News
CNBC | US economy: Where is the money?
Are you trying to decide whether the U.S. economy's relatively weak performance in the first quarter of this year is just a proverbial "pause that refreshes," or whether it's a continuation of a trend of lackluster growth for the foreseeable future?
National Journal | Can Connecticut Solve the U.S. Retirement Crisis?
Connecticut may be best known for its colleges, seaside communities, aging industrial cities, and easy access to New York City. Now, the state also wants to be known as the place trying to solve the country's impending retirement crisis, sparked by millions of Americans who have not saved enough cash to sustain them in their old age.
FOX Business | Investing for the Long-Term? Look for Stability
Instead of focusing on the short term, a request from my two daughters to invest their money, prompted me to take a longer-term view of the market.
CNN Money | US recovery hits 5-year mark, but long way to go
It's June 2014, and that means it's been five years since the Great Recession officially ended. If you're not ready to celebrate this milestone, you're certainly not alone.
Market Watch | Final Markit manufacturing PMI totals 56.4 in May
The final Markit reading of U.S. manufacturing conditions in May totaled 56.4, compared to a preliminary reading of 56.2, the privately run firm said Monday. In April the index registered 55.4.
CNN Money | Millennials squeezed out of buying a home
Just 36% of Americans under the age of 35 own a home, according to the Census Bureau. That's down from 42% in 2007 and the lowest level since 1982, when the agency began tracking homeownership by age.
CNBC | US manufacturing sector grows, speed slows: ISM
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity fell to 53.2 last month from 54.9 in April, coming in shy of the 55.5 expected according to a Reuters poll of economists.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | With Stocks at Record Highs, What Could Go Wrong?
The S&P 500 is up nearly 10% since its 2014 low in the first week of February. The index, which tracks the largest stocks, is now at a record high, up 4.1% for the year.
Mercatus | Piketty: A Wealth of Misconceptions
Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century might soon stand with Karl Marx'sCapital, which inspired its title, as one of the most influential economic masterworks of the past 150 years. But sad to say, this 696-page tome, ably translated by Arthur Goldhammer, is no more enlightening about capitalism in the 21st century than Marx'sCapital was about capitalism in the 19th century.
AEI | A capital agenda we can all agree on
The activities of the federal government anno 2014 fall into two categories, roughly speaking. It maintains a military to defend the nation from threats from overseas (foreign policy) and it maintains a plethora of programs designed to crowd out savings (domestic policy).
CATO | How Regulations Harm U.S. Manufacturing
“Revival” is probably not the right word for a sector that has been trending upward with respect to every relevant performance metric since the nadir of the recession. The most recently published U.S. government data reveal all-time highs for manufacturing sector output, value-added, revenues, exports, profits, and foreign direct investment. Business is good for manufacturers in the U.S., but it could be better still.
Blogs
WSJ | Fed’s Williams: U.S. Economy Should Snap Back in Second Quarter
The U.S. economy should rebound this spring following its winter downturn, but growth won’t be exceptionally robust going forward, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said Friday.
WSJ | Investors Rewarded for Trek Into Little Known Markets
Investors who ventured into frontier markets—the smaller, lesser-known cousins of emerging markets—have been rewarded with impressive equity returns over the past 18 months.
CATO | Globalization Eradicates Poverty
Interconnected, free markets generate wealth and pull people out of poverty. This occurs as the connective technologies of globalization (like the Internet) increase competition. That benefits consumers who can buy more, increasingly inexpensive products to better their quality of life. That also creates innovation and employment, as is the case for Chinese villagers.
