February | 2013

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

New era of energy abundance: Nat gas production set a record last year, bringing inflation-adjusted prices to a 17-year low

Mark J. Perry | February 28, 2013, 10:56 pm

The Energy Information Administration released updated data today on natural gas production and prices through the end of 2012. The chart above displays annual data from 1995 to 2012 for: a) total US natural gas production (gross withdrawals, see red line) and … read more >

Pethokoukis

George Will’s unproductive day trip to the Richmond Fed

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 5:43 pm

The next time George Will makes it down to the Richmond Fed, instead of admiring the gold bar displayed in the lobby, he ought to talk monetary policy with economist Robert Hetzel. The columnist, one of my favorites, might learn … read more >

A Free Syrian Army fighter looks at houses destroyed by the Syrian Air force at a suburb of Damascus, January 16, 2013. Image Credit: REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

The assassination of Iranian Quds Force General Hassan Shateri in Syria

Will Fulton | February 28, 2013, 5:03 pm

Brigadier General Hassan Shateri, a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF), was assassinated in Syria on February 13, 2013. It appears that he had been in Aleppo, possibly at the al Safir Chemical Weapons facility there, … read more >

Pethokoukis

The White House hates Medicare cuts except when it doesn’t

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 3:41 pm

The always observant Peter Suderman: The Office of Management and Budget’s report on sequestration complains that GOP alternatives to the spending reductions are wrong partly because they “fail to address Medicare sequestration.” Yet the White House’s whole theory of Medicare reform is built … read more >

Economics, Health Care, Pethokoukis

Peter Orszag on how to change medical malpractice laws to reduce health care spending

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 3:29 pm

While conservatives often point to medical malpractice reform as a key way to lower health care spending by changing how doctors practice medicine, research hasn’t been supportive. This analysis from the Congressional Budget Office is typical: CBO estimates that the … read more >

Carpe Diem

If Barack Obama and Dow Chemical want a cleaner world and a richer America, they should support natural-gas exports

Mark J. Perry | February 28, 2013, 3:18 pm

That sage advice for the president and Dow Chemical comes from an editorial in the current edition of The Economist (emphasis added) On America’s Gulf coast, massive industrial facilities stand idle. Miles of twisting stainless-steel pipes and huge storage tanks gleam uselessly … read more >

Carpe Diem

Today’s economic reports: Restaurant performance (up), weekly rail traffic (up), and financial stress (down)

Mark J. Perry | February 28, 2013, 2:55 pm

1. From the National Restaurant Association today: “Driven by a more optimistic outlook among restaurant operators, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) rose to its highest level in five months. The RPI – a monthly composite index that … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis

What austerity in 1946 tells us about the possible economic impact of the sequester

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 1:57 pm

In 1946, the US economy shrank by 11%. Back to the Great Depression, right? Yes — but only for government. Of that 11 percentage point drop, government spending accounted for a massive 29 percentage points. But the private-sector economy did … read more >

Pethokoukis

Why the sequester’s defense cuts are scaring me less and less

James Pethokoukis | February 28, 2013, 12:50 pm

Over the next decade — if the current-law sequester cuts and spending caps hold — US defense spending will fall to EU-like levels. That is certainly too low if the US is to remain a global military superpower as opposed … read more >

REUTERS/Presidential official website/Handout (IRAN)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

The Iranian nuclear program: Timelines, data, and estimates V6.0

Maseh Zarif | February 28, 2013, 11:48 am

Last week, I wrote a short blog post previewing the research I’ve compiled in slideshow format below. As I stated in that post, Iran’s enrichment program is no longer the “long pole in the tent” for a weapons capability given … read more >

Hindsight Isn’t 20/20
Many lessons should be drawn from the U.S. experience in Iraq. Unfortunately, we’re not learning what we should. […]
The Uses of Scandal
One of the greatest uses of scandal is to vividly demonstrate what new laws are needed and to create the political conditions to get them enacted. […]
Lean In… to Government?
Sheryl Sandberg's runaway best-selling book Lean In has managed to offend both the Left and the Right. Sandberg touts female hard-headedness, yet also calls for an elaborate government- and employer-supplied support system for women. […]
Are American Voters Racist?
Racial prejudice plays a very small role in American politics, but a highly disciplined sense of self-interest on the part of one group may play a very large role in the way the federal government functions. […]