CNN reports on another step in the direction of free markets: HONG KONG, China (CNN) – Ministers from 149 states have saved long-running global trade talks from collapse with an interim deal to end farm export subsidies by 2013 and open up markets in wealthier countries to the world’s poorest nations … The draft, which […]
The National Association of Home Builders reports builder confidence fell again in December. The largest drop was in “Traffic of Prospective Buyers”. The Traffic component fell to 39 from 46 in November. UPDATE: Builder Sentiment Cools Further In December Confidence of single-family home builders slid further this month from its summer peak, yet remained well […]
The BEA released its estimate of the US current account balance for the third quarter of 2005: The U.S. current-account deficit–the combined balances on trade in goods and services, income, and net unilateral current transfers–decreased to $195.8 billion (preliminary) in the third quarter of 2005 from $197.8 billion (revised) in the second quarter. The decrease […]
How many times will FuzzCharts draw the same misleading garbage: Another month, another vindication of the Laffer curve … Once again, empirical data bears out the fact that tax cuts (in this case the broad tax cuts of May 2003) can lead to increases in tax receipts. Last I checked Kash was one Angry Bear. […]
While some liberals (Duncan Black’s post from Wednesday responding to this)are advising us Democrats to stay out of the briar patch, I appreciate the efforts of Andrew Samwick and others. Dr. Samwick writes: The plan contains four primary elements: a gradual reduction in future benefits; an increase in the payroll tax cap; an increase in […]
This morning’s BLS report on the Consumer Price Index in November reflects an extremely sharp fall in energy prices: On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U decreased 0.6 percent in November, its largest decline since a 0.9 drop in July 1949. The index for energy declined for the second consecutive month, down a record 8.0 […]
The US trade deficit continues to grow. From this morning’s BEA news release: The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total October exports of $107.5 billion and imports of $176.4 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $68.9 billion, $2.9 billion […]
Perhaps it’s just that I’ve been noticing it more lately, but it seems to me that proponents of making the dividend and capital gains tax cuts permanent are increasingly using the examples of other countries as evidence for their claim that the tax cuts on capital income cause faster growth. (See, for example, James “Dow […]
Governor Schwarzenegger said no to clemency and KLo gleefully provides a link to the governor’s explanation. Talkleft is not happy with the governor’s decision and neither am I. Read for yourself and see who makes the better case. I’m generally against the death penalty for reasons well explained here.
The Federal Reserve released the “Household Debt Service and Financial Obligations Ratios” for Q3 2005 today. The household DSR (Debt Service ratio) set another record at 13.75%, up from 13.53% in Q2 ’05. The owner FOR (Financial Obligation Ratio) set a new record of 16.61%, up from 16.34% in Q2 ’05. (edit: fixed typo) The […]