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28 Nov 2011 23:59

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Biz: Don’t look down: Ratings agency says they could downgrade U.S. too

  • The negative outlook indicates a slightly greater than 50 percent chance of a downgrade over a two-year horizon.
  • Credit ratings agency Fitch • Explaining the negative outlook they gave the U.S.’ AAA credit rating. Why the lower outlook? Well, they say there’s “considerable uncertainty surrounding the economy’s potential output.” Well, there won’t be as long as we can figure out a way to turn riots over $2 waffle irons into a sustainable moneymaking endeavor for the U.S. economy at large. We’re sure we can make it happen. Fitch’s downgraded outlook follows S&P’s straight-up downgrade a few months back. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Apr 2011 21:14

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Politics: Paul Ryan not running for president, and other town hall fun

  • We don’t have the presidential candidates right now. The field hasn’t materialized yet, so we’re out there doing it ourselves.
  • Rep. Paul Ryan • Speaking yesterday at a town hall meeting in Clinton, Wis., where he noted that he had no plans to run for president. (We’ve said our peace, bro. You’re making a mistake.) Earlier in the week, Ryan was at the tail end of a chorus of boos, at a town hall in Milton, Wis., for his stance on tax cuts for the wealthy. But as Dave Weigel notes, other members of Congress who voted for Ryan’s budget plan didn’t face anything even resembling the rage-filled summer of 2009, where Barney Frank compared a woman to a “dining room table.” Guess those angry people have to start trying harder. (thanks handlebarr) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 09:52

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Biz: Amid deficit, S&P warns about U.S. credit-rating dangers afoot

  • Because the U.S. has, relative to its ‘AAA’ peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable.
  • A statement from the Standard & Poor’s • Revealing that, while they affirmed the United States’ spectacular “AAA” credit rating, they were suggesting the the outlook of said credit rating could go negative in the future. They want the country to figure out its budget mess by 2013. “If an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation is not begun by then,” they write. “this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer ‘AAA’ sovereigns.” Feel that? That’s the grumble of the money beast, wanting to be fed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 11:06

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U.S.: Party-poopin’ CBO: Our deficit will jump significantly in 2011

  • $1.48
    trillion     the expected deficit the CBO says we’ll have at the end of the 2011 fiscal year
  • 14%
    increase     the expected jump in the $1.3 trillion deficit from 2010’s fiscal year (ended Sept. 30) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Aug 2009 18:52

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U.S.: The federal government’s 10-year deficit estimate balloons in size

  • $9
    trillion     the new ten-year estimate for the federal budget deficit; get ready to freak, conservatives
  • $7.1
    trillion     the previous one; Obama plans to use this to argue in favor of health care reform source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jul 2009 22:24

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Biz, U.S.: Like scary numbers? ‘Course you do. Here’s a really scary one

  • $94 billion U.S. budget deficit in June; that’s a lot of change source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 5 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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