When Will America Face Its Fiscal Crisis? - Bruce Bartlett - It's up to the credit rating agencies to decide. - Like most economists, I ascribe completely to Herb Stein's Law: Trends that can't continue don't. - more at Forbes

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Leading Indicators Fall Sharply To Lowest Level Since Last September - Joe Weisenthal and Kamelia Angelova - Clusterstock at Business Insider

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Inflation Rose in April at Lowest Rate Since the ’60s - By CHRISTINE HAUSER - Consumer prices fell in April for the first time since early last year, and inflation rose at its slowest rate since the 1960s, a new government report said. - NY Times

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Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty Inc. - By Gary Rivlin -  An excerpt from Gary Rivlin's upcoming book shows how lending against future paychecks went from a single shack to a strip mall staple - Bloomberg BusinessWeek 
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Krugman Laments the Coming Lost Decade - Tim Iacono -  In this New York Times commentary, Paul Krugman leads what will soon be a veritable gaggle of economists in lamenting the coming lost decade, one that could have been avoided if the government and central bank had only borrowed and printed more money. - The Mess That Greenspan Made