Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – People Who Pay More Taxes Are Happier, Research Suggests Attention lawmakers scrambling to avoid huge tax increases next month: New research suggests people who pay more taxes are happier. At least German people. People who pay higher taxes than other people tend to be more satisfied with their lives,… Continue reading Going Over The Fiscal Cliff Could Bring Happiness To All
The Wall Street Journal – How Washington Crowds Out Private Lending Faced with a bleak fiscal outlook, Republican leaders reach an accord with Democrats by agreeing to increase revenues, risking some political pain in order to focus on the country’s economic well-being. The latest headline from Washington? No. But it is what occurred 22 years… Continue reading Private Lending vs. Government Lending
<Click on chart for larger image> CNBC – Robert Shiller: Don’t Await Housing Boom It’s still too soon to call a bottom in housing, much less the start of a boom, Yale University economist Robert Shiller said Wednesday on CNBC. “A lot of people seem to think that if the market turns around, that means… Continue reading Don’t Read Too Much Into House Prices Rising
The Wall Street Journal – Report Says Libor-Tied Losses at Fannie, Freddie May Top $3 Billion Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have lost more than $3 billion as a result of banks’ alleged manipulation of a key interest rate, according to an internal report by a federal watchdog sent to the mortgage companies’ regulator… Continue reading Will Fannie & Freddie Sue The Banks Over LIBOR Scandal?
TIME – Do We Have Another Financial Bubble On Our Hands? Or Three? More than two years ago, economists started talking about a bubble in Treasury bonds that would eventually burst, just as the dot.com bubble and the housing bubble had. If that happens, the prices of long-term bonds could fall by 10% to 20%.… Continue reading The Debt Bubble
The Financial Times – What’s bugging gold? We made the case a few weeks ago that the gold price may have reached its choke level and that it was arguably capped from that point on. One good indicator of this, we noted, was the divergence between the gold price — which had been flat-lining for… Continue reading Gold
The Wall Street Journal – GM to Buy Back $5.5 Billion in Stock From Treasury General Motors Co. took its biggest step yet to escape the shadow of bankruptcy and a government bailout, saying it would spend $5.5 billion to buy a chunk of its stock held by the U.S. Treasury, which now plans to… Continue reading GM Takes A Step Towards Independence With Stock Buyback
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: The Debt Ceiling Update The Federal Reserve Officially Adopts Economic Targets The Federal Reserve Officially Adopts Economic Targets – 2 The Federal Reserve Officially Adopts Economic Targets – 3 The U.S. Economy In 2013 QE’s Effect On Volatility Tail Risk And The Market Bears Tail Risk… Continue reading Charts of the Week
The Wall Street Journal – A Bad Budget Deal It’s clear by now that the budget talks are drifting in a drearily familiar Washington direction: Tax and spending increases now, in return for the promise of spending cuts and tax and entitlement reform later. This is a bad deal for everyone except the politicians who… Continue reading Fiscal Cliff Talk
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Greek bond yields at 21-month low Greek bond yields fell to the lowest since March 2011 after Standard & Poor’s lifted its assessment of Greece’s credit rating by six notches, citing the “strong determination” by European policy makers to keep the country in the eurozone.… Continue reading Greek Yields
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Economy Will Face Drag Next Year Deal or no deal, the U.S. economy will face a drag of some kind from Washington budget policy next year. The White House and GOP are just negotiating how much. The latest offers exchanged by President Barack… Continue reading Economic Outlook For 2013