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Friday, June 14, 2013

General Economics

News                                                                                                                             
National Journal | Transforming Trash Into Crude Oil
By joining local businesses, city and state governments, and private philanthropies, the Fund for Our Economic Future creates a home in northeast Ohio for innovative companies like Vadxx Energy.
FOX Business | Industrial Output Flat for Second Straight Month
U.S. industrial production was unchanged in May, the Federal Reserve said on Friday, compared with forecasts for a light increase after gains in manufacturing and mining were offset by a sharp drop in the output of utilities.
Bloomberg | Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Declines From Six-Year High
Consumer confidence in June eased from a six-year high as progress in the labor market supported Americans’ views of the economic outlook.
National Journal | Where Manufacturing Is on the Rebound
If the Great Recession was disastrous for many sectors of the American economy, it was widely seen as the death knell for manufacturing. But a cutting-edge aluminum plant in the heartland is evidence that American factories were given their last rites prematurely.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | FX Rates Said to Face Global Regulation in Libor Review
Global regulators may start overseeing currency rates in a widening response to benchmark-rate setting scandals that began with revelations on the manipulation of Libor, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Washington Times | America’s vast margin of error
The Obama administration is facing scandals everywhere — using the Internal Revenue Service to punish political enemies, seizing the phone records of Associated Press and Fox News reporters, monitoring phone and email accounts of millions, and making up stories about what happened in Benghazi, Libya.
Mercatus | Trustees Make Clear Social Security, Medicare Must Be Reformed
Each year, the board of trustees for Social Security and Medicare release reports highlighting the financial outlook and solvency for these massive entitlement programs.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Economist | The stealth boom
Treasury yields are rising. So is the dollar. Inflation is falling. Stocks have been beaten back a bit by a global swoon but have fallen much less than other markets. The labour market is improving at a steady if modest pace. Industrial activity is flat, but other private sector activity looks strong. Household finances are looking much stronger. What should we make of all of this?

Health Care

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Obamacare? We were just leaving …
Dozens of lawmakers and aides are so afraid that their health insurance premiums will skyrocket next year thanks to Obamacare that they are thinking about retiring early or just quitting.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Fiscal Times | Why Docs Are Bailing Out of Health Insurance
The cost of health care has been a nagging public policy issue for decades, even before the government took on the task of insuring retirees in the 1960s. The issue continued to fester through the Social Security reform of the 1980s and the attempt at a top-down government restructuring of the health-care industry in the 1990s, spearheaded by Hillary Clinton that resulted in a backlash strong enough to end forty years of Democratic Party dominance in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections of 1994.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Heritage Foundation | For Congress, Obamacare Finally Hits Home
Federal employees, including those on Capitol Hill, currently receive generous “corporate level” health insurance benefits and a broad range of personal plan choice—from high-cost, comprehensive plans to low-cost, high-deductible plans—that is denied the vast majority of Americans.

Monetary

News                                                                                                                             
CNN Money | Fed not expected to taper QE3 until December
Ever since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke noted last month that the central bank may start slowing its stimulus program in just a "few meetings," it's been a bumpy ride for financial markets.
Bloomberg | U.S. Wholesale Prices Rise More Than Forecast on Fuel, Food
Wholesale prices in the U.S. climbed in May for the first time in three months, reflecting an increase in fuel and food prices that failed to filter through to other goods.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Forbes | The Fed's QE Schemes Have Raised, Not Lowered, T-Bond Yields
A large majority of market commentators has attributed the recent, sharp rise in the 10-year U.S. T-Bond yield – from 1.63% in early May to 2.20% this week – to growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will be “tapering” its “quantitative easing” (QE) programs.
WSJ | Fed's Bond-Buying Wild Card: Inflation Expectations
Many investors have lowered their expectations for future inflation, a shift that could get the attention of Federal Reserve officials as they consider the course of their bond-buying program at a policy meeting next week.
Fortune | The real reason interest rates are rising
A curious thing is happening with interest rates -- often the single most critical influence behind economic and business decisions. Since the financial crisis, the costs of borrowing have sunk to historic lows after staying relatively low for the most part since the early 1980s.
Real Clear Markets | The New Crowded Derivatives Trade
At the end of 2012, the four largest banks in the world by assets were Deutsche Bank ($2.73 trillion), HSBC ($2.69 trillion), Mitsubishi UFJ ($2.67 trillion) and Credit Agricole ($2.58 trillion). Topping the US list were JP Morgan Chase ($2.35 trillion), Bank of America ($2.21 trillion) and Citigroup ($1.86 trillion). However, in addition to currency dynamics, these rankings are based on balance sheet presentations as they exist under different accounting regimes.

Taxes

News                                                                                                                             
FOX Business | Timing is Everything When it Comes to Taxes
Events like launching a business, marriage, divorce, or home buying all have major financial implications, and could change people’s taxable income situation. But smaller changes could bring changes to a tax situation, pushing someone who always filed the standard deduction into the realm of itemized deductions for greater tax savings.

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Washington Times | Unpaid internships in jeopardy after court ruling
Unpaid internships have long been a path of opportunity for students and recent grads looking to get a foot in the door in the entertainment, publishing and other prominent industries, even if it takes a generous subsidy from Mom and Dad.
CNBC | Ford to Add 800 White-Collar Jobs, Mainly in Michigan
Ford Motor plans to add 800 more white-collar workers by the end of 2013 after already signing on 2,200 so far this year. It's the latest indication that while U.S. employers, on the whole, remain reluctant to put out the help-wanted sign, the auto industry is struggling to find enough bodies to keep up with the strong surge in domestic sales.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Mercatus | Beyond Unemployment: Pennsylvania's Sluggish Labor Market
While the Great Recession had a moderately less severe impact on Pennsylvania than on the nation as a whole, the state’s recovery since the height of the recession has been slower than the national average. Sluggish economic growth is slowing the pace of the state’s labor market recovery.

Budget

News                                                                                                                             
Bloomberg | U.S. Net Outflow of Long-Term Securities Rises to $37.3 Billion
Foreign sales of U.S. long-term securities outpaced U.S. purchases of such assets abroad in April as private investors overseas sold a record amount of Treasury bonds and notes, a government report showed.
Market Watch | U.S. Q1 current account deficit $106.1 billion
The U.S. current account deficit rose by $3.8 billion to $106.1 billion in the first quarter, or 2.7% of gross domestic product on an annualized basis, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Fiscal Times | National Debt Could Skyrocket As Interest Rates Rise
Paying off the national debt just got a bit more dangerous, and potentially a lot more expensive.
WSJ | Rebooting the Budget Talks
White House officials and GOP senators met quietly this week to talk budgets. The discussions were vastly different from those in the past. The GOP, with a lead from Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, is demanding that before anybody talks fixes, both sides first admit there's a problem.
AEI | The nation's budget challenges haven't changed
It is a mistake to think of the nation's budgetary challenge as something associated solely with the size of near-term deficits. That was never the case.