Econ Comments & Analysis
Politico | GOP confident about Paul Ryan’s budget
House Republican leaders said they believe they turned a corner by the end of last week, quashing opposition to the Wisconsin Republican’s 2015 budget proposal and laying the groundwork to clear one of the last major pieces of legislation before the midterm election.
CBO | Monthly Budget Review for March 2014
The federal government ran a budget deficit of $413 billion for the first six months of fiscal year 2014, CBO estimates—$187 billion less than the shortfall recorded in the same span last year. Revenues were about 10 percent higher; and outlays, about 4 percent lower.
Blogs
WSJ | Foreign Investors Selling out of Japanese Debt
That’s essentially the message from overseas investors, who sold a net Y351 billion ($3.4 billion) of Japanese government bonds and other types of debt in March, data out Tuesday showed. That means a net sale of Y2.5 trillion for the fiscal year just ended, the first such net selling in four years.
WSJ | Americans Owed Less on Their Credit Cards in February
Total outstanding consumer credit across the economy rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.4% in February to more than $3.129 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Monday.
CATO | 50 Years of Federal Spending
Fifty years ago, one of the biggest-spending presidents in U.S. history was settling into office after coming to power the prior November. Lyndon Johnson signed into law Medicare, Medicaid, and hundreds of subsidy programs for the states and cities.
