News
WSJ | Hasbro to Cut 10% of Workforce
"We had a number of strong product initiatives, but consumer demand through much of the holiday season was less than anticipated in both the U.S. and certain international markets," Chief Executive Brian Goldner said. "As a result, fourth-quarter revenue did not meet our expectations."
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | 3 things Washington could do to create more jobs
A year ago, both political parties seemed to agree that our nation’s biggest problem was finding enough good jobs for everyone who needed one.
Heritage Foundation | Labor Unions: Declining Membership Shows Labor Laws Need Modernizing
U.S. labor laws do not meet the needs of modern American workers. The laws prevent union members from receiving individual raises and non-union employees from having any substantive voice on the job.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Budget
News
Politico | Fiscal fights: Who will blink first?
Speaker John Boehner’s House Republicans and President Barack Obama — joined by congressional Democrats — want entirely different things out of the three-step fiscal fight that will take place over the next 90 days.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Making budget risk personal
House Republican leaders seized the high ground this week in the continuing battle to rein in spending, forcing Senate Democrats to produce their first budget in nearly four years.
Blogs
CATO | ‘Unthinkable, Draconian’ Spending Cuts
It’s my job to advocate for spending cuts. It’s a job I’ve been doing in one form or another for over a decade. If I’ve ever experienced a victory, it must have been a pretty small one, because I can’t recall any.
Politico | Fiscal fights: Who will blink first?
Speaker John Boehner’s House Republicans and President Barack Obama — joined by congressional Democrats — want entirely different things out of the three-step fiscal fight that will take place over the next 90 days.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | Making budget risk personal
House Republican leaders seized the high ground this week in the continuing battle to rein in spending, forcing Senate Democrats to produce their first budget in nearly four years.
Blogs
CATO | ‘Unthinkable, Draconian’ Spending Cuts
It’s my job to advocate for spending cuts. It’s a job I’ve been doing in one form or another for over a decade. If I’ve ever experienced a victory, it must have been a pretty small one, because I can’t recall any.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
General Economics
News
Bloomberg | Global Growth Glimmers as Manufacturing Picks Up Speed: Economy
China’s manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in two years and euro-area services and factory output shrank less than economists forecast in surveys for January, adding to signs of resilience in the global economy.
National Journal | Recession Pushes States to Make Deep Cuts to Higher-Ed Budgets
Since the recession, 38 states have made steep cuts to funding for higher education. How will graduating high school students make do?
Bloomberg | Consumer Comfort Falls Amid Mounting Concern Over U.S. Economy
Consumer confidence fell last week to its lowest level in more than three months as concern about the U.S. economy mounted.
Market Watch | 30-year mortgage rate rises to 3.42%
The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.42% in the week ending Jan. 24 - the highest rate since late September -- up from 3.38% in the prior week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report. Despite the gain, rates remain near record lows.
Bloomberg | Index of Leading Economic Indicators in U.S. Increases 0.5%
The index of U.S. leading indicators rose in December by the most in three months, showing the world’s largest economy is poised to keep growing through the first half of this year.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Atlantic | What Obama Forgot: Economic Growth Is the Only Way to Social Progress
The commentariat has already reached a consensus: In his second inaugural, President Obama gave a stirring, modern statement of equality as a core national value and progressive government as a core instrument to that end.
WSJ | The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class
A favorite "progressive" trope is that America's middle class has stagnated economically since the 1970s. One version of this claim, made by Robert Reich, President Clinton's labor secretary, is typical: "After three decades of flat wages during which almost all the gains of growth have gone to the very top," he wrote in 2010, "the middle class no longer has the buying power to keep the economy going."
Politico | Championing the freedom to export
A noisy argument has broken out in Washington over whether to permit the export of liquefied natural gas beyond today’s modest levels. New production methods have greatly increased North American natural gas production, and this boom is projected to continue for several decades. Surging supplies have depressed domestic prices, and much higher prices abroad have made the notion of exporting LNG attractive.
Washington Post | Keystone XL is coming back
President Obama ejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline this time last year, a result that Canada had every reason to be dismayed by, as did Americans whom the project would have employed. The issue is coming back, and the president has even less reason to nix the project than he did last time.
Blogs
WSJ | Kansas City Fed Reports Contracting Manufacturing
Factory activity in the Plains states is still contracting this month, according to a regional Federal Reserve bank report released Thursday.
Economist | Looking better
When Barack Obama was sworn in four years ago, the economic figures were terrifying. A financial crisis and a savage recession were in full swing, and house foreclosures were soaring.
WSJ | Slow Economic Growth Is the ‘New Normal’ – Fannie Mae
The gradual but below-potential economic growth seen in 2012 is likely to continue in 2013 and into 2014, according to a new report from Fannie Mae
Café Hayek | America’s Middle-Class: Doing Better than Ever
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Carpe Diem’s Mark Perry and I offer evidence against the frequently heard trope that America’s middle-class has stagnated economically since the 1970s.
Bloomberg | Global Growth Glimmers as Manufacturing Picks Up Speed: Economy
China’s manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in two years and euro-area services and factory output shrank less than economists forecast in surveys for January, adding to signs of resilience in the global economy.
National Journal | Recession Pushes States to Make Deep Cuts to Higher-Ed Budgets
Since the recession, 38 states have made steep cuts to funding for higher education. How will graduating high school students make do?
Bloomberg | Consumer Comfort Falls Amid Mounting Concern Over U.S. Economy
Consumer confidence fell last week to its lowest level in more than three months as concern about the U.S. economy mounted.
Market Watch | 30-year mortgage rate rises to 3.42%
The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.42% in the week ending Jan. 24 - the highest rate since late September -- up from 3.38% in the prior week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report. Despite the gain, rates remain near record lows.
Bloomberg | Index of Leading Economic Indicators in U.S. Increases 0.5%
The index of U.S. leading indicators rose in December by the most in three months, showing the world’s largest economy is poised to keep growing through the first half of this year.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Atlantic | What Obama Forgot: Economic Growth Is the Only Way to Social Progress
The commentariat has already reached a consensus: In his second inaugural, President Obama gave a stirring, modern statement of equality as a core national value and progressive government as a core instrument to that end.
WSJ | The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class
A favorite "progressive" trope is that America's middle class has stagnated economically since the 1970s. One version of this claim, made by Robert Reich, President Clinton's labor secretary, is typical: "After three decades of flat wages during which almost all the gains of growth have gone to the very top," he wrote in 2010, "the middle class no longer has the buying power to keep the economy going."
Politico | Championing the freedom to export
A noisy argument has broken out in Washington over whether to permit the export of liquefied natural gas beyond today’s modest levels. New production methods have greatly increased North American natural gas production, and this boom is projected to continue for several decades. Surging supplies have depressed domestic prices, and much higher prices abroad have made the notion of exporting LNG attractive.
Washington Post | Keystone XL is coming back
President Obama ejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline this time last year, a result that Canada had every reason to be dismayed by, as did Americans whom the project would have employed. The issue is coming back, and the president has even less reason to nix the project than he did last time.
Blogs
WSJ | Kansas City Fed Reports Contracting Manufacturing
Factory activity in the Plains states is still contracting this month, according to a regional Federal Reserve bank report released Thursday.
Economist | Looking better
When Barack Obama was sworn in four years ago, the economic figures were terrifying. A financial crisis and a savage recession were in full swing, and house foreclosures were soaring.
WSJ | Slow Economic Growth Is the ‘New Normal’ – Fannie Mae
The gradual but below-potential economic growth seen in 2012 is likely to continue in 2013 and into 2014, according to a new report from Fannie Mae
Café Hayek | America’s Middle-Class: Doing Better than Ever
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Carpe Diem’s Mark Perry and I offer evidence against the frequently heard trope that America’s middle-class has stagnated economically since the 1970s.
Health Care
News
Politico | States hustle to modernize Medicaid
Whether states accept or reject the Medicaid expansion under the health law, they’ve got plenty of work to do to get ready for big changes in coverage next year.
Politico | States hustle to modernize Medicaid
Whether states accept or reject the Medicaid expansion under the health law, they’ve got plenty of work to do to get ready for big changes in coverage next year.
Monetary
News
CNN Money | Inside the Fed's fight
The public face of American monetary policy is a bearded, soft-spoken, baseball-loving academic who was given his job by a Republican president and reappointed by a Democrat.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | How Fed Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zero
For anyone whose financial memory dates back to a time when the overnight interbank rate was in double digits, the Federal Reserve’s announcement last month that zero was here to stay was nothing short of stunning.
CNN Money | Inside the Fed's fight
The public face of American monetary policy is a bearded, soft-spoken, baseball-loving academic who was given his job by a Republican president and reappointed by a Democrat.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Bloomberg | How Fed Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Zero
For anyone whose financial memory dates back to a time when the overnight interbank rate was in double digits, the Federal Reserve’s announcement last month that zero was here to stay was nothing short of stunning.
Taxes
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | State income taxes in peril
Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Dave Heineman of Nebraska and Sam Brownback of Kansas have all recently publicly stated their desire to eliminate their states’ income taxes. Now joining this movement is North Carolina, where last week Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger called for his state to pursue serious tax reform this session, possibly including a repeal of North Carolina’s income tax.
AEI | We need a progressive consumption tax
In the short run, reform efforts are likely to focus on improving the income tax. We should curb ill-designed tax breaks, like those for expensive homes and Cadillac health insurance plans, and reform business taxes.
Washington Times | State income taxes in peril
Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Dave Heineman of Nebraska and Sam Brownback of Kansas have all recently publicly stated their desire to eliminate their states’ income taxes. Now joining this movement is North Carolina, where last week Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger called for his state to pursue serious tax reform this session, possibly including a repeal of North Carolina’s income tax.
AEI | We need a progressive consumption tax
In the short run, reform efforts are likely to focus on improving the income tax. We should curb ill-designed tax breaks, like those for expensive homes and Cadillac health insurance plans, and reform business taxes.
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