The Debt Downgrade and the Regulation of the Day

Today in the News

Debt Downgrade

The public—and investors—were unimpressed by Obama’s speech after S&P downgraded the U.S. debt.

Senior Counsel Hans Bader comments.

“The President’s supporters have sought to argue that it was the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling deal — not the rising deficits during the Obama Administration — that caused the downgrade. The New York Times‘ liberal editorial board once again called for even more deficit spending to try to stimulate the economy (never mind that economists found that the $800 billion stimulus package failed to create jobs). But news coverage of S&P’s decision made clear the downgrade would never have occurred if the government wasn’t running up unprecedentedly huge deficits (the deficit went from $160 billion in 2007 to $1.6 trillion under Obama).”

Regulation of the Day

Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young presents the latest “Regulation of the Day”: fire extinguishers.