News
CNN Money | Taxpayers near profit on Fannie/Freddie bailout
The two mortgage financing companies that received whopping government bailouts in the financial crisis are on the verge of paying it all back.
Bloomberg | EU Banks’ Debt Addiction Threatens ECB-Led Overhaul
When Europe’s leaders set out in June 2012 to break the “vicious circle” between banks and sovereigns, they left rules for treating government bonds untouched, an oversight that may subvert their drive to prevent a recurrence of the debt crisis.
Market Watch | Japan's current-account deficit widens
Japan posted its widest-ever December current-account deficit, with the Finance Ministry reporting Monday that the gap hit ¥638.6 billion yen ($6.23 billion) for the third such deficit in a row.
WSJ | OECD Data Point to Pickup in Developed Countries
Growth is set to pick up in most large developed economies during the first half of 2014 and to stabilize in most large developing economies, with the exception of India, according to leading indicators published Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | These Are The Deals That Only President Obama Can Close
After reelection, President Obama’s first State-of-the-Union speech stressed trade expansion. He was pushing two treaties, still being negotiated. The first, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is close to completion, and the second, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) is off to a good start, but is a long-term prospect.
Washington Times | Polling the real-world effect of a minimum-wage hike
President Obama wants to “give America a raise.” He’s raising the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 an hour and is urging Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10.
LA Times | The student loan crisis: How middle-class kids get hammered
Last October, in between arguments over the debt ceiling, the federal government somehow found time to send me an email. My student loan payment was 70 days past due, the message read, so the government had negatively reported me to each major credit bureau and would continue to report me until my account was brought current.
Washington Post | The end of government
Something strange is happening in Washington. We are slowly dismantling the federal government, even as its spending is growing larger. The paradox is that governmental competence is being systematically degraded while the government’s size, as measured by its budget, is increasing. We are spending more and getting less, and — unless present trends are reversed — this will continue for years. It threatens the end of government as we know it.
AEI | Meet the 99.999999 percent
Forget about the 1 percent versus the 99 percent. It’s really more like the 0.000001 percent versus everybody else. A tiny group — mostly comprising the Obama White House, a bunch of Washington Democrats, progressive economists, and the media elite — continues to fixate on income inequality as America’s greatest challenge.
Blogs
WSJ | Early Look: A Shaky Economic Start
The first data of 2014, along with projections by economists, suggest the loss of momentum in China’s economy that began in December continued into the new year.
WSJ | Number of the Week: $2 Million Homes Going Like Hotcakes in California
$2 million: The entry price for California’s fastest growing segment of home sales.
Library of Economics | Why do booms feel good?
The answer to this question might seem obvious, but it isn't. Yes, booms feature lots of jobs and income, but most standard macro models suggest that booms feature "excesses," with too much employment and perhaps over-investment too.
CATO | Likely Sources of Obama’s Misconceptions about Income Mobility
President Obama has been expressing inordinate alarm about differences between income groups, and about mobility between such groups over time. “The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility,” he says, “pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream, our way of life, and what we stand for.”
