News
CNN Money | Chinese markets cheer bold reform plan
Enthusiasm swept through Chinese markets Monday as investors cheered the release of an ambitious blueprint that will guide economic reforms in China over the next decade.
Politico | House GOP 2014 agenda starts with blank slate
Last Thursday, a group of House Republicans filed into Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Capitol office suite and received a blank piece of paper labeled “Agenda 2014.”
CNN Money | Will saving $1.8M for retirement be enough?
Even if your hoped-for 8% annualized returns pan out, your nest egg will be less impressive. Assuming 3% inflation and a safe 4% initial withdrawal rate, you'd have annual pretax income in retirement equivalent to $26,300 in today's dollars -- not exactly opulent.
Market Watch | Home-builder confidence pauses, misses estimate
A gauge of home-builder confidence paused this month, as a reading on views for upcoming sales slightly declined, according to a report released Monday.
National Journal | Battle Lines Drawn in Growing Patent-Reform War
Patent reform earned some of the most attention it has attracted in years on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers, large tech firms, and start-up innovators sparred last week over a wonky provision of a sweeping House bill aiming to curtail predatory litigation practices.
CNN Money | JPMorgan reaches $4.5 billion settlement with mortgage investors
JPMorgan announced a $4.5 billion settlement Friday with institutional investors who suffered losses on mortgage securities purchased from the bank in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Bloomberg | Fed Largess Aids U.S. Financial Strength BofA Deems Unrivaled
Five years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke dropped U.S. interest rates toward zero to end the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, America’s financial markets have become the envy of the world.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Bond Investors Should Brace for Higher Rates
After a sharp selloff hit the bond market earlier this year, investors have gotten a reprieve: The Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, a widely watched benchmark tracking total returns on government and corporate bonds, was down as much as 3.9% for the year at the start of September. As of last week, it was down only 1.8%.
Real Clear Markets | In Economics, Doing the Right Thing Is Evil
Last month the U.S. criticized Germany for exporting too many goods and not consuming enough as part of the same report in which it criticized China over maintaining the value of its currency instead of encouraging it to appreciate. This week, the European Commission criticized Germany again for its trade surplus and for its low level of consumption. The idea seems to be that if only Germany pursued a different economic and trade policy, other countries would benefit.
Washington Times | There’s another train wreck headed for the White House
Do you think the Obamacare rollout raises important questions about government mandates, confusion, penalties and just how well bureaucrats can manage complicated issues? It’s not the only one. There are a number of similarities between Obamacare and an energy mandate known as the “renewable fuel standard.”
WSJ | Big Ethanol Finally Loses
It's not often that the ethanol lobby suffers a policy setback in Washington, but it got its head handed to it Friday. The Environmental Protection Agency announced that for the first time it is lowering the federal mandate that dictates how much ethanol must be blended into the nation's gasoline. It's about time. It's been about time from the moment the ethanol mandate came to life in the 1970s.
Blogs
WSJ | Number of the Week: U.S. Producing More Oil Than It Imports
137,000: How many more barrels a day the U.S. produced than it imported in the week ending Nov. 8.
WSJ | Why Stronger Summer GDP Is Horrible News
Horrible news: gross domestic product growth over the summer may have been even stronger than we first thought.
WSJ | Vital Signs: The World’s Glass Looks Half Empty
According to a survey of 11,000 companies done by data provider Markit, a net 33% of companies expect their business activity levels will rise in the next 12 months. That’s up from 30% thinking that in June but still far below the levels seen earlier in the recovery. The global results suggest “weak economic growth,” the report said.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | States divided over complying with Obamacare ‘fix’
State regulators aren’t rushing to President Barack Obama’s rescue after the White House’s attempt to fix the rising wave of canceled health insurance policies.
National Journal | President Obama and His Gang That (Still) Isn't Shooting Straight
Incompetence, deception, and lack of accountability doomed the Obamacare rollout. That's old news. What's new? The nagging durability of the White House's incompetence, deception, and lack of accountability.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | His plan is to destroy America’s private health care industry
Obamacare has blown up on the launch pad. People are having their health plans canceled, and they are now stranded, unable to replace their old insurance policies with new plans purchased through the insurance exchanges because the Obamacare website is dysfunctional. President Obama is trying to prevent a chain reaction from getting out of control by proposing a system restart, requiring insurance companies to reinstate canceled plans for a year to give the administration time to “fix” the website and get the exchanges operational.
Politico | States divided over complying with Obamacare ‘fix’
State regulators aren’t rushing to President Barack Obama’s rescue after the White House’s attempt to fix the rising wave of canceled health insurance policies.
National Journal | President Obama and His Gang That (Still) Isn't Shooting Straight
Incompetence, deception, and lack of accountability doomed the Obamacare rollout. That's old news. What's new? The nagging durability of the White House's incompetence, deception, and lack of accountability.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | His plan is to destroy America’s private health care industry
Obamacare has blown up on the launch pad. People are having their health plans canceled, and they are now stranded, unable to replace their old insurance policies with new plans purchased through the insurance exchanges because the Obamacare website is dysfunctional. President Obama is trying to prevent a chain reaction from getting out of control by proposing a system restart, requiring insurance companies to reinstate canceled plans for a year to give the administration time to “fix” the website and get the exchanges operational.
Monetary
News
National Journal | The Internal War Over the Volcker Rule
The so-called Volcker Rule, a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform law that would ban banks from making risky bets with their own money, was supposed to be ready in 2011. And the federal government did release a lengthy proposal laden with hundreds of questions from Wall Street and chased by thousands of comment letters. Then, the final rule was supposed to be ready in 2012. Now it's supposed to be ready in 2013. "I think that it's close," Mary Miller, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, said last week. Meanwhile, regulators have come and gone in the agencies writing the rule. What, exactly, is the holdup?
CNN Money | Can the Fed and consumers keep rally going?
Stocks gained more than 1% last week and continue to march to record highs. Some key psychological levels are in sight. But will the market keep climbing? That may depend on more news from the Federal Reserve and how much consumers are spending.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Bernanke: Virtual currencies hold promise, risk
Bitcoins and other virtual currencies, like any online-payment system, "may hold long-term promise" and could one day "promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
AEI | The Fed in the age of Yellen
Someday the U.S. government’s currency monopoly might end. But probably not in my lifetime. I am willing to concede, though, that before our yellow sun goes red giant — the Republic will endure, my friends! — America might find itself awash in a competitive, Hayekian market of private currencies, perhaps the digital descendants of Bitcoin. It could happen.
Blogs
Economist | The solution that cannot be named
Earlier this month the IMF held a research conference in honour of Stanley Fischer. It featured a murderer's row of macroeconomic stars as speakers including, to round out the event, one Larry Summers. The video of Mr Summers' talk is now publicly available and is being heralded, with some justification, as an important and incisive piece of analysis. It also perfectly and maddeningly encapsulates the problem at the heart of the rich world's economic debate—and its economy, for that matter.
Economist | Germany's hyperinflation-phobia
Hyperinflation is among the worst catastrophes that can befall an economy. It can destroy output and destabilise societies. The hoarding of real assets, such as property and precious metals, wrecks business and financial investment in countries afflicted by it. Business costs soar, as wages and prices have to be increased on an hourly basis, reducing productivity. Foreign investment evaporates as the financial risks of doing business rise. The sudden redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors can eat at civil society and discredit political institutions.
National Journal | The Internal War Over the Volcker Rule
The so-called Volcker Rule, a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform law that would ban banks from making risky bets with their own money, was supposed to be ready in 2011. And the federal government did release a lengthy proposal laden with hundreds of questions from Wall Street and chased by thousands of comment letters. Then, the final rule was supposed to be ready in 2012. Now it's supposed to be ready in 2013. "I think that it's close," Mary Miller, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for domestic finance, said last week. Meanwhile, regulators have come and gone in the agencies writing the rule. What, exactly, is the holdup?
CNN Money | Can the Fed and consumers keep rally going?
Stocks gained more than 1% last week and continue to march to record highs. Some key psychological levels are in sight. But will the market keep climbing? That may depend on more news from the Federal Reserve and how much consumers are spending.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | Bernanke: Virtual currencies hold promise, risk
Bitcoins and other virtual currencies, like any online-payment system, "may hold long-term promise" and could one day "promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
AEI | The Fed in the age of Yellen
Someday the U.S. government’s currency monopoly might end. But probably not in my lifetime. I am willing to concede, though, that before our yellow sun goes red giant — the Republic will endure, my friends! — America might find itself awash in a competitive, Hayekian market of private currencies, perhaps the digital descendants of Bitcoin. It could happen.
Blogs
Economist | The solution that cannot be named
Earlier this month the IMF held a research conference in honour of Stanley Fischer. It featured a murderer's row of macroeconomic stars as speakers including, to round out the event, one Larry Summers. The video of Mr Summers' talk is now publicly available and is being heralded, with some justification, as an important and incisive piece of analysis. It also perfectly and maddeningly encapsulates the problem at the heart of the rich world's economic debate—and its economy, for that matter.
Economist | Germany's hyperinflation-phobia
Hyperinflation is among the worst catastrophes that can befall an economy. It can destroy output and destabilise societies. The hoarding of real assets, such as property and precious metals, wrecks business and financial investment in countries afflicted by it. Business costs soar, as wages and prices have to be increased on an hourly basis, reducing productivity. Foreign investment evaporates as the financial risks of doing business rise. The sudden redistribution of wealth from creditors to debtors can eat at civil society and discredit political institutions.
Taxes
News
CNN Money | 'Green' commuter tax break may be slashed
As Kermit the Frog says, it's not easy being green. A popular tax break for commuters who use mass transit may be cut nearly in half if Congress doesn't step in by the end of the year.
WSJ | In Italy, High Payroll Taxes Stand in Way of Recovery
The staggering tax burden is a big part of the reason Italy's output has grown the least over the last decade of any of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NBER | The Impact of Headquarter and Subsidiary Locations on Multinationals' Effective Tax Rates
We examine effective tax rates (ETRs) for 9,022 multinationals from 87 countries from 2006 to 2011.
CNN Money | 'Green' commuter tax break may be slashed
As Kermit the Frog says, it's not easy being green. A popular tax break for commuters who use mass transit may be cut nearly in half if Congress doesn't step in by the end of the year.
WSJ | In Italy, High Payroll Taxes Stand in Way of Recovery
The staggering tax burden is a big part of the reason Italy's output has grown the least over the last decade of any of the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NBER | The Impact of Headquarter and Subsidiary Locations on Multinationals' Effective Tax Rates
We examine effective tax rates (ETRs) for 9,022 multinationals from 87 countries from 2006 to 2011.
Employment
News
WSJ | Women Reach a Milestone in Job Market
A record 67.5 million women are working today, up from the prior peak of 67.4 million in early 2008, according to the Labor Department's latest tally of payrolls that captured the full rebound for the first time. By comparison, 69 million men currently have jobs, below their high of 70.9 million in June 2007.
Blogs
CATO | Bans on Child Labor
Only a heartless libertarian could possibly object to bans on child labor, right? After all, no one wants to live in some Dickensian dystopia in which children toil endlessly under brutal conditions.
WSJ | Women Reach a Milestone in Job Market
A record 67.5 million women are working today, up from the prior peak of 67.4 million in early 2008, according to the Labor Department's latest tally of payrolls that captured the full rebound for the first time. By comparison, 69 million men currently have jobs, below their high of 70.9 million in June 2007.
Blogs
CATO | Bans on Child Labor
Only a heartless libertarian could possibly object to bans on child labor, right? After all, no one wants to live in some Dickensian dystopia in which children toil endlessly under brutal conditions.
Budget
News
Bloomberg | Foreign Buying of U.S. Portfolio Assets Gains on Asia Demand
International investors were net buyers of U.S. long-term portfolio assets in September as demand strengthened from China and Japan, the two largest foreign holders of Treasuries.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | How the GOP is winning the budget fight
The political world has changed dramatically in the past few years to the advantage of Reagan Republicans despite losing two presidential elections to Barack Obama.
Bloomberg | Foreign Buying of U.S. Portfolio Assets Gains on Asia Demand
International investors were net buyers of U.S. long-term portfolio assets in September as demand strengthened from China and Japan, the two largest foreign holders of Treasuries.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Daily Caller | How the GOP is winning the budget fight
The political world has changed dramatically in the past few years to the advantage of Reagan Republicans despite losing two presidential elections to Barack Obama.
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