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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Home prices continue to climb
Home prices continued to climb in July, up 12.4% compared to a year earlier.
Bloomberg | Americans’ Confidence Falls on Concern Over Job Outlook: Economy
Growing concern over the outlook for hiring and wages shook U.S. consumer sentiment this month, raising the risk spending will contribute less to growth.
CNN Money | Made in America' revival gathers pace
The 'Made in America' revival is gaining momentum with a majority of manufacturing executives now ready to consider pulling some production back from China.
WSJ | Number Caught Entering U.S. Illegally Rises Again
Data add fuel to debate over beefed-up border security.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CNN Money | Why the commercial real estate crash never came
After the housing market collapsed, many economists predicted a similar fate for commercial real estate. Here's why it never happened.
RCM | Congress Writes the Recipe for Another Housing Crisis
Because of a barrage of criticism by the housing industry, the regulators recently proposed a revised definition of QRMs. Most notably, the latest proposal required no down payment by the borrower and increased the allowable debt-to-income ratio of the borrower from 36% to 43%.
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: Countdown to collision
Republicans have a week to show they mean what they say.
NBER | The Effects of Mandatory Transparency in Financial Market Design: Evidence from the Corporate Bond Market
This paper studies how mandatory transparency affects trading in the corporate bond market. In July 2002, TRACE began requiring the public dissemination of post-trade price and volume information for corporate bonds.
Mercatus Center | Bipartisan Corporate Welfare
More than a century ago, the French economist and polemicist Frederic Bastiat noted that many economic fallacies persist because the beneficiaries of government actions are easily visible while the victims are harder to identify.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ: Real Time Economics | A Look at Case-Shiller by Metro Area
The composite 20-city home price index, a key gauge of U.S. home prices, was up 12.4% in July from a year earlier.
The Economist | Beyond "mainstream economics"
“Standard economic policies,” he writes, “aim for growth, full stop. Sustainable development aims for growth that is broadly shared across the income scale and that is also environmentally sound.”
Econlib | Of Mice and Men, Morals and Markets
Good morals make for good markets is hardly a contentious claim. Reputations for honest dealing grease the wheels of commerce.
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Home Prices Rising at Fastest Pace Since Start of Bubble
Home prices rose faster during the first seven months of 2013 than any year since 2004, the year that marked the beginning of the home-price bubble.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Americans Oppose House GOP's Obamacare Strategy
United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds people don't want changes to health reform tied to government funding or the debt limit.
FoxNews | One man's ObamaCare nightmare
Insurance for the Mangiones and their two boys,which they bought on the individual market, was going to almost triple in 2014 --- from $333 a month to $965.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Fed's Dudley: Economy still too weak to taper
The economic recovery is still not strong enough to persuade New York Fed President William Dudley that it's time to cut back on the central bank's stimulus program.
CNN Money | Big banks charged with causing credit union failures
The federal regulator that oversees credit unions has filed suits against eight of the nation's largest banks, charging they sold faulty mortgages to two credit unions that later failed.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | As We Approach The Federal Reserve's 100th Anniversary, A Reform Of The Fed Gains Currency
The Centennial Monetary Commission, HR 1176, sponsored by Joint Economic Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), continues to pick up momentum.
AEI | Right on quantitative easing
The rising stock market shows that the Fed’s easy-money policies are working.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Debt Disaster Seen Unless VAT Rises to 20% by 2020: Japan Credit
The consumption levy, due to increase in April for the first time since 1997, will need to quadruple from current levels to handle Japan’s increasing welfare costs and rein in the nation’s debt.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
MarketWatch | After the Crisis, Small Banks Still Owe Taxpayers
Five years after the financial crisis, there are still a handful of smaller banks that owe the government money under the TARP program.

Employment

Blogs                                                                                                                             
The Economist | Get a life
It seems that more productive—and, consequently, better-paid—workers put in less time in at the office.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | A continuing war on the continuing resolution
Monday marked the Senate’s first skirmish in what will be a long, protracted battle this week over keeping the government running and defunding Obamacare.
National Journal | McConnell Rejects Cruz Solution in Fiscal Fight
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected Sen. Ted Cruz’s approach to defunding Obamacare as the Senate steers toward a weekend showdown over a temporary measure to keep the government running.
Bloomberg | Republicans Debt-Ceiling Strategy Relies on Obama Budget
Senate Republicans have a strategy for lifting the U.S. borrowing limit: offer what President Barack Obama asked for in his budget, then dare him to refuse.
WSJ | With No Talks on Debt Ceiling, Risks Mount
Republicans Criticize Obama's Stance to Not Negotiate Over Borrowing Limit After 2011 Fight.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | Obama's Debt-Ceiling Stonewall
Increases in the federal borrowing limit have often included spending reforms.
Washington Times | RAHN: Model meltdown
The Obama administration’s economic forecasts have been consistently wide of the mark in grossly overstating what is likely to occur.
Mercatus Center | Beyond CBO’s Baseline Debt Projections
Accounting for these long-run economic changes, or what CBO's calls "economic feedback," and more realistic assumptions regarding the continuation of certain fiscal policies set to expire, the federal debt held by the public under CBO’s alternative scenario would reach about 190 percent of GDP by 2038.
CRS | Funding Gaps and Government Shutdowns: CRS Experts
In the event of a funding gap, the potential impacts of a government shutdown would depend on a program's or agency's specific circumstances and, furthermore, how relevant law is interpreted.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | 6 Reasons Why the National Debt Keeps Rising
Out-of-control spending by Congress and the Obama Administration has once again maxed out the latest debt limit—a nearly $17 trillion burden that harms job growth, gives special interests a pass, and lowers American families’ personal income.