News
Wall Street Journal | U.S. Economic Growth Slows to 2.6% in Final Months of 2014
U.S. economic growth retreated to a modest pace in the final months of 2014, underscoring obstacles facing the recovery as troubles mount abroad.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Markets React to 1930s Style Errors
For more than half a decade now, the mighty economic hopes of all of Europe have been almost totally dependent on Germany (the UK to a lesser extent). When the continent fell into recession in 2012, it was relatively mild in blended terms because Germany only slowed. That meant the ECB could focus its massive intrusions on the "periphery", the PIIGS mostly, aiming squarely at its very own banks to somehow force them to stop paying attention to national boundaries.
Wall Street Journal | China Trumps U.S. for Foreign Investment
China became the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment in 2014, edging the U.S. out of that position for the first time since 2003, according to figures released Thursday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Blogs
Wall Street Journal | At a Glance: U.S. Fourth-Quarter GDP
U.S. gross domestic product advanced 2.6% at an annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Health Care
News
Wall Street Journal | Obama to Lay Out $215 Million Precision-Medicine Plan
President Obama is expected to detail on Friday an ambitious scientific effort to amass genetic data on one million or more Americans, with an eye toward unearthing disease causes and speeding drug discovery.
Wall Street Journal | Republicans to Block Legislative Fix to Health-Care Law
Congressional Republicans say they won’t move to preserve consumers’ health insurance tax credits if the Supreme Court strikes them down, raising the stakes in the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Why Is Obamacare Such A Mess? There Was No Adult In The Room When It Passed
During the last election, I don’t believe there was a single Democratic television ad in any contested race that bragged about president Obama’s singular achievement: The Affordable Care Act – AKA Obamacare. The public doesn’t like it. The politicians who passed it aren’t defending it. So why do we have it?
Wall Street Journal | Failing Up in ObamaCare
So what does it take to ruin your reputation around Washington these days? The question comes to mind after learning that one of the capitol’s most corrupt bureaucracies has decided to hire one of its most incompetent contractors—and the answer explains a lot about accountability in government.
Wall Street Journal | Obama to Lay Out $215 Million Precision-Medicine Plan
President Obama is expected to detail on Friday an ambitious scientific effort to amass genetic data on one million or more Americans, with an eye toward unearthing disease causes and speeding drug discovery.
Wall Street Journal | Republicans to Block Legislative Fix to Health-Care Law
Congressional Republicans say they won’t move to preserve consumers’ health insurance tax credits if the Supreme Court strikes them down, raising the stakes in the latest legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Why Is Obamacare Such A Mess? There Was No Adult In The Room When It Passed
During the last election, I don’t believe there was a single Democratic television ad in any contested race that bragged about president Obama’s singular achievement: The Affordable Care Act – AKA Obamacare. The public doesn’t like it. The politicians who passed it aren’t defending it. So why do we have it?
Wall Street Journal | Failing Up in ObamaCare
So what does it take to ruin your reputation around Washington these days? The question comes to mind after learning that one of the capitol’s most corrupt bureaucracies has decided to hire one of its most incompetent contractors—and the answer explains a lot about accountability in government.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Wall Street Journal | The Tax-Cutting Boon Sweeping the States
While the prospects for tax reform in Washington are dim, as many as 20 Republican governors are moving forward with their own pro-growth tax-relief initiatives. This is on top of the 14 states, including Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, whose 2014 tax cuts will take effect this year.
Wall Street Journal | The Tax-Cutting Boon Sweeping the States
While the prospects for tax reform in Washington are dim, as many as 20 Republican governors are moving forward with their own pro-growth tax-relief initiatives. This is on top of the 14 states, including Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, whose 2014 tax cuts will take effect this year.
Employment
News
Wall Street Journal | U.S. Labor Costs Only Inch Up in 4th Quarter
U.S. labor costs rose at a measured pace in the final three months of the year, a sign that a tightening labor market is only slowly driving up wages for most American workers.
Wall Street Journal | U.S. Labor Costs Only Inch Up in 4th Quarter
U.S. labor costs rose at a measured pace in the final three months of the year, a sign that a tightening labor market is only slowly driving up wages for most American workers.
Budget
Econ Comments & Analysis
Wells Fargo | Five Key Issues to Watch in the 114th Congress
As the 114th Congress ramps up over the coming weeks, we wanted to take a moment to point out five of the key policy issues that we will be watching in the 114th Congress.
Wells Fargo | Five Key Issues to Watch in the 114th Congress
As the 114th Congress ramps up over the coming weeks, we wanted to take a moment to point out five of the key policy issues that we will be watching in the 114th Congress.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
General Economics
News
Market Watch | Jobless claims fall to 265,000 lowest level since 2000
The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits plunged 43,000 to 265,000 in the week that ended Jan. 24, hitting the lowest tally in 14 years, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Obama's Higher Education Policies Are Designed To Increase Dependence On Government
As part of his State of the Union speech, President Obama proposed a partnership of federal and state government funding to make two years of community college free for everyone. Yet, oddly, at the same time he proposed removing some of the tax advantages of 529 accounts which millions of Americans use to save for college expenses.
Market Watch | What the oldest stock market index is telling us
If cheaper oil were a net positive for the economy, one of the first places you’d expect to see it show up is the transportation sector. Yet it hasn’t: Over this same five-week period, the Dow Transports have fallen nearly 2%.
Market Watch | Some ugly truths about the bank bailouts
More than 4 million Americans lost their homes in the wake of the financial crisis, but the vast majority of lenders survived through government assistance rushed to Wall Street in the fall of 2008.
Market Watch | Lies, damned lies and Greece’s debt default
Can we stop it, please, with the Greek debt panic?
Real Clear Markets | Unemployment Sank When We Stopped Paying For It
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of US business cycles, the "great recession" ended in June 2009. But in the half decade since then, the US economy has experienced the feeblest recovery on record with real GDP growing at a rate of just 2.4%.
Blogs
Wall Street Journal | 5 Things to Watch In Friday's U.S. GDP Report
The government offers its broadest snapshot of the 2014 economy Friday with the first estimate of how much the economy grew in the final quarter.
Market Watch | Jobless claims fall to 265,000 lowest level since 2000
The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits plunged 43,000 to 265,000 in the week that ended Jan. 24, hitting the lowest tally in 14 years, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Forbes | Obama's Higher Education Policies Are Designed To Increase Dependence On Government
As part of his State of the Union speech, President Obama proposed a partnership of federal and state government funding to make two years of community college free for everyone. Yet, oddly, at the same time he proposed removing some of the tax advantages of 529 accounts which millions of Americans use to save for college expenses.
Market Watch | What the oldest stock market index is telling us
If cheaper oil were a net positive for the economy, one of the first places you’d expect to see it show up is the transportation sector. Yet it hasn’t: Over this same five-week period, the Dow Transports have fallen nearly 2%.
Market Watch | Some ugly truths about the bank bailouts
More than 4 million Americans lost their homes in the wake of the financial crisis, but the vast majority of lenders survived through government assistance rushed to Wall Street in the fall of 2008.
Market Watch | Lies, damned lies and Greece’s debt default
Can we stop it, please, with the Greek debt panic?
Real Clear Markets | Unemployment Sank When We Stopped Paying For It
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official arbiter of US business cycles, the "great recession" ended in June 2009. But in the half decade since then, the US economy has experienced the feeblest recovery on record with real GDP growing at a rate of just 2.4%.
Blogs
Wall Street Journal | 5 Things to Watch In Friday's U.S. GDP Report
The government offers its broadest snapshot of the 2014 economy Friday with the first estimate of how much the economy grew in the final quarter.
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