News
CNN Money | Microsoft ups dividend, plans $40 billion share repurchase
Microsoft on Tuesday raised its dividend by 22% and announced a $40 billion share repurchase program.
Bloomberg | Homebuilder Confidence in U.S. Holds at Highest Level Since 2005
Homebuilder confidence held in September at the highest level in almost eight years, a sign housing will remain a bright spot for the U.S. economy.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | How to Create a Real Economic Stimulus
Earlier this year, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers expressed doubts about the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy of buying $85 billion a month of government bonds and other long-term assets. His skepticism antagonized some Fed insiders and liberal Democrats, who recently opposed his consideration by President Obama as the next Fed chairman.
Barrons | Bernanke's Swan Song
Will the Federal Reserve begin scaling back its easy-money stimulus? The market seems to think so. Investors have been paring back bonds susceptible to rising interest rates, and the 10-year Treasury yield has already jumped this summer from 1.6% to nearly 3%, far faster than the pace of economic improvement. Last week, a Wall Street Journal survey of 47 economists found that two out of three think the Fed will begin tapering after Wednesday's policy powwow.
Washington Times | Sluggish global economic recovery ahead
A robust recovery for the global economy remains well out of reach.That’s the view that emerges from a survey of economists just as the Federal Reserve is expected this week to reduce its stimulus for the U.S. economy.
Blogs
WSJ | Economist Identifies Best Measure of Global Economic Activity
Tired of data overload? Looking for the best single measure of global economic activity in real time? After an exhaustive search, an economist at the Bank of England believes there is such a thing, and it turns out to be the export orders measure from the J.P. Morgan-sponsored Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing.
Library of Economics | Four Readings from Frederic Bastiat
File Frederic Bastiat under "under-appreciated thinkers." I'm talking about Public Choice in my principles of macroeconomics class tomorrow, and here are a few readings from Bastiat that continue to inspire me
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Health Care
News
National Journal | State-Based ACA Exchanges Getting More Attention From the Public
A new Pew Poll released Monday finds higher public awareness of the insurance exchanges in states running their own exchanges than in those with federally-run exchanges. It might be a sign their outreach efforts are working.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Why accountable health care works
Travel back half a century to 1963. The first human liver and lung transplants were performed. Beatlemania was in full swing. A gallon of gas cost about 30 cents and a first-class stamp, just 5 cents.
WSJ | Pennsylvania Governor Seeks Expanded Health Coverage for Poor
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday he wants to expand health insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income state residents under the federal health-care law, as long as he is allowed to use Medicaid funding to pay for private insurance policies for them.
National Journal | State-Based ACA Exchanges Getting More Attention From the Public
A new Pew Poll released Monday finds higher public awareness of the insurance exchanges in states running their own exchanges than in those with federally-run exchanges. It might be a sign their outreach efforts are working.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Why accountable health care works
Travel back half a century to 1963. The first human liver and lung transplants were performed. Beatlemania was in full swing. A gallon of gas cost about 30 cents and a first-class stamp, just 5 cents.
WSJ | Pennsylvania Governor Seeks Expanded Health Coverage for Poor
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday he wants to expand health insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income state residents under the federal health-care law, as long as he is allowed to use Medicaid funding to pay for private insurance policies for them.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | Less Tapering Becomes Tighter Credit No Matter What Fed Says
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sent bond yields a percentage point higher just by talking about adding stimulus at a slower pace. The rout serves as a warning to monetary policy makers that their exit from record accommodation won’t be easy to control.
Bloomberg | Consumer Prices in U.S. Rose Less Than Forecast in August
The cost of living in the U.S. rose less than forecast in August, a sign it will take time for inflation to reach the Federal Reserve’s goal.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | The Fed needs rules, not politics
When Montana Democratic senator Jon Tester announced last Friday that he would vote against Larry Summers’s putative candidacy for Fed chairman if it came before the Senate Banking Committee, he put a dagger in Summers’s Fed career before it even started. Tester would have made it four Democratic nay votes in committee, and it is highly unlikely that Republicans would have taken up the slack to push through a Summers nomination.
NY Post | Bell is tolling for whoever succeeds Big Ben
The central bank’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee meets today and tomorrow to decide what to do next. The betting is that the FOMC will pull back slightly on quantitative easing — a process known as “tapering” — and buy fewer government and mortgage bonds from the financial markets. The feeling is that the Fed will stop the stimulus altogether sometime next year.
Mercatus | Money Market Fund Reform: Amendments to Form PF
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s June 13, 2013 notice of proposed rulemaking “Money Market Fund Reform; Amendments to Form PF” (SEC 2013 MMF Proposals).
CATO | A Flawed Approach to Monetary Policy
The 2008-09 financial crisis greatly expanded the power of the Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben Bernanke. Now that his term is ending, the focus is on the choice of a successor. That choice, however, diverts attention from a more serious issue: namely, the institutional flaws in the present U.S. monetary regime and its bias against capital freedom.
Blogs
WSJ | IMF Publishes Guide on Financial-System Oversight
The International Monetary Fund Monday made another bid to establish itself as the world’s financial-system watchdog.
WSJ | Regulators Should Draw a Line Between Finance and Commerce
The Federal Reserve, Congress and some of the world’s largest financial institutions are about to tackle the existential issue of what a bank is.
Bloomberg | Less Tapering Becomes Tighter Credit No Matter What Fed Says
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sent bond yields a percentage point higher just by talking about adding stimulus at a slower pace. The rout serves as a warning to monetary policy makers that their exit from record accommodation won’t be easy to control.
Bloomberg | Consumer Prices in U.S. Rose Less Than Forecast in August
The cost of living in the U.S. rose less than forecast in August, a sign it will take time for inflation to reach the Federal Reserve’s goal.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | The Fed needs rules, not politics
When Montana Democratic senator Jon Tester announced last Friday that he would vote against Larry Summers’s putative candidacy for Fed chairman if it came before the Senate Banking Committee, he put a dagger in Summers’s Fed career before it even started. Tester would have made it four Democratic nay votes in committee, and it is highly unlikely that Republicans would have taken up the slack to push through a Summers nomination.
NY Post | Bell is tolling for whoever succeeds Big Ben
The central bank’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee meets today and tomorrow to decide what to do next. The betting is that the FOMC will pull back slightly on quantitative easing — a process known as “tapering” — and buy fewer government and mortgage bonds from the financial markets. The feeling is that the Fed will stop the stimulus altogether sometime next year.
Mercatus | Money Market Fund Reform: Amendments to Form PF
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s June 13, 2013 notice of proposed rulemaking “Money Market Fund Reform; Amendments to Form PF” (SEC 2013 MMF Proposals).
CATO | A Flawed Approach to Monetary Policy
The 2008-09 financial crisis greatly expanded the power of the Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben Bernanke. Now that his term is ending, the focus is on the choice of a successor. That choice, however, diverts attention from a more serious issue: namely, the institutional flaws in the present U.S. monetary regime and its bias against capital freedom.
Blogs
WSJ | IMF Publishes Guide on Financial-System Oversight
The International Monetary Fund Monday made another bid to establish itself as the world’s financial-system watchdog.
WSJ | Regulators Should Draw a Line Between Finance and Commerce
The Federal Reserve, Congress and some of the world’s largest financial institutions are about to tackle the existential issue of what a bank is.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Social Security fix would require big tax increase
Preserving Social Security for the next 75 years without reducing any projected benefits would require an immediate and permanent 3.4 percent payroll tax increase, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in a new report looking at long-term budget challenges that shows there are no easy options left.
Blogs
WSJ | Japan PM Adviser Worried Tax Hike Will Dent Abenomics
Etsuro Honda, one of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s closest economic advisers, isn’t happy that the premier appears to have made up his mind to go ahead with a planned sales tax hike in April.
Washington Times | Social Security fix would require big tax increase
Preserving Social Security for the next 75 years without reducing any projected benefits would require an immediate and permanent 3.4 percent payroll tax increase, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday in a new report looking at long-term budget challenges that shows there are no easy options left.
Blogs
WSJ | Japan PM Adviser Worried Tax Hike Will Dent Abenomics
Etsuro Honda, one of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s closest economic advisers, isn’t happy that the premier appears to have made up his mind to go ahead with a planned sales tax hike in April.
Employment
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Immigration Benefits The U.S., So Let's Legalize All Work
Immigration reform, once the top priority coming out of the 2012 presidential election, has stalled. The Senate has passed legislation, but the House is badly divided.
Fortune | We're still 8.3 million jobs from full recovery
The economy isn't even halfway there yet, and at the pace we're adding jobs today we won't recover until 2020, according to the Brookings Institution.
Forbes | Immigration Benefits The U.S., So Let's Legalize All Work
Immigration reform, once the top priority coming out of the 2012 presidential election, has stalled. The Senate has passed legislation, but the House is badly divided.
Fortune | We're still 8.3 million jobs from full recovery
The economy isn't even halfway there yet, and at the pace we're adding jobs today we won't recover until 2020, according to the Brookings Institution.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Surprise among the spendthrift nations
The good news is that there are more countries managing their economies in a fiscally responsible way than there were two years ago. Fiscally responsible means keeping average annual deficits less than average annual economic-growth rates, keeping net debt from exceeding one-third of gross domestic product, and maintaining a relatively small government. The bad news is that most of the world’s biggest economies, including that of the United States, are getting deeper and deeper in debt as a result of excessive spending, and will ultimately have to pay the price.
FOX Business | Lew: Irrevocable' Consequences to Waiting on Debt Ceiling
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Congress on Tuesday that waiting until the last minute to raise the nation's limit on borrowing could lead to irrevocable damage to the economy.
CBO | The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Between 2009 and 2012, the federal government recorded the largest budget deficits relative to the size of the economy since 1946, causing federal debt to soar. Federal debt held by the public is now about 73 percent of the economy’s annual output, or gross domestic product (GDP).
Washington Times | Surprise among the spendthrift nations
The good news is that there are more countries managing their economies in a fiscally responsible way than there were two years ago. Fiscally responsible means keeping average annual deficits less than average annual economic-growth rates, keeping net debt from exceeding one-third of gross domestic product, and maintaining a relatively small government. The bad news is that most of the world’s biggest economies, including that of the United States, are getting deeper and deeper in debt as a result of excessive spending, and will ultimately have to pay the price.
FOX Business | Lew: Irrevocable' Consequences to Waiting on Debt Ceiling
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Congress on Tuesday that waiting until the last minute to raise the nation's limit on borrowing could lead to irrevocable damage to the economy.
CBO | The 2013 Long-Term Budget Outlook
Between 2009 and 2012, the federal government recorded the largest budget deficits relative to the size of the economy since 1946, causing federal debt to soar. Federal debt held by the public is now about 73 percent of the economy’s annual output, or gross domestic product (GDP).
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