News
National Journal | Obamacare Enrollment Hits 3 Million
Obamacare enrollment is only slightly behind expectations, following a surge in enrollment that has brought the total number of sign-ups to 3 million. As of this week, 3 million people have signed up for private coverage through the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges, the Health and Human Services Department said today. The figure includes state-run marketplaces as well as the 36 states using federal exchanges through HealthCare.gov.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Weekly Standard | The Obamacare Bailout
Obamacare is like an onion: The more layers you peel back, the worse it smells. The latest revelation about this horrible law is the presence of a “risk corridor,” a euphemism for an insurance industry bailout that will occur sometime in the next year.
CATO | Obamacare: What We Know Now
For all intents and purposes, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has been fully implemented. And while much of the media coverage has been dominated by the technical failures of the program’s initial rollout, we are also learning much about the impact of health care reform on employers, providers, patients, taxpayers, and individual consumers.
Heritage Foundation | Replacing the Medicare SGR: Getting the Policy and the Financing Right
This year, Medicare physicians face a 24 percent pay cut. The reason: Congress updates Medicare doctors’ payments by a formula called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR).
Blogs
CATO | Food Stamp Growth Continues, Despite Economic Recovery
As food stamp utilization escalated over the last several years, the program’s advocates assured us that there was nothing to worry about. Yes, more people than ever before were on food stamps, but that was just because of the recession. Once the recovery began and the unemployment rate declined, fewer people would need food stamps.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Monetary
News
Market Watch | Nothing will deter Fed from tapering this week
Neither snow, freezing temperatures, market volatility nor a lousy jobs report will stay the Federal Reserve from taking another small step towards the exit this week.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | Bernanke’s triumph — and defeat
As Ben Bernanke, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Reserve, must recognize, he is the victim of the law of diminishing returns. In the initial days of the 2008-09 financial crisis, he mobilized the Fed as the lender of last resort. This helped quell an intensifying financial panic and, arguably, averted a second Great Depression. Bernanke’s role has been much praised and deserves the nation’s gratitude. It is doubtful that anyone else would have done better.
Market Watch | Nothing will deter Fed from tapering this week
Neither snow, freezing temperatures, market volatility nor a lousy jobs report will stay the Federal Reserve from taking another small step towards the exit this week.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Post | Bernanke’s triumph — and defeat
As Ben Bernanke, the outgoing chairman of the Federal Reserve, must recognize, he is the victim of the law of diminishing returns. In the initial days of the 2008-09 financial crisis, he mobilized the Fed as the lender of last resort. This helped quell an intensifying financial panic and, arguably, averted a second Great Depression. Bernanke’s role has been much praised and deserves the nation’s gratitude. It is doubtful that anyone else would have done better.
Taxes
News
National Journal | How Is Bitcoin Taxed? The IRS Doesn't Know
How do you tax bitcoins? Apparently, not even the IRS knows. Internet forums like Reddit and bitcointalk.org are exploding with questions about how users of the increasingly popular virtual currency should fill out their tax forms this year.
Blogs
CATO | Tax Reform: The First Step Is Simple
New leadership is coming to the congressional tax-writing committees. Ron Wyden will be taking the helm of Senate Finance and Paul Ryan will be likely taking the helm of Ways and Means. This is good news, as both gentlemen are serious legislators and very interested in major tax reform.
National Journal | How Is Bitcoin Taxed? The IRS Doesn't Know
How do you tax bitcoins? Apparently, not even the IRS knows. Internet forums like Reddit and bitcointalk.org are exploding with questions about how users of the increasingly popular virtual currency should fill out their tax forms this year.
Blogs
CATO | Tax Reform: The First Step Is Simple
New leadership is coming to the congressional tax-writing committees. Ron Wyden will be taking the helm of Senate Finance and Paul Ryan will be likely taking the helm of Ways and Means. This is good news, as both gentlemen are serious legislators and very interested in major tax reform.
Employment
News
Bloomberg | Extra Jobless Aid Not a Winner in Republican Districts
As the U.S. Senate battles over expanded unemployment insurance, House Republicans aren’t even talking about it.
Bloomberg | Extra Jobless Aid Not a Winner in Republican Districts
As the U.S. Senate battles over expanded unemployment insurance, House Republicans aren’t even talking about it.
Budget
News
Politico | Pfeiffer, McConnell forecast battle over debt ceiling
In back-to-back interviews Sunday, White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell took opposite positions on what Congress should do as the nation approaches the upcoming debt ceiling.
Bloomberg | Treasuries Fall Before Fed Meeting, $111 Billion Debt Auctions
Treasuries fell, pushing the 10-year yield up from almost a two-month low, before the Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting tomorrow and the U.S. sells $111 billion of notes and floating-rate debt this week.
WSJ | States Weigh New Plans for Revenue Windfalls
Governors across the U.S. are proposing tax cuts, increases in school spending and college-tuition freezes as growing revenue and mounting surpluses have states putting the recession behind them.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Chronic Spending That Can't Be Ignored Forever
When Congress passed its omnibus spending bill, many in Washington breathed a collective sigh of relief. With the government funded, chances for a government shutdown or budget showdown have been minimized.
Mercatus | America’s Crushing Fiscal Gap
The U.S. government has racked up $12 trillion in public debt, a figure equivalent to nearly three-quarters of gross domestic product. Yet that massive sum pales in comparison to the costs of the federal government's unpaid promises, mostly in the form of health care and retirement benefits for seniors.
Politico | Pfeiffer, McConnell forecast battle over debt ceiling
In back-to-back interviews Sunday, White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell took opposite positions on what Congress should do as the nation approaches the upcoming debt ceiling.
Bloomberg | Treasuries Fall Before Fed Meeting, $111 Billion Debt Auctions
Treasuries fell, pushing the 10-year yield up from almost a two-month low, before the Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting tomorrow and the U.S. sells $111 billion of notes and floating-rate debt this week.
WSJ | States Weigh New Plans for Revenue Windfalls
Governors across the U.S. are proposing tax cuts, increases in school spending and college-tuition freezes as growing revenue and mounting surpluses have states putting the recession behind them.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Chronic Spending That Can't Be Ignored Forever
When Congress passed its omnibus spending bill, many in Washington breathed a collective sigh of relief. With the government funded, chances for a government shutdown or budget showdown have been minimized.
Mercatus | America’s Crushing Fiscal Gap
The U.S. government has racked up $12 trillion in public debt, a figure equivalent to nearly three-quarters of gross domestic product. Yet that massive sum pales in comparison to the costs of the federal government's unpaid promises, mostly in the form of health care and retirement benefits for seniors.
Friday, January 24, 2014
General Economics
News
CNN Money | 7 setbacks for the middle class
Five years into his presidency, Barack Obama is still falling short of his number one goal: to fix the economy for the middle class.
CNN Money | Jack Lew: U.S. could grow by 3% this year
The U.S. economy is off to such a good start in 2014 that annual growth could hit 3% for the first time since 2005, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Thursday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | U.S. goal: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
U.S. economic strategy resembles the famed rope-a-dope. America absorbed ferocious punishment in the current economic downturn. Despite weaknesses, it remains capable of dominance. U.S. strategic superiority may allow it to maintain its geopolitical and economic advantage.
Bloomberg | Contagion Spreads in Emerging Markets as Crises Grow
The worst selloff in emerging-market currencies in five years is beginning to reveal the extent of the fallout from the Federal Reserve’s tapering of monetary stimulus, compounded by political and financial instability.
FOX News | Despite rise in inequality, climbing the economic ladder hasn't gotten harder since the 1970s
Young Americans from low-income families are as likely to move into the ranks of the affluent today as those born in the 1970s, according to a report by several top academic experts on inequality.
FOX Business | Will Inventory Kill Housing's Recovery?
The housing market has been on a steady recovery, but there is one major obstacle that could potentially slow down its momentum: tight inventory.
Real Clear Markets | Orwell Lives, As Recession Is Redefined As Recovery
It is becoming more obvious by the month, even by the day, that standards for economic comparison are being as devalued as any debased currency. You see it everywhere and in nearly every form of account. Where growth used to be common, it is now seen as nothing more than a wellspring of hope, drawn to in times of less sober analysis as nothing more than a warm memory of better days gone by.
Washington Times | The income-inequality excuse doesn’t cut it
Throughout his economically troubled presidency, Barack Obama has had as a governing strategy political distraction: blaming his failures on others in an attempt to convince enough Americans that he’s not at all responsible for an underperforming, jobless economy.
AEI | Retirees aren't headed for the poor house
There is a widespread perception that most Americans are inadequately prepared for retirement. The story pushed by pundits and policy makers is that the shift over the past 30 years from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution savings plans such as 401(k)s has dramatically reduced retirement income to supplement the benefits provided by Social Security.
Blogs
WSJ | Another Look at China’s GDP Numbers
Did Thursday’s surprise fall in one of China’s purchasing manager indexes give you pause about the pace of Chinese economic growth? Some indices had already said that China’s economy was doing worse than advertised.
WSJ | Existing Home Sales Approach a New Normal
Higher mortgage rates, weather and few homes on the market hurt sales of existing homes at the end of 2013. Sales increased 1.0% in December, to an annual rate of 4.87 million, below economists’ expectations, and the November sales pace was revised down to 4.82 million.
CATO | Should Free Traders Support Free Trade Agreements?
With the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations allegedly near completion, the transatlantic talks kicking into higher gear, and debate in Congress over U.S. trade policy objectives about to intensify, 2014 is shaping up to be the most consequential year for the trade agenda in a long time. Whether real free traders should rejoice over these developments depends on the emerging details, as well as the ability to avoid making the perfect the enemy of the good.
CNN Money | 7 setbacks for the middle class
Five years into his presidency, Barack Obama is still falling short of his number one goal: to fix the economy for the middle class.
CNN Money | Jack Lew: U.S. could grow by 3% this year
The U.S. economy is off to such a good start in 2014 that annual growth could hit 3% for the first time since 2005, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Thursday.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Market Watch | U.S. goal: Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
U.S. economic strategy resembles the famed rope-a-dope. America absorbed ferocious punishment in the current economic downturn. Despite weaknesses, it remains capable of dominance. U.S. strategic superiority may allow it to maintain its geopolitical and economic advantage.
Bloomberg | Contagion Spreads in Emerging Markets as Crises Grow
The worst selloff in emerging-market currencies in five years is beginning to reveal the extent of the fallout from the Federal Reserve’s tapering of monetary stimulus, compounded by political and financial instability.
FOX News | Despite rise in inequality, climbing the economic ladder hasn't gotten harder since the 1970s
Young Americans from low-income families are as likely to move into the ranks of the affluent today as those born in the 1970s, according to a report by several top academic experts on inequality.
FOX Business | Will Inventory Kill Housing's Recovery?
The housing market has been on a steady recovery, but there is one major obstacle that could potentially slow down its momentum: tight inventory.
Real Clear Markets | Orwell Lives, As Recession Is Redefined As Recovery
It is becoming more obvious by the month, even by the day, that standards for economic comparison are being as devalued as any debased currency. You see it everywhere and in nearly every form of account. Where growth used to be common, it is now seen as nothing more than a wellspring of hope, drawn to in times of less sober analysis as nothing more than a warm memory of better days gone by.
Washington Times | The income-inequality excuse doesn’t cut it
Throughout his economically troubled presidency, Barack Obama has had as a governing strategy political distraction: blaming his failures on others in an attempt to convince enough Americans that he’s not at all responsible for an underperforming, jobless economy.
AEI | Retirees aren't headed for the poor house
There is a widespread perception that most Americans are inadequately prepared for retirement. The story pushed by pundits and policy makers is that the shift over the past 30 years from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution savings plans such as 401(k)s has dramatically reduced retirement income to supplement the benefits provided by Social Security.
Blogs
WSJ | Another Look at China’s GDP Numbers
Did Thursday’s surprise fall in one of China’s purchasing manager indexes give you pause about the pace of Chinese economic growth? Some indices had already said that China’s economy was doing worse than advertised.
WSJ | Existing Home Sales Approach a New Normal
Higher mortgage rates, weather and few homes on the market hurt sales of existing homes at the end of 2013. Sales increased 1.0% in December, to an annual rate of 4.87 million, below economists’ expectations, and the November sales pace was revised down to 4.82 million.
CATO | Should Free Traders Support Free Trade Agreements?
With the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations allegedly near completion, the transatlantic talks kicking into higher gear, and debate in Congress over U.S. trade policy objectives about to intensify, 2014 is shaping up to be the most consequential year for the trade agenda in a long time. Whether real free traders should rejoice over these developments depends on the emerging details, as well as the ability to avoid making the perfect the enemy of the good.
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