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Monday, August 4, 2014

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | The ‘meh’ economy: What it means for 2014
Interviews with a dozen economists and party strategists for both sides and a review of recent data reveal a strong consensus: The economy is not good enough to offer a significant lift to President Barack Obama and Democrats trying to hold off a GOP Senate takeover.
Politico | Golden years … without the gold
With traditional pensions becoming rarer in the private sector, and lower-paid workers less likely to have access to an employer-provided retirement plan, there is a growing gulf in the retirement savings of the wealthy and people with lower incomes.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Washington Times | EDITORIAL: Another economic bubble about to burst?
Loose monetary and housing policies may soon pop the economy.
Forbes | Economic Consequences of the Great War
It took decades for the era that was destroyed by the Great War to evolve. That’s why believers in free markets must be persistent—and patient.
WSJ | Pushing Back Against Obama's War on Coal
A dozen states filed suit on Friday to stop an ideological EPA campaign that will damage the U.S. economy.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Obama to Corporate America: Stop complaining
“They always complain about regulation,” says President Barack Obama about businesspeople in an interview published over the weekend with the Economist. “That’s their job.” Obama defends his economic policies in the interview and also says the business community has broader responsibilities than just to itself.

Health Care

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
CRS | Appropriations and Fund Transfers in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Federal outlays on insurance expansion coverage under the ACA, which constitutes most of the law's mandatory spending, are almost entirely exempt from sequestration. However, the mandatory appropriations in the ACA are, in general, fully sequestrable at the percentage rate applicable to nonexempt nondefense mandatory spending.

Monetary

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Lacker Says Markets May Be Surprised by Pace of Rate Rise
Short-term interest-rate markets have for months priced in a slower tempo of increases than policy makers themselves forecast. That’s risky because the misalignment, a bet against a rate path that the central bank alone controls, could lead to volatility if traders have to adjust rapidly, Lacker said.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Fox Business | 10 Tax Tips for New Business Owners
If you are a new business owner, you need all the help you can get to cut it in this highly-competitive economy. Keeping your money for working capital rather than paying it out in taxes to Uncle Sam will give you an edge. Here are 10 tips to help you do just that:

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Market Watch | ‘Inversion’ payoff for shareholders is muted at tax time
U.S. companies are busy buying overseas firms in deals that reduce their tax payments. Ironically, though, these mergers could saddle shareholders with higher tax bills.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | Half-Trillion-Dollar Exodus Magnifying U.S. Bill Shortage
One of the biggest winners in the push to make money-market funds safer for investors is turning out to be none other than the U.S. government.
Fox Business | U.S. Judge: Argentina Debt Talks Must Continue After Default
Argentina cannot turn its back on negotiations with holdout creditors after defaulting on its sovereign debt, a U.S. judge instructed on Friday, just as the country's failure to service a June interest payment was declared a "credit event."
Market Watch | Americans are still not swiping their credit cards
"Jobs growth has been solid of late, and manufacturing sentiment has been strong.
But the lack of wage growth has been apparent, and one manifestation of that has been the paltry rise in credit-card debt."
WSJ | Junk-Debt Liquidity Concerns Bring Sales
A shakeout in the junk-bond market is drawing only cautious interest from bargain-hunters, underscoring investor fears that many once-hot securities could prove hard to sell in an increasingly difficult trading environment.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
CNS News | 11,472,000 Americans Have Left Workforce Since Obama Took Office
11.4 million Americans age 16 and over have left the workforce since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to data released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | Is Long-Term Unemployment Finally Returning to Normal?
When a government statistic hits nearly double its previous record, people need to ask why so that we can avoid a repeat of such a situation. If "compassion" just leads to longer spells of unemployment, we need to ask if such a policy is truly compassionate.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ: Real Time Economics | Why So Few People Are “Marginally Attached” to the Labor Force
Economists attempting to dissect the U.S. labor market in recent years have been perplexed by the number of people leaving the labor force entirely. In a little over a decade, the number of people either working or actively looking for work has declined to 62.8% from 67.3%.