News
Politico | Does President Obama have chops to wrap up his trade deals?
Some presidents have a natural affinity for trade deals, but in the first year of his administration, President Barack Obama seemed to many observers like he couldn’t care less. He appointed a likable Dallas mayor without much experience in the field to be his trade representative and gave him very little negotiating to do.
CNN Money | How sick are Europe's banks? Wait and see
Five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a lack of confidence in Europe's banks is still acting as a brake on the region's tentative recovery.
Bloomberg | Spain Ends Two-Year Recession Amid Effort to Add Jobs
Spain emerged from a two-year recession in the third quarter, strengthening Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s efforts to repair the nation’s finances and reduce the 26 percent jobless rate.
WSJ | College Tuition Increases Slow, but Government Aid Falls
After decades of rampant growth, the rate of tuition increases at U.S. colleges and universities has slowed for the second academic year in a row, but government aid has fallen, continuing a cycle of rising costs and debt for American students.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Investors | Lackluster Jobs Report Underscores Epic Failure Of Obamanomics
Jobs: Here we go again, another employment report showing "unexpectedly weak" job growth. Pretty soon Americans are going to figure out, as computer geeks like to say, "It's not a bug — it's a feature."
Washington Times | Tempering the allure of alternative fuels
America’s skyrocketing oil and natural-gas output is not only fueling massive and widespread economic growth, but also producing considerable hot air in policy discussions. Most dangerous are illusions of “energy independence” and “energy leverage” that ignore fundamental economic and political realities of the modern world. Blind pursuit of these twin goals is unlikely to bring the results that some claim and could, in fact, have costly unintended consequences, both at home and abroad.
Blogs
Economist | The housing wedge
The rub, I suppose, is that housing regulations are not exogenous with respect to the strength of the local economy or the generosity of the welfare state.
Market Watch | Signs of home-price slowdown in latest FHFA data
There were signs of a slowdown in the home-price data released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday.
WSJ | Introducing: China Econtracker 2.0
China’s economy put in a decent performance in the third quarter, with gross domestic product growing 7.8% year-to-year – the best figure of 2013 so far. So why do many economists sound so downbeat?
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | Hill staffers a potential boon for D.C. exchange
District of Columbia insurance officials who have long worried about how many people would sign up for health coverage get a surprise bonus next month: a slew of Congress members and staffers.
National Journal | Chronically Ill Have Their Own Issues With Obamacare
Amid the frustration surrounding the rocky launch of the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance exchanges, advocacy organizations are aiming to draw attention to the fact that even if the site were running smoothly, existing information is insufficient—particularly for individuals with chronic conditions.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | ObamaCare 2016: Happy Yet?
Three years after the disastrous launch of the Affordable Care Act, most of the website troubles finally have been ironed out. People are now able to log on to the government's ACA website and to most of the state health-insurance exchanges.
NBER | How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?
This paper utilizes a unique data file on three baseline cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how employer-provided retiree health insurance may influence net household wealth among public sector employees, where retiree healthcare benefits are still quite prevalent.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Proof That Obamacare Is Hurting the Economy
Today’s jobs report shows the labor market recovery remains weak—and businesses are telling the Federal Reserve one of the main reasons is Obamacare.
Politico | Hill staffers a potential boon for D.C. exchange
District of Columbia insurance officials who have long worried about how many people would sign up for health coverage get a surprise bonus next month: a slew of Congress members and staffers.
National Journal | Chronically Ill Have Their Own Issues With Obamacare
Amid the frustration surrounding the rocky launch of the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance exchanges, advocacy organizations are aiming to draw attention to the fact that even if the site were running smoothly, existing information is insufficient—particularly for individuals with chronic conditions.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | ObamaCare 2016: Happy Yet?
Three years after the disastrous launch of the Affordable Care Act, most of the website troubles finally have been ironed out. People are now able to log on to the government's ACA website and to most of the state health-insurance exchanges.
NBER | How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?
This paper utilizes a unique data file on three baseline cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how employer-provided retiree health insurance may influence net household wealth among public sector employees, where retiree healthcare benefits are still quite prevalent.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Proof That Obamacare Is Hurting the Economy
Today’s jobs report shows the labor market recovery remains weak—and businesses are telling the Federal Reserve one of the main reasons is Obamacare.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | ECB Says Bank Review to Be More Credible Than Before
The European Central Bank’s probe into the health of Europe’s banks will be more credible than previous exercises because the institution itself will have to deal with the outcome, the official overseeing the test said.
WSJ | U.S. Import Prices Up 0.2%, Driven by Fuel
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose slightly last month, signaling subdued inflation amid slow global economic growth. Import prices were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in September from a month earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, led by rising fuel costs. That was in line with the forecasts of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Bloomberg | ECB Says Bank Review to Be More Credible Than Before
The European Central Bank’s probe into the health of Europe’s banks will be more credible than previous exercises because the institution itself will have to deal with the outcome, the official overseeing the test said.
WSJ | U.S. Import Prices Up 0.2%, Driven by Fuel
Prices of goods imported into the U.S. rose slightly last month, signaling subdued inflation amid slow global economic growth. Import prices were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in September from a month earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, led by rising fuel costs. That was in line with the forecasts of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Taxes
News
Politico | Tax breaks could ease pain of JPMorgan deal
JPMorgan Chase has struck a tentative deal with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion over dodgy mortgage products — but the biggest U.S. bank may be able to slash that bill by paying Uncle Sam less in taxes.
CNN Money | IRS: Tax season delayed due to shutdown
You'll have to wait to file your taxes to Uncle Sam this year, thanks to the government shutdown.
FOX Business | Family Income Over $200K? Your Health-Reform Tax Guide
The glitch-ridden rollout of Obamacare's health insurance exchanges have been dominating headlines, but for households making more than $200,000, they probably haven't felt any direct impact of the president's signature legislation....yet.
Blogs
WSJ | Cost of Improper Earned-Income Tax Credits: $10 Billion
Improper claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit continue to cost the government more than $10 billion a year, and there’s not much more the IRS can do about the problem with existing methods, a new report said.
Politico | Tax breaks could ease pain of JPMorgan deal
JPMorgan Chase has struck a tentative deal with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion over dodgy mortgage products — but the biggest U.S. bank may be able to slash that bill by paying Uncle Sam less in taxes.
CNN Money | IRS: Tax season delayed due to shutdown
You'll have to wait to file your taxes to Uncle Sam this year, thanks to the government shutdown.
FOX Business | Family Income Over $200K? Your Health-Reform Tax Guide
The glitch-ridden rollout of Obamacare's health insurance exchanges have been dominating headlines, but for households making more than $200,000, they probably haven't felt any direct impact of the president's signature legislation....yet.
Blogs
WSJ | Cost of Improper Earned-Income Tax Credits: $10 Billion
Improper claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit continue to cost the government more than $10 billion a year, and there’s not much more the IRS can do about the problem with existing methods, a new report said.
Employment
News
FOX News | Almost 6 million young Americans out of school, work, study says
Other studies have shown that idle young adults are missing out on a window to build skills they will need later in life or use the knowledge they acquired in college. Without those experiences, they are less likely to command higher salaries and more likely to be an economic drain on their communities.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | 90 Million Americans Not Working
Maybe the Bureau of Labor Statistics should have skipped a month because the belated September jobs report it issued Tuesday after the government shutdown wasn't worth the wait.
Heritage Foundation | September Employment Report Sluggish Labor Market Recovery
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the sluggish recovery continued in September. Private-sector employers added just 126,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate dropped a statistically insignificant 0.1 percentage points.
Blogs
Economist | Still sluggish
When the Federal Reserve began open-ended bond buying with newly printed money last fall, it hoped to generate forward momentum in the labour market. And as recently as August it seemed to have succeeded. But the recent data suggest a frustrating reversal of that momentum, with no clear explanation.
WSJ | Wary Employers Turn to Temp Workers
The temporary-help business notched respectable gains in September but the industry is feeling businesses’ reluctance to commit to even short-term workers.
FOX News | Almost 6 million young Americans out of school, work, study says
Other studies have shown that idle young adults are missing out on a window to build skills they will need later in life or use the knowledge they acquired in college. Without those experiences, they are less likely to command higher salaries and more likely to be an economic drain on their communities.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | 90 Million Americans Not Working
Maybe the Bureau of Labor Statistics should have skipped a month because the belated September jobs report it issued Tuesday after the government shutdown wasn't worth the wait.
Heritage Foundation | September Employment Report Sluggish Labor Market Recovery
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the sluggish recovery continued in September. Private-sector employers added just 126,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate dropped a statistically insignificant 0.1 percentage points.
Blogs
Economist | Still sluggish
When the Federal Reserve began open-ended bond buying with newly printed money last fall, it hoped to generate forward momentum in the labour market. And as recently as August it seemed to have succeeded. But the recent data suggest a frustrating reversal of that momentum, with no clear explanation.
WSJ | Wary Employers Turn to Temp Workers
The temporary-help business notched respectable gains in September but the industry is feeling businesses’ reluctance to commit to even short-term workers.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
Mercatus | How Does the US Debt Position Compare with Other Countries?
This week’s charts use International Monetary Fund data to make international comparisons of the public debt burden.
Blogs
Roll Call | Hoyer Optimistic — but Cautiously So — on Budget Conference
As the first bicameral, bipartisan budget conference committee gets under way, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said he had both high hopes and tempered expectations.
Heritage Foundation | Americans Want Solutions, Not Procrastination on Debt, Budget Crisis
Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled by Bloomberg answered that “it is right to require spending cuts when the debt ceiling is raised…because Congress lacks discipline on spending.” Their voices were not heard by Congress as it signed its terms of surrender.
Mercatus | How Does the US Debt Position Compare with Other Countries?
This week’s charts use International Monetary Fund data to make international comparisons of the public debt burden.
Blogs
Roll Call | Hoyer Optimistic — but Cautiously So — on Budget Conference
As the first bicameral, bipartisan budget conference committee gets under way, Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer said he had both high hopes and tempered expectations.
Heritage Foundation | Americans Want Solutions, Not Procrastination on Debt, Budget Crisis
Nearly two-thirds of Americans polled by Bloomberg answered that “it is right to require spending cuts when the debt ceiling is raised…because Congress lacks discipline on spending.” Their voices were not heard by Congress as it signed its terms of surrender.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)