By Robert Romano — On July 31, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) acting director Edward DeMarco once again rejected an Obama Administration plan to bail out borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, citing cost concerns. The FHFA, which administers the government’s conservatorship of Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, undertook an analysis of the program, showing reductions of […]

As originally published at RealClearMarkets.com. By Robert Romano — The Federal Reserve shocked markets on Aug. 1 when it decided to do nothing . Do nothing new, that is. Particularly, no QE3 — i.e. a third round of quantitative easing, or printing money to purchase U.S. treasuries and other securities. Markets immediately started tanking, and continued, through Aug. 2 before finally recovering on Aug. 3. Traders […]

By Robert Romano — Apple, like many companies, has a giant wad of cash outside the U.S. it is not bringing into the country due to the tax burden that would incur, reports the Associated Press . “We do not want to incur the tax cost to repatriate the foreign cash […]

By Robert Romano — As the 2012 election season kicks into full gear, the looming fiscal cliff ahead draws ever nearer. With current tax rates set to automatically increase at year’s end, the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling set to be reached once again, sequestration cuts taking effect […]

http://www.kinderland.org/sylvanlake/pictures/1920s/images/1920s.jpg By Robert Romano Judge for yourself if a picture is worth a thousand words. After Americans for Limited Government published a special report detailing the communist background of a summer camp in Mass. that Obama Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner nominee Erica Groshen sent her children to, several prominent media […]

By Robert Romano — The U.S. and other developed economies are rapidly aging, and are bound to place an increased burden on taxpayers in coming years, new forecasts by the International Monetary Fund show . According to the estimates, by 2050 there will be approximately 75 seniors and children — i.e. dependents — for every […]

Great post from Drew M over at Ace of Spades , taking on Harold Myerson’s Washington Post op-ed   that advocated automatic collections of union dues by states: Overdue Backlash Against Public Employee Unions Has Liberals Freaking Out One of the great gifts liberals benefited from before the rise of conservatism and conservative alternate media, is that so much of […]

By Robert Romano — Sunday, June 17 marked the 40th anniversary of the Watergate scandal that brought down the Nixon Administration. The Voice of America, the propaganda wing of the federal government, heralded the event as “the most consequential political scandal in U.S. history”. Certainly, the botched break-in of Democrat Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. in 1972 […]

By Robert Romano — Should public sector unions be abolished? One governor seems to think so. “I think really government works better without them. I really do,” said Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels appearing on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace on June 10 . He’s right. Public sector unions really serve no purpose other than to suck up dwindling taxpayer resources to pay […]

By Robert Romano — With Spain on the verge of bankruptcy, having just secured a €100 billion loan from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to recapitalize its banks just so it can refinance its €734.9 billion debt, the government there has been looking for things to […]