News
National Journal | Full Text: President Obama's 2014 State of the Union Address
A transcript of President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address
CNN Money | Obama's soft sell on income inequality
President Obama's State of the Union speech was billed as focusing on income inequality, an issue he's promised to devote himself to addressing in 2014.
Bloomberg | Obama Seeks Trade Deals in Backing U.S. Companies’ Goals
President Barack Obama urged Congress to back two of the top priorities of U.S. multinational corporations: broader authority for his administration to negotiate trade deals along with changes to immigration laws.
WSJ | Obama Seeks to Borrow More from Poor, Middle Class
As the Federal Reserve begins to wind down its Quantitative Easing program, which lends money to the U.S. Treasury among others, President Obama on Tuesday night unveiled a new way to finance the federal government's rising debt. In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama pitched a new product aimed at workers who do not have 401(k) plans.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | State of the Union 2014: Obama touts ‘MyRA’ retirement savings proposal
President Barack Obama on Wednesday plans to direct the Treasury Department to create a new retirement investment product called a “MyRA,” which the administration described as a “starter savings account” backed by the U.S. government.
Forbes | White House Income Equality Agenda Makes War On Progress
In tonight’s State of the Union Address, Mr. Obama will attempt to shake off the most disastrous year of his presidency by doubling down on his fight to equalize our incomes. Apparently, his advisors convinced him he can breathe fresh life into tax and welfare programs by hijacking the word “opportunity” from the other side of the aisle without bothering to understand what it means.
Washington Times | Obama is wrong that raising minimum wage will fix income inequality
There has been much discussion about income inequality recently. President Obama seems to think that we can make significant progress in eliminating poverty by raising the minimum wage, as his State of the Union address highlighted.
WSJ | Emerging Markets Take Largest Share of International Investment in 2013
Developing economies claimed the largest share of international investments made by businesses for the second consecutive year in 2013 and are likely to do so again in 2014 despite slower growth, political uncertainty and turbulence in their financial markets, according to figures issued Tuesday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Real Clear Markets | 3 Key Policy Areas That Will Affect the Global Economy In 2014
2014 will be another year in which it is manifest that government decisions are critically important for economies and markets around the globe. There was a period of a decade or more leading up to the financial crisis in which markets stopped focusing so much on governments, because the business cycle was apparently permanently muted by wise central bank policies and the governments of most leading economies were pursuing increasingly laissez faire policies that involved minimal intervention in the economy.
Blogs
WSJ | Vital Signs: The 15%ers Are Feeling Better — and That’s Good for Economy
U.S. consumers are more upbeat about the economy in January. The Conference Board said Tuesday its confidence index increased 3.2 points to 80.7 in January, besting the 77.6 expected by economists.
Heritage Foundation | How Obamanomics Promotes Inequality
The great Obama contradiction on the economy is this: he takes credit for the improved economy, but openly admits that in this recovery almost all of the gains have gone to the very rich.
CATO | Farm Bill Spending Up 49 Percent
Under cover of SOTU media coverage, Congress is set to sneak through the first big farm bill since 2008. The Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of the bill’s cost: $956 billion over 2014-2023. It would thus mean almost $1 trillion more borrowed from U.S. and foreign creditors, adding more weight to the anchor pulling down the living standards of our children and grandchildren.
Calculated Risk | Completed Foreclosures Down 24% in 2013
According to CoreLogic, there were 620,111 completed foreclosures across the country in 2013 compared to 820,498 in 2012, a decrease of 24 percent.
