The new administration is taking aim at trade agreements and some trading partners. The fear about this is likely overdone, and the focus will be more on what happens inside those agreements as practical matters. Protection of intellectual property in terms of patents and copyrights is a good example. The article “Punishing Theft Does Not Violate Free Trade” explains many of the issues, and it includes a link to the annual report of the US trade representatives about this important issue.

Senator Jeff Flake does his best Senator Proxmire impression with his report on government waste. The money for the Lucille Ball hologram is my favorite, because I love Lucy. Some of the spending he cites is swell, while others are lousy.

The World Bank is issued its report about economic conditions around the globe. It's a free download and they have a separate link for all of their data in Excel and their charts. Those can be had at the report's website. The Bloomberg article about the report is a good opening summary.