By Robert Romano – As the poor economic data continues to come in, the bad just gets worse. Poor manufacturing numbers, growth revised downward to nearly zero for the first quarter, and now lower-than-expected consumer spending all weigh on the weakest economic recovery in modern history. Housing […]

By Robert Romano – In a recent column for the Wall Street Journal , Holman Jenkins criticized rating agencies for threatening to downgrade the United States’ Triple-A credit rating because, he writes, “the debt to bondholders will be the last to be dishonored.” As such, the U.S. is nowhere near default. That may be so — […]

By Robert Romano – A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate released on July 26 states that the total cut for Fiscal Year 2012 in a now-dead House leadership plan to increase the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling would only amount to $1 billion. Americans for Limited Government Bill Wilson called the proposal “laughably pathetic,” noting that “after claiming $1.2 […]

By Robert Romano   – Can’t these guys count? Credit rating agencies Moody’s, S&P, and Fitch have explicitly warned that if Congress does not enact a fiscal consolidation plan totaling at least $4 trillion over the next ten years, the nation’s Triple-A credit rating will be downgraded. […]

By Robert Romano – Now that the House of Representatives has passed the “Cut, Cap, and Balance Act,” it is up to the Senate to do its job. Harry Reid needs to pass something.  It has become his problem. The House plan makes any increase in the […]

Yesterday, Standard & Poor’s issued a dire warning stating a 50 percent likelihood that the nation’s gold-plated Triple-A credit rating will be downgraded in the next 90 days.  Not because of any failure to increase the debt ceiling, but because it appears there will be […]

By Robert Romano – If congressional Republicans never had any intention of using the increase in the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling as leverage to extract big spending cuts from the Harry Reid-led Senate and the Obama Administration, they had ample opportunity after the 2010 elections to say so. […]

By Robert Romano – The Obama Administration must be laboring under the delusion that the $14.3 trillion debt can somehow be paid for with tax increases. It cannot. And it would a foolish gambit to try. That is why House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Minority […]

By Robert Romano – “The only way Republicans’ leverage on the debt ceiling will work is if they’re willing to not increase the debt ceiling,” Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson declared in a recent plea for congressional Republicans. He wants them to hold firm on their […]

By Robert Romano – Since Rule 22 was adopted in 1917 as a way to bring an end to debate by way of a cloture vote (and modified in 1975 lowering the requirement to a three-fifths majority from two-thirds), Republicans have never had a filibuster-proof majority in […]