20 | November | 2012

Thursday, May 23, 2013

More reports of strong home sales in October all over the country, this is what a recovery looks like

Mark J. Perry | November 20, 2012, 10:59 pm

1. Houston home sales skyrocketed by 35.1% in October compared to last year, and posted the 17th consecutive month of positive sales on a year-over-year basis. The single-family median sales price increased 8.7% to $163,000 and the average price increased 8.3% to $223,366, the … read more >

Carpe Diem

Hear that hissing sound? It’s the textbook bubble deflating

Mark J. Perry | November 20, 2012, 4:25 pm

I’ve written frequently about the unsustainable “college textbook bubble,” which continues to inflate at rates that make the U.S. housing bubble seem relatively inconsequential by comparison, see chart above. The cost of college textbooks has been rising at almost twice … read more >

Debate moderator Candy Crowley speaks to the audience before the start of the second U.S. presidential campaign debate in Hempstead, New York, October 16, 2012. REUTERS/Win McNamee/Pool

Society and Culture, Media and Technology, Politics and Public Opinion

Study: No, the mainstream media wasn’t biased… except for the last week of the campaign

Henrik Temp | November 20, 2012, 3:14 pm

Despite cries of mainstream media bias, it turns out that coverage was broadly the same for both presidential candidates this year, except for the final week of the campaign. read more >

Carpe Diem

Economic fact of the day: Texas is country’s top job creator

Mark J. Perry | November 20, 2012, 3:11 pm

Since the recession ended in June 2009, the U.S. economy has added 3,252,000 payroll jobs, and 601,800 of those jobs have been created in just one state – Texas. With only a little more than 8% of the U.S. population, … read more >

Pethokoukis

Bernanke: The Great Recession broke the broken U.S. economy even more

James Pethokoukis | November 20, 2012, 2:42 pm

In a speech today, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered up the usual suspects to explain the weak economic recovery: the aftermath of the financial crisis, the aftermath of the housing bust, the eurozone crisis, the fiscal cliff. But this is … read more >

Pethokoukis

Is the U.S. debt really just money we owe to ourselves?

James Pethokoukis | November 20, 2012, 1:51 pm

Paul Krugman: People think of debt’s role in the economy as if it were the same as what debt means for an individual: there’s a lot of money you have to pay to someone else. But that’s all wrong; the … read more >

Pethokoukis

Why capital gains tax rates should be lower than those on labor income

James Pethokoukis | November 20, 2012, 11:57 am

What in the name of Schumperterian capitalism is going on? I would say the economics of this piece by Wick Allison over at The American Conservative is just flat-out wrong, but the post contains no economics at all: A capital … read more >

Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson (Wikimedia Commons)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

Obama, Gaza, and the coming peace process

Danielle Pletka | November 20, 2012, 11:33 am

I suspect Obama will do as so many of his predecessors have, which is give up on the real problems of the region – despotism, kleptocracy, terrorism, proliferation – and turn to that false panacea, the two-state solution. read more >

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference after his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti at Villa Madama in Rome May 8, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

Turkey’s useful idiots

Michael Rubin | November 20, 2012, 11:19 am

It doesn’t take much for Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to show his true colors. He’s been known as a man of strong opinions since his tenure as mayor of Istanbul. He has dragged a journalist to court for … read more >

Carpe Diem

Building permits and housing starts in October were highest since 2007, with huge gains of 30% and 42% vs. last year

Mark J. Perry | November 20, 2012, 10:56 am

The Census Bureau released its monthly report today on new residential construction, here are some highlights for the month of October: 1. There were 866,000 building permits issued in October (seasonally adjusted annual rate), which was 29.8% above last year, … read more >