Outside the Beltway

One year ago, the U.S. lost it’s AAA credit rating with S&P. There doesn’t appear to have been any real impact from that decision.

Were the Colonists wrong to toss aside the British Empire so casually?

A spate of bad economic news foretells a shift in the campaign for President.

The battle lines are being drawn for another showdown over the debt ceiling.

Obama has borrowed slightly more money in 3 years than Bush did in 8. Does it matter?

The debt has increased at a faster rate in the past three years than in the previous eight, but assigning blame isn’t what matters.

Prices are rising at the pump, and the candidates for President are starting to notice.

On it’s own, the so-called “Buffett Rule” is unlikely to do much to reduce the deficit.

Congress eliminates a bad subsidy, but it’s only because there’s a worse one on the books.

Where is the economy headed? The signals are mixed at best.

More in common than they might think.

New accusations of inappropriate behavior mean another stressful week for Herman Cain.

Less than a year ago, Herman Cain was denouncing a tax plan that is remarkably similar to the one he now advocates.

Social Security outlays are exceeding its income. Is that really a problem?

Have Republicans been co-opted by the Big Government they claim to hate?

By looking only in one direction, Occupy Wall Street is missing the big picture.

The prospects for real economic recovery are not good.

The Occupy Wall Street protests look more like a temper tantrum than a substantive protest movement.

President Obama is proposing a special tax rate for millionaires.

Measuring our progress a decade after the 9/11 attacks

Not surprisingly, there was very little about the President’s jobs speech to write home about.

Either a bunch of bloggers or one of the world’s smartest economists doesn’t understand economics.

Not only is the US outspending all our allies and competitors combined in real dollars on defense, we’re doing so in terms of GDP as well.

Does Ron Paul’s second place showing at Ames mean the media should take him seriously as a contender? No, it doesn’t.

Congress is failing to complete even simple tasks thanks to a bitter partisan divide.

The problem with the ever popular complaint about kickin’ the can down the road.

By insisting on perfection in the debt ceiling debate, the Tea Party has made itself irrelevant to the process.

If a crisis over the national debt is averted, Oklahoma’s Tom Coburn may be the unlikely hero.

Moody’s is on the right track. The current debt ceiling law has done more harm than good.

The House GOP has scheduled a vote next week on a debt ceiling package that is solely designed to mollify the base.

Should we assume that a deal will eventually be struck and simply stop paying attention to the debt ceiling debate?

Based on its history, the debt ceiling law may be the most pointless statute in the entire U.S. Code.

Georgia Congressman Paul Broun has a radical suggestion: While we’re playing chicken with the nation’s debt, let’s cut $1.3 trillion from the debt ceiling!

The Obama administration is arguing the 14th Amendment renders the debt ceiling moot.

House and Senate Republicans are pushing a Balanced Budget Amendment. It sounds like a good idea, but it isn’t.

Barack Obama’s leadership style may be his undoing.

Does a little known provision in the 14th Amendment make the entire debt ceiling debate irrelevant?