Binyamin Appelbaum

3 weeks ago | pressdemocrat.com | Binyamin Appelbaum

ST. GEORGE, UtahThe big industry in this pretty city in southwestern Utah is building and selling homes, and business is so good that St. George is running out of land. Set beneath the red bluffs of the Colorado River plateau and blessed with sunshine more than 300 days a year, St. George has been one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States over the past quarter-century. Like many cities in the Mountain West, St. George is an island of private property in a sea of public land.

4 weeks ago | sltrib.com | Binyamin Appelbaum

St. George * The big industry in this pretty city in southwestern Utah is building and selling homes, and business is so good that St. George is running out of land. Set beneath the red bluffs of the Colorado River plateau and blessed with sunshine more than 300 days a year, St. George has been one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States over the past quarter-century. Like many cities in the Mountain West, St. George is an island of private property in a sea of public land.

4 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Binyamin Appelbaum

The government can do better by making two changes. First, the federal government should lease land rather than sell it. A 2024 task force co-chaired by Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah, a Republican, proposed leasing federal land for housing development because federal lands are not subject to local zoning laws and other forms of municipal obstructionism. "It would be a game changer," said Steve Waldrip, the governor's top adviser on housing.

1 month ago | econofact.org | Jeremy Stein |Econo Fact |Binyamin Appelbaum |Scott Horsley |Greg Ip

United States Treasury bonds have long been viewed as a highly liquid investment with very little risk of default. They have served as a safe haven for investors and also provided a benchmark interest rate for mortgages, car loans, corporate debt, and other bonds. Typically, Treasury bond yields fall at times of financial stress as demand for Treasury securities rise. But this time is different. Bond prices have fallen and yields have risen in the wake of the policy volatility of the past month.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Binyamin Appelbaum

President Trump says the rest of the world is cheating the United States. He says he's charging tariffs on imports from other countries and the biggest tariffs will be on the worst cheaters. Which country tops Trump's cheating chart? Well, it turns out to be the tiny, landlocked south African kingdom of Lesotho. In 2023, Lesotho exported about $228 million of goods and services to the United States and imported just $7.33 million in goods and services from the United States.