News
Bloomberg | Economy in U.S. Expands More Than Previously Estimated
The U.S. economy grew more rapidly in the fourth quarter than previously estimated as consumer spending climbed by the most in three years, showing the expansion had momentum heading into this year’s harsh winter.
Bloomberg | Consumer Sentiment in the U.S. Declines to a Seven-Week Low
Consumer confidence in the U.S. declined to the lowest level in seven weeks as Americans turned more pessimistic about the economy.
Market Watch | U.S. corporate profits slow in fourth quarter
The growth in aftertax U.S. corporate profits slowed to 2% in the fourth quarter from 2.4% in the third quarter and 3.5% in the second quarter, adjusted for inventories and other special accounting effects, the government reported Thursday.
WSJ | Lehman to Dole Out Additional $17.9 Billion to Creditors
The team winding down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it would be doling out $17.9 billion to creditors more than five years after the investment bank's collapse triggered the financial crisis.
CNBC | Being poor not a person's fault: CNBC survey
As the nation engages in a heated debate over inequalities' causes and cures, the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey finds a majority of Americans believe people are poor because of circumstances outside their control but are split on whether the wealthy have earned their riches.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | New, Revolutionary Way To Measure The Economy Is Coming -- Believe Me, This Is A Big Deal
This month a new way to measure the economy will be released, which, as time passes, will have a profound and manifestly positive impact on economic policy and politics.
Fortune | Why a mean reversion would be mean to the stock market
If the benchmarks used to determine the value of securities were to suddenly reverse course, the "new normal" could soon be history.
WSJ | Why Can't the Left Govern?
Surveying the fall in support for the governments of Barack Obama, New York City's progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio and France's Socialist President François Hollande, a diagnosis of the current crisis begins to emerge: The political left can win elections but it's unable to govern.
AEI | Long-term home ownership trends: The US, England, and Canada
A century ago, in 1910, the U.S. homeownership rate was 46%. It rose to 48% in the great boom of the 1920s, then called “the Coolidge Prosperity,” after the U.S. President of the time. This was when the U.S. government had its first home ownership promotion: the “Own Your Own Home” campaign, begun in 1922 under then-Secretary of Commerce (later President) Herbert Hoover.
WSJ | The New Republican Reformers
Their target is the GOP, but they are not angry liberals bent on destroying it. They are reform-minded Republican leaders intent on strengthening it.
Blogs
WSJ | 5 Things We Learned in the Economic Census of Businesses
The U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday began releasing data from its 2012 Economic Census. The survey of American businesses, taken every five years, provides the broadest and most complete picture of the U.S. economy. It also reveals changes since the pre-recession 2007 census. Below are five highlights from the report.
Heritage Foundation | How to Avoid Another Housing Crisis, Explained in Under a Minute
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cost taxpayers billions of dollars, even in good economic times, write Heritage’s Norbert Michel and John Ligon. When the housing market collapsed in 2008, they note, the cost to taxpayers was even higher.
Calculated Risk | NAR: Pending Home Sales Index down 10.5% year-over-year in February
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, dipped 0.8 percent to 93.9 from a downwardly revised 94.7 in January, and is 10.5 percent below February 2013 when it was 104.9. The February reading was the lowest since October 2011, when it was 92.2.
WSJ | Vital Signs: Still No Momentum in Business Spending
The latest data on business spending remains sluggish. Shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft edged up 0.5% in February, but that followed a 1.4% drop in January. The numbers suggest the business equipment sector is contributing almost nothing to first-quarter gross domestic product growth.
