Morning Journal--The destructive power of monetary policy

Economics

   This Week’s Data

            The March Case Shiller home price index came in up 1.2% versus expectations of up 0.7%.

            http://scottgrannis.blogspot.com/2014/05/onward-and-upward.html

            The May Markit flash services PMI was 58.4 versus estimates of 55.4.

            May consumer confidence was reported at 83.0, in line with forecasts.

            http://www.bespokeinvest.com/thinkbig/2014/5/27/confidence-gap-widens.html

            The May Richmond Fed manufacturing index was 7.0 versus consensus of 9.0; while the Dallas Fed manufacturing index was 8.0 versus expectations of 9.6.

            http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2014/05/richmond-and-dallas-fed-manufacturing.html

                Weekly mortgage applications fell 1.2% while purchase applications were down 1.0%.

   Other

            A new study on debt and growth (medium):

            http://pragcap.com/does-high-debt-lead-to-low-growth

            The destructive power of monetary policy (medium and today’s must read):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-27/speaking-truth-monetary-power

            More on student loans (medium and a must read):

            http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-27/us-government-proposes-ease-student-loan-standards-even-further

Politics

  Domestic

More on inequality (short):

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2014/05/david-autor-on-inequality.html

The science of climate change (short):

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2014/05/great-moments-in-science.html

  International

            China’s problems (medium):

            http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-05-26/dear-investors-china-s-problems-are-your-problems

            The after effects of last weekend’s EU elections (medium):

            http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/077473da-e4df-11e3-9b2b-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz32t3aYs1X