Econ 101: August 18, 2011

Welcome to ThinkProgress Economy’s morning link roundup. This is what we’re reading. Have you seen any interesting news? Let us know in the comments section. You can also follow ThinkProgress Economy on Twitter.

• President Obama will deliver an economic speech after Labor Day, in an attempt to pressure the congressional super committee “to propose new measures to promote job creation as well as larger long-term deficit cuts than mandated.” [New York Times]

• The administration is reportedly “thinking about proposing tax cuts for companies that hire workers, new spending for roads and construction, and other measures that would target the long-term unemployed,” while “some ideas, such as providing mortgage relief for struggling homeowners, could come through executive action.” [Washington Post]

• The Justice Department is investigating whether the credit rating agency Standard & Poors “improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis.” [New York Times]

• S&P is also losing clients. [Wall Street Journal]

• In the last ten years, “child poverty surged in 38 states and erased many of the gains in child well-being made in the last 20 years.” [Huffington Post]

• Federal and state banking regulators, “signaling their growing worry that Europe’s debt crisis could spill into the U.S. banking system, are intensifying their scrutiny of the U.S. arms of Europe’s biggest banks.” [Wall Street Journal]

• Education Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday that Texas’ school system “has really struggled” under Gov. Rick Perry (R). “Far too few of their high school graduates are actually prepared to go on to college,” Duncan said. “I feel very, very badly for the children there.” [Bloomberg]

• According to a new survey, “since 2010, 71 percent of the nation’s large [public transit] systems have cut service, and half have raised fares.” [New York Times]

• “Speculative demand from investors has pushed the gold market into a ‘bubble that is poised to burst’ after prices surged to a record this year,” analysts at Wells Fargo said. [Bloomberg]

• The AFL-CIO said yesterday that “organized labor won’t sit out President Obama’s reelection campaign and let a Republican win the presidency.” [The Hill]

• Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) “a leading proponent of ending tax expenditures, will join the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight and Long Term Growth, signaling that GOP senators may be moving toward closing some tax loopholes.” [The Hill]

• Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) and Republican members of the state legislature said yesterday that “they want to negotiate with opponents of a law curbing public sector union rights to prevent the measure from going to a public referendum this fall.” [Reuters]