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Thursday, December 4, 2014

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | U.S. jobless claims decline 17,000 to 297,000
The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 17,000 last week to 297,000, returning initial claims to levels consistent with a steadily improving labor market after a surprising spike in the prior week.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Real Clear Markets | Happy Holidays From the Saudis and Shale Oil
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2014/12/04/happy_holidays_from_the_saudis_and_shale_oil_101415.html

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Wall Street Journal | Housing Forecasts for 2015: Resurgent Home Building and Restrained Optimism
With the door closing on 2014, economists are starting to tout their housing forecasts for next year. Count Realtor.com chief economist Jonathan Smoke among the more conservative optimists.

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Wall Street Journal | More Cost of Health Care Shifts to Consumers
Americans increasingly have to dig into their own pockets to pay for medical care, a shift that is helping to curb the growth in health spending by employers and the government.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Fed’s Fisher wants to revisit borrowing-cost plans
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said Wednesday he’d like the U.S. central bank to revisit its recently revised plans for raising borrowing costs in way that could help ease conditions in the bond market.

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
USA Today | Grover Norquist: Most 'extenders' are good policy
The idea that taxpayers have to "pay for" tax reductions implies a Brezhnev Doctrine for the size of government: Total taxation can never go down, only up. Taxpayers reject that claim on our lives by the state.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Republican leaders push spending plan over concerns from right
House Republican leaders pushed ahead Wednesday with a plan to avoid a budget showdown next week by funding the government well into 2015, banking on the prospect of help from Democrats to outweigh conservative opposition.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Market Watch | Why the U.S.’s debt is no longer such a big deal
Shhh! Don’t tell anyone, but over the past couple of years, the U.S.’s debt burden, the big issue that swept Tea Party-led Republicans into control of the House of Representatives in 2010, has quietly improved.