Saturday Morning Links

Active rigs: 187

WSJ Links

Section D (Off Duty): later

Section C (Review): 

Front page has a very, very interesting story, and perhaps a book review on Machiavelli for Moms: Maxims on the Effective Governance of Children, to be published April 9, Tuesday. 

At the end of her rope with four young kids, a mother turns to an unlikely advisor -- and learns how hardheaded rule can secure stability and happiness in the home.

• Husband: wanted another child, but received a tough ultimatum instead
• Katie: kept running away, until mom switched from merry to gentle coercion
• Teddy: had her eye on a new backpack, but too much liberality dissipates a ruler's power
• Trevor: never saw through the small lie that gave his parents a much-needed retreat
• Daniel: wasn't making the grade, until mom decided to divide and conquer
• Wife, author, and mother: needed advice on the effective performance of children

 A lot of great book reviews; maybe later.

Section B (Business & Finance):

• Heard on the street: jobs report hits Fed in the jawbone;

Section A:

• Job growth slows to a trickle; no link; story everywhere; the labor force chart is incredible (as in incredibly bad; the good news: it started well before Mr Obama; the bad news: it will never improve much; tectonic shifts

• Front page: Tiger Woods is #1 again, but golf hardly missed him

• The real culprit? The payroll-tax rise, not the sequester, appears to shoulder the blame for the US labor market job weakness

The retail sector shed 24,000 jobs in March, likely a reflection of consumers starting to rein in their spending as their paychecks shrink from higher payroll taxes. As part of the fiscal-cliff deal in January, Congress allowed the Social Security payroll tax to revert back to 6.2% from 4.2%.

Consumers with thinner wallets over time lead to retailers with fewer workers. Retail spending in January and February had remained resilient, as consumers cut back on their saving instead, but now the higher payroll taxes could be hitting retailers harder.
Democrats did little to preserve the payroll-tax cut during the fiscal-cliff standoff, despite pushing hard for it in prior years. Republicans generally opposed extending the tax break, which had benefited almost every American worker.