By Robert Romano By now, the causes of the mortgage crisis that nearly wrecked the global economy in 2007 and 2008 are common knowledge. Too many high risk loans were made, too much credit boosted housing prices to the moon, too much leverage was taken on by […]

The full version of this story originally appeared  on TheHill.com, linked below. By Rick Manning It is not all that surprising that a retiring Senate Committee chairman would be grasping in the last days in power for one last legacy achievement, but it is shocking when the […]

By Robert Romano On June 22, Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace asked newly minted House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) if he “would allow the Ex-Im Bank to expire in September?” “Yes, because it’s something the private sector can be able to do,” McCarthy said at the time. Ahead of the June 18 House leadership elections necessitated by the defeat of former Majority […]

By Robert Romano “If the government has no place insuring export loans, then surely it also has no place providing subsidized crop insurance to farmers…” That was Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein, commenting on the imminent demise of the Export Import Bank of the United States, a […]

By Robert Romano On September 4, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Fast Food Forward promised to shut down fast food joints across America in their Fight for $15 campaign. The groups propose increasing the minimum wage nationwide to $15 an hour from its current $7.25 level. The groups tout the increase as the means to lift millions of Americans out of poverty. But will […]

By Robert Romano The unemployment rate on September 5 was reported at 6.1 percent, having dropped from a recession peak of 10.6 percent in January 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . And while the Obama administration would like to put a positive spin on the current economic situation, including the jobs […]

By Rick Manning The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on the Friday before Labor Day that consumer spending dropped by 0.1 percent in July, confirming earlier reports that show retail spending’s steep slide since its peak in February. Some analysts doubted the earlier reported Retail Sales […]

By Rick Manning As originally published at Breitbart.com. Burger King is in the news—not because the creepiest looking mascot since Six Flags’ dancing undertaker went off the rails but because they are pursuing a move of their corporate headquarters to the well-known tax haven known as Canada. People with no sense of […]

By Robert Romano $128 billion and counting. That is Investor’s Business Daily’s latest tally of settlements the Obama Justice Department has extracted from the U.S. banking industry in connection with the 2008 financial crisis, as Bank of America agreed to another $17 billion in payouts over losses stemming from its 2009 acquisition of Countrywide. Included is $5 billion as a penalty paid to the federal […]

By Rick Manning The Boston Consulting Group just released a study comparing manufacturing costs around the world, and the United States fared surprisingly well.  Writing about the U.S. and Mexico, the authors explain the improved manufacturing environment saying, “Because of low wage growth, sustained productivity gains, stable exchange rates, and […]