News
National Journal | Americans Won't Be Easily Reassured About the Economy
Some political analysts suggest the encouraging economic numbers released last week are a sign that the economy is improving enough to diminish the anti-incumbent mood that has seemed likely to become a dominant factor in the 2014 midterm elections.
CNN Money | Average American inheritance: $177,000
The United States is lagging behind other parts of the world when it comes to leaving inheritances for future generations.
Bloomberg | Hoenig Says Volcker May Spur Efforts to Split Biggest Banks
The Volcker Rule ban on banks’ proprietary trading is a “useful” step that may spur efforts to split commercial lenders from broker-dealers, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig said today.
Market Watch | Fischer optimistic about U.S. economy in 2014: report
Stanley Fischer is reportedly optimistic about the outlook for the U.S. economy in 2014. We picked up on the following comment that he was reported to have made at the 2013 Globes Israel Business Conference on Dec. 9.
WSJ | U.S. Treasury Secretary: Euro-Zone Recession 'Seems to Be Ending'
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Thursday the euro zone's recession "seems to be ending," despite high unemployment levels in the hardest-hit countries.
Econ Comments & Analysis
CNN Money | Worst year in history for bond funds
Forget about the bond bloodbath in 1994. This is shaping up to be the worst year in history for bond funds.
Politico | How America Is Failing Its Kids
Change is hard. As someone who’s pushed to overhaul failing schools and battled entrenched defenders of an unacceptable status quo, I’m no stranger to controversy when it comes to education reform.
Washington Times | Resisting the seduction of housing speculation
Capitol Hill has been awash recently with various ways to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs. From Corker-Warner in the Senate to Financial Services Committee
Fortune | Addressing economic inequality in 2014
The central threat to capitalism today is snowballing inequality. There's a lot that could be done to turn the tide, if we muster the will. Here's how we can start.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Health Care
News
Politico | Obamacare: One punt after another
On Thursday, the Obama administration gave customers permission to pay their premiums as late as Dec. 31 for coverage that starts Jan. 1, and officially gave customers an extra week — until Dec. 23 — to sign up for January coverage.
Politico | Experts see bundling as future for health care – with limits
As the health industry embraces new ways to pay for care – phasing out old models that reward the volume of services rather than the outcome for patients – there are limits and drawbacks to emerging strategies such as service and payment bundling, experts said Friday at a POLITICO Pro Deep Dive event.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NBER | Is This Time Different? The Slowdown in Healthcare Spending
Why have health care costs moderated in the last decade? Some have suggested the Great Recession alone was the cause, but health expenditure growth in the depths of the recession was nearly identical to growth prior to the recession.
Blogs
NY Times | Health Care Prices Move to Center Stage
With ever higher deductibles, coinsurance and exclusions from coverage, employers have been shifting more and more of the cost of employment-based health insurance into the household budgets of their employees.
Politico | Obamacare: One punt after another
On Thursday, the Obama administration gave customers permission to pay their premiums as late as Dec. 31 for coverage that starts Jan. 1, and officially gave customers an extra week — until Dec. 23 — to sign up for January coverage.
Politico | Experts see bundling as future for health care – with limits
As the health industry embraces new ways to pay for care – phasing out old models that reward the volume of services rather than the outcome for patients – there are limits and drawbacks to emerging strategies such as service and payment bundling, experts said Friday at a POLITICO Pro Deep Dive event.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NBER | Is This Time Different? The Slowdown in Healthcare Spending
Why have health care costs moderated in the last decade? Some have suggested the Great Recession alone was the cause, but health expenditure growth in the depths of the recession was nearly identical to growth prior to the recession.
Blogs
NY Times | Health Care Prices Move to Center Stage
With ever higher deductibles, coinsurance and exclusions from coverage, employers have been shifting more and more of the cost of employment-based health insurance into the household budgets of their employees.
Monetary
News
Bloomberg | Wholesale Prices in U.S. Fell for Third Month in November
Wholesale prices in the U.S. declined for a third month in November, reflecting lower costs for energy and cars.
Market Watch | Not just too big to fail, banks are too big. Period
Forget about individual banks being too big to fail. The whole financial system is simply too big. Period. No advanced economy can function without it, but finance has gotten much bigger than it needs to be. The economy has become overly financialized.
CNBC | This is the biggest mistake people are making about QE now
When the Federal Reserve unveiled the bond buying programs everyone now knows as quantitative easing, there were two complaints whose prominence was outmatched only by their erroneous assertions.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Amid An Ongoing QE 'Experiment,' U.S. Banks Are Not 'Sitting On Their Reserves'
Some people are a little confused by the increasing amounts of “bank reserves” (bank deposits at the Federal reserve, a form of base money), and the rather low rate of loan growth at banks today. Let’s take a closer look.
Mercatus | Rethinking the Federal Reserve's Many Mandates on its 100 Year Anniversary
When the Dodd-Frank Act was being developed, one issue under consideration was whether the Board should lose some of its regulatory powers in view of its poor regulatory performance prior to the crisis. Instead, Dodd-Frank substantially increased the Board’s regulatory powers
Blogs
WSJ | Fed Scorecard: Where Do Officials Stand on Tapering?
In the wake of better economic data and notable improvements in hiring, Fed officials haven’t sent a clear signal of what they are likely to do.
WSJ | Should the Fed Switch Its Benchmark Rates?
The Federal Reserve is testing a new bond-trading program that is working so well, some influential people think it could lead the central bank to ditch its current policy lever — its federal funds rate target — in favor of this new program.
Bloomberg | Wholesale Prices in U.S. Fell for Third Month in November
Wholesale prices in the U.S. declined for a third month in November, reflecting lower costs for energy and cars.
Market Watch | Not just too big to fail, banks are too big. Period
Forget about individual banks being too big to fail. The whole financial system is simply too big. Period. No advanced economy can function without it, but finance has gotten much bigger than it needs to be. The economy has become overly financialized.
CNBC | This is the biggest mistake people are making about QE now
When the Federal Reserve unveiled the bond buying programs everyone now knows as quantitative easing, there were two complaints whose prominence was outmatched only by their erroneous assertions.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Amid An Ongoing QE 'Experiment,' U.S. Banks Are Not 'Sitting On Their Reserves'
Some people are a little confused by the increasing amounts of “bank reserves” (bank deposits at the Federal reserve, a form of base money), and the rather low rate of loan growth at banks today. Let’s take a closer look.
Mercatus | Rethinking the Federal Reserve's Many Mandates on its 100 Year Anniversary
When the Dodd-Frank Act was being developed, one issue under consideration was whether the Board should lose some of its regulatory powers in view of its poor regulatory performance prior to the crisis. Instead, Dodd-Frank substantially increased the Board’s regulatory powers
Blogs
WSJ | Fed Scorecard: Where Do Officials Stand on Tapering?
In the wake of better economic data and notable improvements in hiring, Fed officials haven’t sent a clear signal of what they are likely to do.
WSJ | Should the Fed Switch Its Benchmark Rates?
The Federal Reserve is testing a new bond-trading program that is working so well, some influential people think it could lead the central bank to ditch its current policy lever — its federal funds rate target — in favor of this new program.
Taxes
News
FOX Business | How to Calculate ObamaCare Penalties
The Affordable Care Act, which will go into full effect in the New Year will not only change the health-care landscape, but it also promises to complicate tax laws.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | Here's why conservatives should worry more about long-term unemployment
Currently we're at about 4 million people [who are long-term unemployed]. That's about 1 million more than the high in the previous recession, back in the 1980s. And we were up to 6.5 million during the Great Recession at its peak.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | The Budget Deal's Sneaky Tax Increases
For the Washington establishment, that’s apparently the politically correct way of telling Americans they’ll be paying more to the federal government. For the rest of us, it’s a tax increase.
FOX Business | How to Calculate ObamaCare Penalties
The Affordable Care Act, which will go into full effect in the New Year will not only change the health-care landscape, but it also promises to complicate tax laws.
Econ Comments & Analysis
AEI | Here's why conservatives should worry more about long-term unemployment
Currently we're at about 4 million people [who are long-term unemployed]. That's about 1 million more than the high in the previous recession, back in the 1980s. And we were up to 6.5 million during the Great Recession at its peak.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | The Budget Deal's Sneaky Tax Increases
For the Washington establishment, that’s apparently the politically correct way of telling Americans they’ll be paying more to the federal government. For the rest of us, it’s a tax increase.
Employment
News
WSJ | Euro-Zone Jobs Market Stabilizes
The euro-zone jobs market stabilized in the six months to September, according to employment figures released Friday, bringing an end to a long decline in the number of people at work in the 17 countries that use the euro.
CNBC | How unemployment benefits destroy jobs
We've been extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed for years now. This has provided needed relief to the jobless but it is very likely contributing to the problem of unemployment.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | A blueprint for creating better jobs - and bigger profits
In all the sound and fury over the minimum wage, and the current boom in low-paying, dead-end jobs, nobody is questioning a crucial assumption: More investment in labor would have to come out of consumers' and shareholders' pockets.
Blogs
Library of Economics | Labor Economists vs. Signaling
Signaling has been one of economists' more successful intellectual exports. After Spence and Arrow developed the signaling model of education in the 1970s, the idea soon spread to sociology, psychology, and education research. While few experts are staunch converts, most grant that the idea is plausible and the evidence suggestive. Yet strangely, there is one body of experts that sees little or no merit in the signaling model: labor economists, particularly those who specialize in education.
WSJ | Euro-Zone Jobs Market Stabilizes
The euro-zone jobs market stabilized in the six months to September, according to employment figures released Friday, bringing an end to a long decline in the number of people at work in the 17 countries that use the euro.
CNBC | How unemployment benefits destroy jobs
We've been extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed for years now. This has provided needed relief to the jobless but it is very likely contributing to the problem of unemployment.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Fortune | A blueprint for creating better jobs - and bigger profits
In all the sound and fury over the minimum wage, and the current boom in low-paying, dead-end jobs, nobody is questioning a crucial assumption: More investment in labor would have to come out of consumers' and shareholders' pockets.
Blogs
Library of Economics | Labor Economists vs. Signaling
Signaling has been one of economists' more successful intellectual exports. After Spence and Arrow developed the signaling model of education in the 1970s, the idea soon spread to sociology, psychology, and education research. While few experts are staunch converts, most grant that the idea is plausible and the evidence suggestive. Yet strangely, there is one body of experts that sees little or no merit in the signaling model: labor economists, particularly those who specialize in education.
Budget
News
WSJ | House Passes Budget Agreement in 332-94 Vote
Lawmakers took a step away from the confrontational politics and brinkmanship that has roiled the economy in recent years, as the House on Thursday passed a budget bill designed to avoid a government shutdown next month and relax spending limits in the next two years.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Seriously, this is a budget?
There is little to like in the debt-heavy budget deal that is about to pass Congress. It does not seriously attack billions of dollars in wasteful spending and barely nicks monster deficits that are forecast to grow by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years.
WSJ | A Small Step in the Right Direction
When I was new in the Reagan administration, a colleague would worry aloud to me about the bad things he was hearing about the budget negotiations on the Hill. We're giving away the store, the negotiators aren't tough enough, they're throwing in the towel. I tried to study up so I could be alarmed too.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | The Budget Deal -- and Why We're $17 Trillion in Debt
Country singer Aaron Tippin’s old hit song “You’ve Got to Stand for Something (or You’ll Fall For Anything)” could be the new theme song for the Republican leadership in the U.S. House.
WSJ | House Passes Budget Agreement in 332-94 Vote
Lawmakers took a step away from the confrontational politics and brinkmanship that has roiled the economy in recent years, as the House on Thursday passed a budget bill designed to avoid a government shutdown next month and relax spending limits in the next two years.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Seriously, this is a budget?
There is little to like in the debt-heavy budget deal that is about to pass Congress. It does not seriously attack billions of dollars in wasteful spending and barely nicks monster deficits that are forecast to grow by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years.
WSJ | A Small Step in the Right Direction
When I was new in the Reagan administration, a colleague would worry aloud to me about the bad things he was hearing about the budget negotiations on the Hill. We're giving away the store, the negotiators aren't tough enough, they're throwing in the towel. I tried to study up so I could be alarmed too.
Blogs
Heritage Foundation | The Budget Deal -- and Why We're $17 Trillion in Debt
Country singer Aaron Tippin’s old hit song “You’ve Got to Stand for Something (or You’ll Fall For Anything)” could be the new theme song for the Republican leadership in the U.S. House.
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