News
CNN Money | Fears grow over China property flameout
The risks of a blow up in China's property market are rising, threatening a slowdown that could hurt global growth.
FOX Business | U.S. Housing Starts Rise Less Than Expected, Permits Fall
U.S. housing starts rose less than expected in March and building permits fell, pointing to underlying weakness in the housing market that could persist despite better weather.
CNN Money | Detroit reaches deal with retired police and firefighters
Detroit's emergency manager and retired police and firefighters hammered out a deal Tuesday that marks a big step forward in the city's efforts to exit bankruptcy.
Bloomberg | Factories Lead U.S. Economic Rebound as Housing Lags
Gains in manufacturing are helping power the U.S. out of the winter doldrums, while homebuilding shows signs of lagging behind.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | The Year's Big Investment Winner? Tax Shelters
As I told my friend Neil Cavuto, the big investment winner year-to-date is tax shelters, namely tax-free municipal bonds. That’s what the Obama tax increases have wrought; an increase of the top income tax rate to almost 40%, plus added Obamacare taxes on top of that, causes the highest income group to do the obvious thing: move their capital out of economy-growing private equity markets and into tax-favored municipals. What did you think — that they’re idiots who would stand still for the public shearing?
Politico | CBO says food stamp costs could drop by $24 billion
After the buckets of political blood spilled over food stamps this past year, the Congressional Budget Office has quietly lowered its cost estimate for the nutrition program by $24 billion over the next decade.
Blogs
CATO | Revisiting Central Clearing for Derivatives
The Dodd-Frank requirement that over-the-counter derivatives be centrally cleared is one of the (slightly) less controversial provisions of the Act, at least in spirit if perhaps not always in substance. But for a time, a few observers have worried - myself included - that concentrating derivatives clearing activities in one or two single-purpose entities may increase, rather than reduce, the risk to the broader economy posed by the default of a counterparty.
