News
Market Watch | Fannie Mae reports $8.7 billion profit
Fannie Mae reported an $8.7 billion profit during the third quarter and will make an $8.6 billion dividend payment to the U.S. Treasury later this year, leaving the company close to making taxpayers whole on their massive investment in the company over the past five years.
Politico | The farm bill: A Dickens tale
There’s a touch of Dickens to the farm bill these days: The best of times, the worst of times, we are all going direct to Heaven, we are all going direct the other way.
Bloomberg | Economy in U.S. Expands at a 2.8% Rate on Inventories
Household purchases and business spending on equipment slowed in the third quarter, even as a buildup in inventories unexpectedly boosted the pace of economic growth in the U.S.
Market Watch | 30-year-mortgage rate rises to 4.16%
The average rate for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.16% in the week that ended Nov. 7 from 4.10% in the prior week, according to a Thursday report from Freddie Mac
WSJ | OPEC Expects North American Shale Oil Output to Jump
Two years after dismissing North America's shale-oil boom as "marginal," OPEC changed its tune Thursday, acknowledging new extraction technology in the country could sharply cut the need for the group's own oil.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Why Capitalism? Allan Meltzer On Why South Korea Thrives While North Korea Starves
A continuation of my interview with Carnegie Mellon Professor, Allan Meltzer about his book Why Capitalism? which is based on his very popular MBA course, Capitalism. He reflects on why students from South Korea are so much more able to understand the benefits of the free-market system.
Fortune | Is China serious about reform?
Top Communist Party leaders are expected to discuss corruption and the environment at an upcoming retreat. But actions speak louder than words.
Mercatus | Gov't Shutdown Unlikely to Have Long-Term Economic Effect
Over the next two days the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the first estimate of GDP growth for the third quarter of 2013, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics will issue the employment report for the month of October. Mercatus Center senior research fellow Keith Hall--a former commissioner at the Bureau of Labor Statistics--previews how last month's government shutdown could affect the upcoming BLS jobs numbers and future GDP growth.
NBER | The Joint Cross Section of Stocks and Options
Stocks with large increases in call implied volatilities over the previous month tend to have high future returns while stocks with large increases in put implied volatilities over the previous month tend to have low future returns.
Blogs
WSJ | Alternative Poverty Rate Stuck at 16%
America’s poverty rate showed little change in 2012 from the year before, according to a supplemental measure compiled by the Census Bureau.
WSJ | Home Prices Rise in Most U.S. Metro Areas
Median home prices rose in most U.S. metropolitan areas in the third quarter, and several breakout markets had double digit increases—a development that has eroded home affordability in several hot markets in California.
CATO | The Sickness of Government
People shouldn’t be surprised about the botched roll-out of Obamacare and all the damaging effects of the law that are now generating headlines. Over the decades, federal efforts to subsidize and manipulate the economy have failed over and over again.
WSJ | Economists React: ‘Some Concerning Undertones’ in GDP Gain
The U.S. economy had somewhat more pep in the previous quarter than expected amid solid gains in construction, but weakness in consumer spending and business capex, alongside a large (and largely unintentional) build in inventories and the government shutdown, will weigh on growth in the current quarter.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Health Care
News
National Journal | Small Business Owners Can't Buy Obamacare
The federal health insurance exchange for small business owners has yet to launch, and the uncertainty has some debating whether they will offer insurance at all, The Washington Post reports.
CNN Money | Decoding the Obamacare 'marriage penalty'
There's a lot to recommend marriage. But if you're trying to score the biggest break on the new Obamacare insurance exchanges, it could make sense to say "I don't."
National Journal | Unions Say Plans Won't Qualify for Obamacare Tax Relief
Unions and businesses said Wednesday they would not benefit from the Obama administration's plans to exempt self-insured, self-administered plans from the Affordable Care Act's reinsurance fee in 2015 and 2016.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | How ObamaCare Rips Off the 'Young Healthies'
When ObamaCare is under attack, its defenders retreat to several well-worn claims. Among them is a provision that compels insurance companies to allow parents to keep their "children" ages of 21 to 26 on their family policies.
Real Clear Markets | Ten Lessons of ObamaCare
The lessons of that failure will not be new lessons. They're the ones we should have learned in the 20th century, when we had plenty of examples to draw from. But a generation has grown up that doesn't remember the 1970s, the failures of socialism, or the depredations of Communism. And because those topics are not yet part of a standard school curriculum, we've had to relearn them in the School of Hard Knocks, with Professor Obama giving us a refresher course.
Washington Times | Obamacare’s problem isn’t just growing pains
The reviews are in for HealthCare.gov, Obamacare’s much-ballyhooed online health insurance marketplace, which launched earlier this month. The government-run exchange is a “disaster,” “really bad,” “a failure,” “terrible” and “an absolute train wreck of a website.”
Mercatus | American Medicine: Closing of the Frontier?
In the 1930s, the United States gave birth to the most innovative health care system in human history. In every decade since, American doctors continued to introduce medical miracles of greater and greater significance to the rest of the world. Now it is 2013, and every young health care professional ought to ask, “Are our laws, regulations, institutions, and politics bringing this age of innovation to a close?”
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Canceled: Loyal Obama Supporters Lose Their Health Insurance Plan
Every day, it’s becoming clear that no one in the individual insurance market (who bought a plan after Obamacare passed) is safe from the dreaded cancellation notices.
National Journal | Small Business Owners Can't Buy Obamacare
The federal health insurance exchange for small business owners has yet to launch, and the uncertainty has some debating whether they will offer insurance at all, The Washington Post reports.
CNN Money | Decoding the Obamacare 'marriage penalty'
There's a lot to recommend marriage. But if you're trying to score the biggest break on the new Obamacare insurance exchanges, it could make sense to say "I don't."
National Journal | Unions Say Plans Won't Qualify for Obamacare Tax Relief
Unions and businesses said Wednesday they would not benefit from the Obama administration's plans to exempt self-insured, self-administered plans from the Affordable Care Act's reinsurance fee in 2015 and 2016.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | How ObamaCare Rips Off the 'Young Healthies'
When ObamaCare is under attack, its defenders retreat to several well-worn claims. Among them is a provision that compels insurance companies to allow parents to keep their "children" ages of 21 to 26 on their family policies.
Real Clear Markets | Ten Lessons of ObamaCare
The lessons of that failure will not be new lessons. They're the ones we should have learned in the 20th century, when we had plenty of examples to draw from. But a generation has grown up that doesn't remember the 1970s, the failures of socialism, or the depredations of Communism. And because those topics are not yet part of a standard school curriculum, we've had to relearn them in the School of Hard Knocks, with Professor Obama giving us a refresher course.
Washington Times | Obamacare’s problem isn’t just growing pains
The reviews are in for HealthCare.gov, Obamacare’s much-ballyhooed online health insurance marketplace, which launched earlier this month. The government-run exchange is a “disaster,” “really bad,” “a failure,” “terrible” and “an absolute train wreck of a website.”
Mercatus | American Medicine: Closing of the Frontier?
In the 1930s, the United States gave birth to the most innovative health care system in human history. In every decade since, American doctors continued to introduce medical miracles of greater and greater significance to the rest of the world. Now it is 2013, and every young health care professional ought to ask, “Are our laws, regulations, institutions, and politics bringing this age of innovation to a close?”
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | Canceled: Loyal Obama Supporters Lose Their Health Insurance Plan
Every day, it’s becoming clear that no one in the individual insurance market (who bought a plan after Obamacare passed) is safe from the dreaded cancellation notices.
Monetary
News
CNN Money | ECB cuts rates to ward off deflation risk
The European Central Bank surprised markets Thursday by cutting interest rates to a record low, trying to prevent the eurozone from sinking into a period of stagnation and deflation.
CNN Money | ECB cuts rates to ward off deflation risk
The European Central Bank surprised markets Thursday by cutting interest rates to a record low, trying to prevent the eurozone from sinking into a period of stagnation and deflation.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | Tax oddities live on amid budget impasse
The U.S. government will give you a tax break for buying college football tickets. And hunting whales. And if you happen to be a foreign professional golfer. Or a college professor. Or if you get divorced.
The American | An Honest Accounting of the Corporate Income Tax
For better or worse, the ways in which changes to tax policy would redistribute wealth drives many of today’s debates in Washington. The fiscal cliff fight that ushered in the year hinged on whether the Bush tax cuts should be extended for all Americans or only the bottom 98 percent.
Politico | Tax oddities live on amid budget impasse
The U.S. government will give you a tax break for buying college football tickets. And hunting whales. And if you happen to be a foreign professional golfer. Or a college professor. Or if you get divorced.
The American | An Honest Accounting of the Corporate Income Tax
For better or worse, the ways in which changes to tax policy would redistribute wealth drives many of today’s debates in Washington. The fiscal cliff fight that ushered in the year hinged on whether the Bush tax cuts should be extended for all Americans or only the bottom 98 percent.
Employment
News
Bloomberg | Jobless Claims in U.S. Fell to 336,000 Last Week as Forecast
Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating firings haven’t picked up following the partial government shutdown.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Post | October jobs report may surprise Wall Street
This is one of the few times that Wall Street could be overly pessimistic about the monthly employment report.
Bloomberg | Jobless Claims in U.S. Fell to 336,000 Last Week as Forecast
Fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, indicating firings haven’t picked up following the partial government shutdown.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Post | October jobs report may surprise Wall Street
This is one of the few times that Wall Street could be overly pessimistic about the monthly employment report.
Budget
News
CNN Money | Detroit is broke. Who's going to pay?
Is Detroit truly bankrupt? It seems like an easy question to answer, given that it has $18 billion worth of liabilities and little in the way of cash to pay them.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | The Federal Budget: Issues for FY2014 and Beyond
The federal budget is central to Congress's ability to exercise its "power of the purse." Recent economic turmoil put strain on the federal budget due to declining revenues and increasing spending levels. Subsequently, policies enacted to restrain spending, along with an improving economy, have put the federal budget on a more sustainable path in the near term.
Mercatus | Can We Grow Our Way Out of Debt?
The United States has both a debt and deficit problem, driven by years of overspending and unfunded promises made by politicians of both parties to pay for health care and retirement benefits to current and future seniors.
CATO | Cut Spending by … Cutting Spending
House and Senate budget conferees have begun meeting in an attempt to head off another potential government shutdown when the latest continuing resolution expires, on January 15. In theory, the committee is supposed to report no later than December 13, but few on Capitol Hill expect them to come up with a deal by that deadline. As usual, the two parties are at loggerheads over taxes and spending. The Democrats want more of the former and none of the latter; for Republicans, it’s the reverse. Another crisis looms.
CNN Money | Detroit is broke. Who's going to pay?
Is Detroit truly bankrupt? It seems like an easy question to answer, given that it has $18 billion worth of liabilities and little in the way of cash to pay them.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CRS | The Federal Budget: Issues for FY2014 and Beyond
The federal budget is central to Congress's ability to exercise its "power of the purse." Recent economic turmoil put strain on the federal budget due to declining revenues and increasing spending levels. Subsequently, policies enacted to restrain spending, along with an improving economy, have put the federal budget on a more sustainable path in the near term.
Mercatus | Can We Grow Our Way Out of Debt?
The United States has both a debt and deficit problem, driven by years of overspending and unfunded promises made by politicians of both parties to pay for health care and retirement benefits to current and future seniors.
CATO | Cut Spending by … Cutting Spending
House and Senate budget conferees have begun meeting in an attempt to head off another potential government shutdown when the latest continuing resolution expires, on January 15. In theory, the committee is supposed to report no later than December 13, but few on Capitol Hill expect them to come up with a deal by that deadline. As usual, the two parties are at loggerheads over taxes and spending. The Democrats want more of the former and none of the latter; for Republicans, it’s the reverse. Another crisis looms.
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