Friday Links looking like an upside-down v-shaped recovery

One Lump or Two? – Slate, Daniel Gross

To a degree, the crisis of confidence that began in the summer of 2008 has never really ended. And that accounts for some of the concern about a double dip. Every time we see a punk housing number, a European government wobbling, or a sickening 1,000-point flash crash on Wall Street, our minds fly back to September 2008—and we imagine the worst.

What an upside-down V-shaped recovery looks like – Pragmatic Capitalism

Is the housing market already double dipping?  That certainly appears to be the case – and exactly on cue as the government steps aside.

China’s Property Market Freezes Up – WSJ

A rebound in China’s property market has been central to the nation’s rapid recovery from the financial crisis, but surging housing prices had led to increasingly open discontent from middle-class families in major cities. After months of indecision, Beijing in mid-April announced a package of policies intended to blow the froth out of the market by restricting speculative purchases.

Congestion-Priced Parking Meters in San Francisco

Parking will also frequently cost less. SFpark will adjust meter prices based on demand to encourage drivers to make trips in off-peak hours and to use parking lots and garages. While high-demand spaces will gradually go up in price, other spaces will decrease in cost.

Hungary in ‘Grave’ State, Official Says – Bloomberg

Hungary, which needed a bailout to avert a default in 2008, is in its fifth year of cost cutting and reduced the deficit to 4 percent of GDP last year from 9.3 percent in 2006, the EU’s widest at the time. Orban vowed to end austerity and cut taxes to accelerate economic growth after the worst recession in 18 years.

Hungary’s debt level may reach 79 percent of GDP this year, on par with Germany and making it the most indebted eastern EU member, according to the European Commission. The debt level is less than the 125 percent of GDP for Greece, 118 percent for Italy, and 86 percent for Portugal.

Why does government subsidize home ownership? – CNN Money

Their increasingly large role in the mortgage market isn’t just making people wonder how much a mortgage should cost. People are increasingly asking why we subsidize home ownership anyway. What’s so good about owning a home that the government provides this function? Plus the limits on what are considered “conforming mortgages” have been raised so high that we’re subsidizing $900,000 McMansions. Why would we do that, and why would we want to teach people to expect extravagances to be subsidized?

IT’S OFFICIAL: We’re Falling Into A Double-Dip Recession – Robert Reich

The only reason the economy isn’t in a double-dip recession already is because of three temporary boosts: the federal stimulus (of which 75 percent has been spent), near-zero interest rates (which can’t continue much longer without igniting speculative bubbles), and replacements (consumers have had to replace worn-out cars and appliances, and businesses had to replace worn-down inventories). Oh, and, yes, all those Census workers (who will be out on their ears in a month or so).

But all these boosts will end soon. Then we’re in the dip.

Wal-Mart to Offer Its Workers a College Program – NYT

“If 10 to 15 percent of employees take advantage of this, that’s like graduating three Ohio State Universities,” said Sara Martinez Tucker, a former under secretary of education who is now on Wal-Mart’s external advisory council. “It’s a lot of Americans getting a college degree at a time when it’s becoming less affordable.”

How to “cash out before you dash out” (HT Patrick)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EMR2F12hhY&feature=player_embedded#!