ECONOMY: CNBC: 150 Economists Back US Republicans in Debt Fight. “More than 150 economists back U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner’s call to match any increase in the debt limit with spending cuts of equal size, according to a letter released by the Republican leader’s office Wednesday. . . . Signatories include Nobel laureate Robert Mundell of Columbia University and economists from schools like New York University and Georgetown University, as well as conservative think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute.”