Burlington’s Economy After the Bridge Collapse

The value of infrastructure to a local economy can be found in the aftermath of last week's bridge collapse in Burlington, Wash., where businesses are now struggling to find customers. Cars still go through the town, but the traffic is now so thick due to detours that few people want to stop.

What Happens When the Sky Isn’t Falling?

One big reason the deficit is falling faster than expected is a surprising—and surprisingly durable—drop in health care spending, the source of most of America's long-term fiscal problems. The seemingly inexorable rise in health care costs has been near the center of every big political and economic debate since Obama was elected. But the fact that it's finally slowing down was deemed worthy only of page B3 by editors at The New York Times.

Econ 101 From McSweeney’s

Learn economics the fun and intuitive way with Josh Freedman at McSweeney’s: “Susan, we need to talk. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. About us. I really like you, but ever since we met in that econ class in college I knew there was something missing from how I felt: quantitative reasoning. We can say we love each other all we want, but I just can’t trust it without the data. And after performing an in-depth cost-benefit analysis of our relationship, I just don’t think this is working out.”

Why the Fiscal Cliff is Called the Fiscal Cliff

Over at the Financial Times Cardiff Garcia has a great explanation about who coined the "fiscal cliff" (Ben Bernanke), why it has stuck, and why it's a dumb name ("If policymakers don’t work out a solution by January 1st, the harm is not immediate. Nor is it irreversible, nor is it even all that perilous at first.")

Home Prices Up, Nobody Knows What That Means

Home prices in the U.S. have seen unexpectedly high gains during the first quarter of 2013 and there was much talk this morning whether or not this was the beginning of another bubble, or if it's simply a "a strong spot in the economic recovery".

Bustillos on Bitcoins

Maria Bustillos on the rise of bitcoin for the New Yorker's new tech blog, Elements, is excellent and readable.

A Coin Worth … One Trillion Dollars

At The Atlantic, Matthew O’Brien explains everything you never wanted to know about the TRILLION-DOLLAR COIN. (“[Supporters'] logic is that as silly as the trillion-dollar coin sounds, the debt ceiling is far sillier — and much more destructive.”)

The Post-Boomer Economy

Here's a very interesting take on the post-boomer economy by Conor Sen, a former hedge fund analyst.

Tell the Rest of Us How It Works

How are you experiencing this alleged improving economy?

Ben Says Fiscal Cliff, Paul Says Austerity Bomb, Heidi Explains All

Heidi N. Moore has a delicious translation of Speaker Boehner’s letter to Pres. Obama about THE FISCAL CLIFF, and you should definitely read it. (“We’ve been pretty clear that we don’t want to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year – but if we absolutely have to, then we insist on cutting government spending on programs like social security and Medicare.”)

If this sarcasm piques your interest in the cliff and now you’re like, oh maybe I should read about that I guess, MAY I SUGGEST this thread in which Heidi and her Guardian pal Dominic Rushe answer reader questions about the fiscal cliff. Their responses are extremely readable and understandable.

FOR EXAMPLE, Heidi answered the question, “Why is it called a cliff?” super simply (TO SCARE YOU), and then explained the whole mess in four short paragraphs.

“There’s no good reason that it’s called a cliff! The phrase was invented by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke in February and everyone stuck with it.