What We Read Today 20 July 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.

• U.S. Points to Russian Missile Connection in Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Crash (Margaret Coker, Adam Entous, Robert Wall and Alan Cullison, The Wall Street Journal) U.S. officials say they suspect that Russia supplied the rebels with multiple SA-11 antiaircraft systems by smuggling them into eastern Ukraine with other military equipment, including tanks. The U.S. says the ground-to-air weaponry systems are now moved back across the border in to Russia. See also next article.

• Russia supplied missile launchers to separatists, U.S. official says (Michael Birnbaum and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post) The WaPo foes farther than other news sources to state that they have a statement from an unnamed U.S. official that the U.S. was “starting to get indications . . . a little more than a week ago” that several rocket launching systems had been moved into Ukraine. Onsite examination of the crash site has been hindered by denial of access by the Russian separatists who control the area and who have been identified by the U.S. and Ukraine as the party responsible for launching the fatal missile.

• The 9 youngest billionaires in the world (Jessica Patel, Bankrate) Hat tip to Marvin Clark. Mark Zuckerberg is the richest young billionaire and three others have or have had some association with Facebook as well. Four others inherited their wealth. The only other person on the list, Robert Pera, founded Ubiquiti Networks after an early career stint with Apple.

• Europe’s Debt Wish (Kenneth Rogoff, Project Syndicate) This is the second time this has been in WWRT. Rogoff says that two things are needed: (1) “restructuring or rescheduling” of exiting debt and (2) issuance of new debt needed for future growth (to finance infrastructure and education, for examples).

• Two-thirds of illegal immigrant children approved for asylum: report (Stephen Dinan, The Washington Times) Hat tip to Rodger Malcolm Mitchell, Monetary Sovereigntyy. Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R, VA, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the following (Econintersect added emphasis):

“President Obama’s refusal to crack down on rampant asylum fraud is one of the many reasons we are witnessing a surge of Central Americans seeking to enter the U.S. illegally at the border.”

There are 13 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

The final 3 articles discuss factors that are keeping the housing inventory at historic lows. Following those discussions is an addition Econintersect commentary on some of the puzzling disagreements between mortgage data from different sources.

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