General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Child care more expensive than college in many states
Child care costs continue to soar, with prices so high in some parts of the country that they exceed tuition at state colleges.
Market Watch | U.S. service industries grow faster in October
The companies that employ the vast majority of Americans grew slightly faster in October despite the federal shutdown, though some said government policies continue to be a hindrance.
Bloomberg | Bernanke Giving Homebuyers Second Chance With Pledge: Mortgages
This was supposed to be the year that Herb Harrison found a newer, bigger home to replace his current house in Framingham, Massachusetts. Then, in May, mortgage rates began to rise and he put his hunt on hold.
CNN Money | $168 million payout to Johnson & Johnson whistleblowers
Monday's settlement with pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson means a record payout for whistleblowers.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | A Lack of Social Mobility May Foretell Rising Class Warfare
I am going to write about John Rawls, the great liberal philosopher. But bear with me: I am also going to consider how much tax people want to pay. Rawls first: in 1971, the quiet, unassuming Harvard professor published a dry treatise, A Theory of Justice. Such a book might hope for a few thousand sales. In this case, it sold in the hundreds of thousands. It was a philosophical blockbuster.
WSJ | Making the Most of the U.S. Energy Boom
In November 1973, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries implemented an oil embargo against the United States that imperiled the nation's prosperity and international influence. Forty years later, de-linking America's economy and security from high and volatile global oil prices is even more essential to protecting our domestic and international interests. And the U.S. now has the means to achieve true energy security.
Forbes | An Economy-Suffocating American Battle: Our Present Vs. Future Selves
In the midst of the epic dysfunction known as the 16-day government shutdown, we lost sight of the fundamental issue whose inescapable logic cuts across politics and party lines: We are feeding the rapacious appetites of our current selves (we want what we want now) at the dire and escalating cost to our future selves (whom, we assume, will somehow have the patience and resources to bear the burden). If that sounds unworkable and unsustainable, it is.
Washington Times | The Obamanomics rollout
Nearly five years into the rollout of President Obama’s economy, America’s economic portal still isn’t functional. Factory orders have gone down. The housing market is glitchy. The employment numbers resemble either a spinning beach ball or an hourglass.
Politico | United States is open for business
Companies all over the world are choosing to invest in America. Don’t take our word for it. Just look at the latest headlines: Novelis, a subsidiary of an Indian company, is creating 100 manufacturing jobs with a $200 million expansion at its Oswego, N.Y., aluminum plant. German company Siemens is expanding its facility in Crittenden County, Ky., creating 50 new jobs.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Third Quarter Likely Dragged Down by Lackluster Business Spending
A pullback in capital investment this summer likely dragged down growth in the third quarter, signaling a potential risk to the U.S. economy in coming months.
AEI | Actually, America doesn’t have a trillion-dollar infrastructure crisis
If Democrats have one big economic idea, it’s this: build. Crank up the infrastructure spending. Last summer, for instance, President Obama floated a “grand bargain for middle-class jobs” to cut the US corporate tax rate and use billions of dollars in revenue generated by eliminating tax breaks to fund infrastructure projects. And in his State of the Union address, he called for $50 billion in new public works spending.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | 'Crisis of confidence' in Obamacare
Senate Democrats sharply questioned how a “crisis of confidence” created by Obamacare’s flawed rollout can be turned around, as a top Obama administration health care official today tried to reassure lawmakers that HealthCare.gov will be repaired “quickly.”
National Journal | Obamacare A Major Gain, But Not Replacement, for HIV Patients
HIV patients are among those with the most to gain from the Affordable Care Act, as long as new coverage offerings don't come at the expense of existing programs.
WSJ | Young Avoid New Health Plans
Insurers say the early buyers of health coverage on the nation's troubled new websites are older than expected so far, raising early concerns about the economics of the insurance marketplaces.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CATO | Could a Peaceful, Well-Organized Protest Movement Help Save Us from Obamacare?
Principled House votes, brave Senate filibusters and aggressive Capitol Hill lobbying have failed to save us from Obamacare, in part because they’re inside-the-beltway strategies, all wrong for the situation we find ourselves in now — namely, millions of Americans alarmed because, contrary to President Obama’s cynical promises, we cannot keep the health insurance policy we like, we cannot work with the doctor we like, we face astronomical Obamacare premiums, and we fear catastrophic health care costs if we go without insurance.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Deflation risk may spur new ECB rate cut
Alarm bells are ringing again over the health of the European economy, after a surprising fall in inflation last month.
Market Watch | There is no such thing as a little inflation
Some people, both in and outside of the Federal Reserve, now think that a little inflation is all this economy needs to break out of the doldrums. However, what they don’t realize is that you can’t have a little inflation any more than you can remain a little pregnant.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Barrons | Deflating the Inflation Myth
Desperate times can breed ideas born of desperation. The sluggish rate of economic growth is getting blamed on a new scapegoat, the tame rate of price inflation.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | Fed’s Bullard: December Bond Taper Remains A Possibility
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank may find the evidence it needs to ease back on its bond-buying stimulus efforts by next month’s monetary policy meeting.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | A potential tax dilemma for Chris Christie looking to 2016
The hot-headed statesman is saddled with something no GOP presidential hopeful wants: exorbitant taxes in his home state, with some trying to tag him with a poison-pill phrase of tax hiker. That could mean trouble in a Republican primary, where taxes are a bread and butter issue.
Yahoo Finance | Calls to raise taxes for the rich are growing
In Colorado and New York, voters on Tuesday will be deciding on one of the most divisive issues of our time: taxing the wealthy.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
AEI | Strengthening families through tax reform
Here’s a safe bet: The 2016 Republican presidential nominee will push a splashy tax-cut plan. It’s been de rigueur for the party’s standard-bearer since Ronald Reagan in 1980. Gotta check that box.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Who Killed All the Coal Jobs?
President Obama is tremendously unpopular in Appalachia, thanks in large part to his administration's treatment of the coal industry. But the industry has long been in decline, and it fared even worse under some of Obama's predecessors.
CNN Money | China needs 10 million new jobs a year
The Chinese economy needs to create 10 million jobs per year and must sustain growth of at least 7.2% to achieve that, Premier Li Keqiang has warned ahead of a key meeting of the Communist Party.
WSJ | More Commuters Go It Alone
American commuters prefer to go it alone—mostly by driving to the office, but increasingly by working from home.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Fortune | Why the jobs picture is brighter than you think
Economists at the Fed have come up with a handful of indicators they say are encouraging signs that the jobless rate will continue to fall for the right reasons.
Fortune | The coming brain drain in U.S. manufacturing
More than 200,000 skilled factory jobs are going begging. A wave of Boomer retirements could make the labor shortage even worse.

Budget

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | A real ceiling on debt
America has recently been dragged through yet another ugly fight over the debt ceiling. The latest resolution merely postpones the battle until February, ensuring that once again Congress and President Obama will struggle to reach agreement over the terms by which America will be allowed to go deeper into debt.