What We Read Today 27 May 2013

Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today’s list.

The top of today’s reading list is a discussion of the impending recession for Australia …….. and the last article drew the following question from Econintersect:   If you build it and they will come, what happens if you don’t build it?

• Garnaut, Jonson: How to avert the 2014 recession (Houses and Holes, Macro Business)  See also GEI News.

• The Bond Vigilantes Complicate ‘Abenomics’ (William Pesek, Bloomberg)  Hat tip to Roger Erickson.

• Former NPR CEO Ken Stern: The IRS Had the Right Idea (Ken Stern, The Daily Beast)  But they did not have the right staff.  More than 60,000 new applications each year are reviewed by less than 200 low level employees.  Do they even have time to read them all?  For all the problems with the IRS see here.

• How Gold Rallied for Years on a ‘Misunderstanding’ (Marshall Gittler, CNBC)

• Dear governments: Want to help the poor and transform your economy? Give people cash. (Chris Blattman)  Be sure to read this one.  Econintersect would have reposted by Prof Blattman does not accept invitations to repost.  See also his research paper here.

• Ford Gets French Bailout for Plant that Pays 900 to Stand Around (Mont Cessna, Wall St. Cheat Sheet, 26 May 2013)

• World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve (Alex Newman, New American, 22 May 2013)  Hat tip to Russell Huntley.

A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts.

• Do The Adirondacks Have Enough Wilderness? (Pete Nelson, Adirondack Almanack)  Great discussion about how much wilderness Americans really need.  Covers a lot more than the Adirondacks.

• U.S. infrastructure spending has plummeted since 2008 (Brad Plumer, The Washington Post)  Build it and they will come.  But don’t build it and they will….???