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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Nurturing the U.S.-China relationship
More than 40 years ago, the United States and China signed the Shanghai Communique that started a journey to normalize political economic relations. Today, the U.S. remains the world’s largest economy, with China the second largest and expanding every year. Many believe that each country will be the other’s largest trading partner within a decade. No other bilateral economic partnership is as important to growth and prosperity worldwide.
CNN Money | U.S. steps up natural gas exports
The United States will soon start exporting more of its energy bounty. That's making oil and gas companies happy, American manufacturers nervous, and some environmentalists livid.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
NY Times | Behind the Rise in House Prices, Wall Street Buyers
The last time the housing market was this hot in Phoenix and Las Vegas, the buyers pushing up prices were mostly small time. Nowadays, they are big time — Wall Street big.
Market Watch | Feds pick 'risky' non-banks including AIG
Federal regulators charged with identifying risks to the economy -- in a long awaited action -- on Monday designated some firms other than banks as systemically important.
Real Clear Markets | Why I'm A Long-Run U.S. Economy Optimist
There is a lot of disagreement about the economy today. Some analysts focus on signs the recovery is quickening while others see new problems stemming from the end of a bond market bubble. My own view is that of a long-run optimist and I get there by remembering the history of postwar business cycles.
Washington Times | From captive nations to free markets
The lack of growth in Western Europe hurts the Eastern and Central European countries by reducing the latter’s export opportunities and adding to the general financial instability.
WSJ | Weak Signs for U.S. Output
U.S. factories in May posted their worst month since the end of the recession, as weakness overseas overwhelmed a still-shaky manufacturing recovery at home.
CATO | Free Trade, Free Markets: Rating the 112th Congress
A review of the Cato Institute’s congressional trade votes database reveals how the 112th Congress and its individual members voted on major trade bills and amendments.1 After a lull in congressional trade policymaking, the 112th Congress saw renewed action in trade policy but very little initiative.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
WSJ | U.S. Cutting Back on Foreign-Oil Habit
April trade data offered fresh evidence that the U.S. is starting to kick its foreign oil habit.
Heritage Foundation | Food Stamps Don’t Stimulate Economic Growth
The number of Americans on food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is at historic highs, but some on the left—like Paul Krugman—think that’s not such a bad thing because, as they argue, food stamps “stimulate” the economy

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | HHS releases prices for outpatient treatment
The Obama administration expanded its efforts to shine the light on hospital pricing Monday, making public charges for outpatient services from its vast trove of Medicare claims.
CNN Money | The Massachusetts (health care) experiment
The heated debate lost most of its steam. The Supreme Court has swatted back the big legal challenge. And November's presidential election has snuffed out opponents' hopes for an 11th-hour reversal.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | ObamaCare Is Raising Insurance Costs
California and Oregon have recently announced the premiums for the health plans that will be offered through their ObamaCare insurance exchanges in 2014. Supporters of the law are jubilant. KQED, northern California's largest public radio station, reported that "experts had warned of 'rate shock.' That has not happened."
WSJ | ObamaCare Bait and Switch
Liberals have spent years claiming that "rate shock" under the Affordable Care Act—the 20% to 30% average spike in insurance premiums that every independent analyst projects—is merely the political imagination of Republicans and the insurance industry.

Monetary

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
WSJ | A Better Way to End 'Too Big To Fail'
On April 24, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) and David Vitter (R., La.) introduced legislation that would require U.S. financial institutions with more than $500 billion in assets to substantially increase their "equity capital."

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Market Watch | Goldman’s chief economist Hatzius: Fed may taper in September
If Goldman Sachs’s latest guess is on the money, the Fed could start tapering its $85 billion monthly bond-buying program as soon as September.
CATO | The Federal Reserve vs. Small Business
Given all the attention that the Federal Reserve has garnered for its monetary “stimulus” programs, it’s perplexing to many that the U.S. has been mired in a credit crunch. After all, conventional wisdom tells us that the Fed’s policies, which have lowered interest rates to almost zero, should have stimulated the creation of credit. This has not been the case, and I’m not surprised.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Big firms form new tax reform group
A new tax coalition made up of more than two-dozen Fortune 200 companies is expected to formally launch as soon as Tuesday, POLITICO has learned.

Employment

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
FOX Business | Job Search 2.0
Searching for a job online involves scrolling through a lot of black and white text -- the summary of said job, expected qualifications, etc.
Fortune | Will the housing rebound crush the job market?
A new study points to higher homeownership as the reason the unemployed aren't finding work.

Budget

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Mercatus | Austerity in Europe Does Not Mean Massive Spending Cuts
With the European Commission’s recent calls to abandon austerity in favor of economic growth, IMF director Christine Lagarde urging easing of austerity in Europe, and Paul Krugman proclaiming austerity’s failure, the debate surrounding austerity remains vital.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
FOX Business | The Myth of European "Austerity"
The pushers of more "stimulus" say that Europe's stagnant economies prove that budget cuts don't work. Headlines announce: "Austerity Has Failed in Europe."