What We Read Today 15 April 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• Ukraine pleads with U.N. for peacekeepers (Olga Rudenko, USA Today) Ukraine wants UN peacekeeping forces to control separatist militants occupying government buildings. Ukraine claims the militants are being directed by Russian special operations troops.

• Social Security, Treasury target taxpayers for their parents’ decades-old debts (Marc Fisher, The Washington Post) Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters informing them that because of a debt they never knew about – often a debt incurred by their parents – the government has confiscated their check. One case described in this article doesn’t even specify who in the family received unwarranted payment in 1977. Four days after this article the IRS announced it will no longer attempt to collect taxpayers’ debts to the government that are more than 10 years old.

• This Is Not A “Healthy Correction”: The Mother Of All Financial Bubbles Is Beginning To Crack (David Stockman, Contra Corner) Hat tip to John O’Donnell.

• China New Credit Declines as Money-Supply Growth Decelerates (Xin Zhou, Bloomberg) China’s broadest measure of credit fell 19% year-over-year in March. The money supply grew at the slowest rate in 13 years. But the money supply still grew at a 12.1% rate vs. a year ago. Excesses are being wrung out of the Chinese financial system but the government is still targeting a 7.5% growth objective for 2014. That may be a tough order to fill. Real estate over development will be one problem as office space vacancies of 30-50% are reported for many towns and cities.

Today there are 11 articles discussed ‘behind the wall’. The final three are about Thomas Piketty’s new book Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

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