19 | April | 2012

Friday, May 24, 2013

Natural gas prices continue to fall, and spot prices have been below $2 per million BTUs for the last week, trading as low as $1.87 last Friday (see chart above, EIA data here). The last time natural gas prices were … read more >

Carpe Diem

Oil Shipments by Rail Up, Coal Shipments Down

Mark J. Perry | April 19, 2012, 8:37 pm

More evidence of the decline of coal…. Rank Carload Commodity Group 2012 YTD 2011 YTD % Increase 1 Petroleum Products 129,256 99,890 29.4 2 Motor Vehicles 235,296 199,721 17.8 3 Metallic Ores 92,884 79,990 16.1 4 Metals 164,297 148,344 10.8 … read more >

Economics, Energy and the Environment

Energy fact of the week: The gold price-oil price nexus

Steven F. Hayward | April 19, 2012, 4:34 pm

A recent conversation with John Tamny of Forbes.com turned to an old, favorite issue of Ronald Reagan and Robert Bartley, among other great figures; namely, that some of the volatility in the price of oil represents the weakness of the … read more >

Economics

Europe’s problem isn’t austerity—it’s tax hikes

James Pethokoukis | April 19, 2012, 4:28 pm

Maybe the problem in Europe right now is the kind of austerity being practiced, rather than austerity itself. This, from Alesina and Giavazzi: A more convincing piece of evidence comes from a comparison of the effects of different ‘types’ of … read more >

Economics, U.S. Economy

Looks like the housing bust has been even worse than you think

James Pethokoukis | April 19, 2012, 4:15 pm

AEI’s Alex Pollock: How much have U.S. house prices fallen since their peak in mid-2006? It depends on whether you measure them in nominal or inflation-adjusted terms. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller National House Price Index, the fall has been about … read more >

Economics, Taxes and Spending

Geithner inadvertently makes the case for anti-tax absolutism

James Pethokoukis | April 19, 2012, 3:10 pm

The U.S. Treasury Secretary: And, again, that’s why I think the right way to think about the fiscal challenges ahead is, first, put that in perspective. Don’t put it ahead of everything else we face. Recognize you have deal with … read more >

Carpe Diem

Thursday Energy Links

Mark J. Perry | April 19, 2012, 1:14 pm

1. Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon in a speech Tuesday in Oklahoma City,”In my opinion, natural gas is no bridge. It is absolutely the foundation of our economy for decades.” 2. “The nation’s drilling boom has lowered the price … read more >

Economics

Responding to Reihan Salam on inequality

James Pethokoukis | April 19, 2012, 12:49 pm

Over at NRO’s The Agenda blog, Reihan Salam writes up the Cornell University study that takes issue with the inequality research of Thomas Piketty and Emannuel Saez: … the authors demonstrate that plausible assumptions about household sharing units suggest that middle … read more >

Economics

First the Volcker Rule. Then the Buffett Rule. Now the Geithner Rule

James Pethokoukis | April 19, 2012, 10:59 am

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner at Brookings yesterday: In terms of the fiscal deficit, the minimal acceptable anchor for fiscal policy should be the following: You need to reduce the deficit to a level where the debt stops growing as a … read more >