News
Bloomberg | Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Rises to Highest in 14 Months
American consumer confidence rose to the highest level in more than a year in September, as households’ views on the outlook for the economy brightened.
Market Watch | An economic puzzle has been revised away
Payrolls growth has been strong, the unemployment rate has come down, manufacturing and service sentiment was buoyant, consumer credit was expanding, the stock market continues to improve, house prices are still mending, consumer confidence was improving — but consumers weren’t spending?
CNBC | Why the key to the economy could be in your gas tank
Gasoline is once more a wild card for the economy—but this time it's a potential positive because prices could fall sharply.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Public Pensions Are Still Marching To Their Death
Public employee pension systems have long been a source of problems. State government politicians are continually tempted to underfund pension plans in favor of using that money for something with an immediate payoff.
CBO | Modeling the Budgetary Costs of FHA's Single Family Mortgage Insurance: Working Paper 2014-05
This paper presents the simulation model that CBO uses to project the budgetary costs of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA's) single-family mortgage insurance program
Forbes | Sorry, Obama Fans: Reagan Did Better on Jobs and Growth
Supporters of President Barack Obama, such as one of his campaign donors Robert Deitrick, an Ohio financial advisor often quoted in Forbes and elsewhere, insist that the Obama economy has been much more robust than Ronald Reagan’s. Are they right?
Wall Street Journal | Family Dollar Tree General
The dollar-store boom of recent years is a commentary on the state of the American economy. So is the fact that federal antitrust regulators may decide which of two corporate suitors is allowed to buy the Family Dollar chain.
AEI | Scotland's threat to Europe
Small as Scotland’s economy might be, a yes vote in its September 18 iindependence referendum would have profoundly negative implications not simply for Scotland’s long-term economic prospects but also for those of the rest of the United Kingdom and for the Eurozone.
Blogs
Wall Street Journal | Who Really Benefits from Social Security’s Cost-of-Living Index? Depends How Long You Live
Budget battles in recent years have thrust politicians and budget wonks into heated debates over how to adjust Social Security benefits for inflation.
Econlib.org | Our Regulated Society
Last night, after a productive meeting in Indianapolis, I flew home to Monterey. Well, not quite to Monterey. That was the plan. But the plan didn't work out. And the reason it didn't work out is a tale of regulation.
