What We Read Today 19 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.

• SpaceX Launches Robotic Cargo Mission to Space Station (Mike Wall, Space.com) The private space company, SpaceX, successfully launched its third cargo mission the the International Space Station this week This mission is delivering a humanoid robot to aid astronauts living and working on the space station. The mission has an auxiliary experiment to see if first stage rockets can be recovered and reused.

• Obama’s tax return: Did he overpay? (Jerry Lynch, CNBC) Hat tip to Marvin Clark. Probably. The Obamas paid $149,373 in federal, state and local taxes for 2013. According to the numbers Lynch discussed, proper tax planning might have reduce that to as little as $96,000 or $97,000. In addition because they have retained ownership of their Chicago home since the first term inauguration, after 8 years they will probably have spent an additional $600,000 to $800,000 (above and beyond taxes) by the end of a second term compared to selling after the 2008 election.

• Real estate prices beginning to drop across inland China (Masahiro Okoshi, Nikkei Asian Review) Examples are given of price slashes on 30% for nearly empty luxury condo developments. Home sales volume for the first quarter fell by 7.7% year-over-year but the article does not give price changes for the quarter. Last year home prices surged by 26.6%. China is curtailing growth of the money supply, currently up 12% year-over-year, the slowest growth in 13 years.

Today there are 9 articles discussed ‘behind the wall’.

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