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Econ 101: July 5, 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.

  • Congress now has about three weeks in which to “make a debt ceiling deal and still get a bill written, passed and signed in time to meet the Aug. 2 deadline after which the nation faces possible default of some obligations.” [Politico]
  • Congressional Republicans “might accept a ‘mini’ deal with the Obama administration on raising the debt limit,” according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Such a move would push the debt ceiling debate even deeper into the 2012 election cycle. [Bloomberg]
  • According to a study conducted by the research firm Equilar, median CEO pay last year was $10.8 million, “a 23 percent gain from 2009.” [New York Times]
  • Even though the economic recovery has been weak, “companies are poised to report strong earnings for the second quarter — exposing a dichotomy between corporate performance and the overall health of the economy.” [Wall Street Journal]
  • The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teacher’s union, voted yesterday to endorse President Obama’s 2012 re-election bid. [Wall Street Journal]
  • The NEA also “affirmed for the first time that evidence of student learning must be considered in the evaluations of school teachers around the country.” [New York Times]
  • A newly launched $1 billion program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development “is targeting homeowners who are among the most difficult to help: those who fell behind on their payments because of job loss or unexpected medical bills.” [Washington Post]
  • House Democratic leaders are reportedly “lining up behind a White House proposal to extend a payroll-tax cut beyond this year.” [The Hill]
  • Wall Street wants the next Treasury Secretary to be one of its own. [The Hill]
  • Today, the World Trade Organization plans to “condemn China for limiting its exports of major raw materials, rebuffing Beijing’s arguments that curbs are necessary to protect the environment, according to trade diplomats and lawyers.” [Wall Street Journal]
  • China’s local government debt may be $540 billion more than analysts have estimated, “putting banks on the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit ratings,” according to the credit rating agency Moody’s. [Reuters]
  • It’s hard getting Wall Street to mow the lawn: “Thousands of abandoned and vacant properties, many in legal limbo, are plaguing neighborhoods across the country. The result has weighed down already falling home values, attracted crime and vagrancy, and forced cash-strapped municipalities to tap dwindling budgets to care for decaying houses.” [Washington Post]
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