General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | U.S. job openings hit highest level since 2001
Job openings in the U.S. rose 3.7% to 5.03 million in December - the highest since 2001 - and the number of people hired climbed 1.9% to 5.05 milllion.
Market Watch | Small-business sentiment slips in January, NFIB says
Small-business sentiment slipped in January on a decline in optimism over sales growth and business conditions, according to a gauge released Tuesday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Reuters | Greek euro exit will be hard to stop
Alexis Tsipras kept his promises to the electorate. That’s the only thing that can be said in favour of the defiant speech the Greek prime minister gave parliament on Feb. 8. Almost everything else was terrible – because the pledges he made in the recent election campaign are undeliverable.
Market Watch | Americans are spending their gas savings on more gas
So, what are Americans doing with some of the money they’re saving from cheap gas? They are buying more fuel.
Investors.com | Studies Confirm Dodd-Frank Strangling Small Lenders
New studies of banking trends confirm earlier warnings that the Dodd-Frank Act would drive community banks out of the market and choke off credit.
Wall Street Journal | U.S. Government Bonds Fall Again
Treasury bond prices fell for a fifth straight session, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to a one-month high on Monday, as looming new debt sales outweighed market turmoil in Greece and slowing growth in China.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
AEI | 2014 US-China trade by the numbers
The US ran a record $342 billion merchandise trade deficit with China in 2014. The deficit rose 7.6%, with a 6% increase in American imports and just a 1.7 % increase in American exports. Driving these figures are a comparatively strongerAmerican economy, and also Chinese trade barriers. Imports from China benefit American consumers but the poor performance of American exports is a warning sign.

Monetary

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Market Watch | Fed is between rock and hard place
Between rising employment, excess liquidity, the strong dollar and low inflation the Federal Reserve doesn’t know which way to jump.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Wall Street Journal | When Is It Time for Mindful Austerity?
In his budget, President Barack Obama called for an end to “mindless austerity.” That begs the question: If mindless austerity is to be avoided, will there ever be a time for mindful austerity?

Taxes

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | Tax Subsidies May Not Help Start-Ups as Much as Lawmakers Think
Many tax subsidies help new businesses, especially those financed with borrowed money and organized to avoid the corporate income tax .

Employment

Blogs                                                                                                                             
AEI | Citi on the economy, workers, and robots: ‘This time is different’
In the world of manufacturing, the majority of automation to date has been viewed as something that helped get the job done more efficiently. The Industrial Revolution created vast employment for low-skilled workers with the adoption of the assembly line and workers adapted by making their skills complementary to the arrival of new technologies.