survive the Swiss bank bust
Some Swiss bank holders may choose to move funds to other offshore havens like Singapore or the Cook Islands.
Washington Times | A carbon tax would make no sense
All too many bad ideas get endlessly recycled — the carbon tax is one of them. A carbon tax could be a tax on coal, oil and gas carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants and other sources. Do you know how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere? It is a little less than 400 parts per million. Do you know what the optimum level of carbon dioxide is? No one does, even though some have the extreme conceit to think they do.
Fortune | How tax dodgers can survive the Swiss bank bust
Some Swiss bank holders may choose to move funds to other offshore havens like Singapore or the Cook Islands.
Employment
News
CNN | Jobless rate is worse than you think
On Labor Day, we celebrate the American worker. And more than four years since the Great Recession ended in June 2009, the unemployment rate is 7.4%, a big improvement from the high of 10% in the fall of 2009. Unfortunately, the rate is hugely misleading: Most of that improvement was for all the wrong reasons.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Bad Ethanol Policy Is a Job Killer
The good news is that each gallon of gasoline now includes a 10% ethanol blend. The bad news is that despite technological limits and a lack of consumer demand for greater concentrations of ethanol, the EPA is now mandating that refiners use more than a 10% ethanol blend. That's something refiners simply cannot do.
WSJ | Long-Term Jobless Left Out of the Recovery
More than four years after the recession officially ended, 11.5 million Americans are unemployed, many of them for years. Millions more have abandoned their job searches, hiding from the economic storm in school or turning to government programs for support.
Blogs
WSJ | What’s the Difference Between Jobless and Unemployed?
Time is running out for the long-term jobless, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Note the term “jobless” rather than “unemployed”: It’s an important distinction, with major implications for both short-term economic policy and the U.S.’s long-term growth prospects.
CNN | Jobless rate is worse than you think
On Labor Day, we celebrate the American worker. And more than four years since the Great Recession ended in June 2009, the unemployment rate is 7.4%, a big improvement from the high of 10% in the fall of 2009. Unfortunately, the rate is hugely misleading: Most of that improvement was for all the wrong reasons.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Bad Ethanol Policy Is a Job Killer
The good news is that each gallon of gasoline now includes a 10% ethanol blend. The bad news is that despite technological limits and a lack of consumer demand for greater concentrations of ethanol, the EPA is now mandating that refiners use more than a 10% ethanol blend. That's something refiners simply cannot do.
WSJ | Long-Term Jobless Left Out of the Recovery
More than four years after the recession officially ended, 11.5 million Americans are unemployed, many of them for years. Millions more have abandoned their job searches, hiding from the economic storm in school or turning to government programs for support.
Blogs
WSJ | What’s the Difference Between Jobless and Unemployed?
Time is running out for the long-term jobless, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Note the term “jobless” rather than “unemployed”: It’s an important distinction, with major implications for both short-term economic policy and the U.S.’s long-term growth prospects.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | The budget battle
What’s more confused, the Obama administration’s Middle East policy or its economic policy? Really kind of a pick-’em situation. While the Syrian befuddlement is more in the headlines right now, the brewing battle over the budget and the debt ceiling will soon remind America of the White House’s illogical obsession with more federal tax increases despite a glacial economic recovery.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | While Debt Crisis Looms, Washington Still Focused on Undoing Sequestration
The Washington Post reports that President Obama and a group of Republican Senators stalled on a budget deal on Thursday that revolved in part around the question of how to best renege on sequestration. Republicans want to offset the spending cuts in discretionary spending with “narrow” reforms to entitlement programs, while the Obama Administration insists on more tax increases.
AEI | The budget battle
What’s more confused, the Obama administration’s Middle East policy or its economic policy? Really kind of a pick-’em situation. While the Syrian befuddlement is more in the headlines right now, the brewing battle over the budget and the debt ceiling will soon remind America of the White House’s illogical obsession with more federal tax increases despite a glacial economic recovery.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | While Debt Crisis Looms, Washington Still Focused on Undoing Sequestration
The Washington Post reports that President Obama and a group of Republican Senators stalled on a budget deal on Thursday that revolved in part around the question of how to best renege on sequestration. Republicans want to offset the spending cuts in discretionary spending with “narrow” reforms to entitlement programs, while the Obama Administration insists on more tax increases.
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