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Weekend Must Reads

Washington, Apr 12 -

Forbes: Margaret Thatcher Exposed The Infantile Illusions Of Socialism             

Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies, we are often told, were cruel, harsh, immoral. In fact she was a deeply moral thinker, and the moral superiority of the free market was central to her thinking. She made the case for it like no other major political leader.

Washington Post: Is easy money creating a new wave of bubbles?

Trillions of new dollars, euros, yen and pounds are sloshing around the global financial system, a result of extraordinary efforts by the leading central banks over the last several years to try to yank their economies out of their long slump. And it has to go somewhere. Will that somewhere wind up being a new set of financial bubbles that pop and send us back where we started?

RealClearMarkets: President Obama Trumpets 'Financial Capability' While Undermining It

The President proclaimed April to be National Financial Capability Month, a new twist on what used to be called financial literacy month. Who can argue with wanting to make sure that people have "access to the information and tools that empower them to operate safely and smartly in the marketplace"? The strategy being employed to achieve this objective is the problem.

WSJ-MarketWatch: Getting used to a slow-growth future

Irrational exuberance is back.  I know, I know. The Dow Jones Industrial Average just rose to yet another record close. Call it irrational, but exuberance is being handsomely rewarded in this market.

Bloomberg: Bitcoin Really Is an Existential Threat to the Modern Liberal State

So far, Bitcoin is not a big deal. Its total value in circulation was $1.4 billion as of this week. That's equivalent to the currency stock of a small nation -- somewhere between Iceland and Uruguay -- and just one-thousandth of the total value of U.S. dollars in circulation.

Heritage: Breaking Up Big Banks: Right Question, Wrong Answer

Should the federal government break up America’s big banks? Once confined to the populist fringes of policy debate, the idea has developed surprising momentum in recent months, with a number of conservative voices jumping on the bank breakup bandwagon

Huffington Post: ‘Break Up the Banks’ Bill Gains Steam in Senate as Wall Street Lobbyists Cry Foul

Momentum to break up the nation’s largest banks is building quickly on Capitol Hill, just weeks after a unanimous, symbolic vote in the Senate to end taxpayer subsidies to Wall Street.

AEI: Unfounded Optimism: The Danger of FHA’s Mispriced Unemployment Risk

News from the housing market is finally positive: house prices are rising and the share of seriously delinquent loans is down.  One major exception? FHA-guaranteed mortgages.