One day after Moody's Investors Service said it will begin a review of our government's credit rating, a senior Vice President at the global credit rating powerhouse said that if the U.S. government misses a debt payment, our sovereign rating “could be cut the next day.”

From the Wall Street Journal (Subscription required):

One such scenario Mr. Hess envisions--if the U.S. misses a debt payment--would be downgrading the country by one notch the day after a payment was missed and keeping the rating on review for an additional potential downgrade.

That review would give Moody's Investors Service time to look at the potential long-term effects on U.S. Treasury debt. Long-term questions include the speed at which the initial missed payments were made up; the effect a missed payment has on future borrowing costs; and any regulatory changes implemented to avoid future defaults.

I added the emphasis to the end to highlight the fact that Moody’s—and the other big international credit rating agencies—are looking for the U.S. to not only raise the debt ceiling, but enact long-term solutions to our financial problem.  This is why I continue to work toward an agreement that includes significant cuts and a spending cap mechanism (such as a balanced budget amendment) to prevent us from having to raise the limit once again.

We got into this mess by spending money; we can’t fix the problem unless we cut spending.  Let’s get to work reining in the reckless spending and putting our nation back on a fiscally responsible path.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report today showing that the unemployment rate increased to 9.2% in June.

Shortly before the “stimulus” passed Congress, Christina Romer, then-chairwoman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared Bernstein, the Vice President's top economic adviser, released a report with their predictions about the impact of their plan on the economy.  One of their bolder projections at the time was that with the “stimulus,” our national unemployment rate would peak below 8% in 2009.

Almost two and a half years have gone by and our national unemployment rate has never been lower than 8% since the “stimulus” became law.

This chart adds the real numbers to the Romer-Bernstein prediction of the monthly unemployment numbers with and without the President’s “stimulus” plan.  As the red dots on the graph show, our national unemployment numbers are far worse than they were pre-“stimulus”.

The media has been talking at length today about  what  this report means in terms of the President’s political future, but that angle of the story misses the most important part: this about more than numbers, more than a report, more than a political talking point—its real people.  14.1 million of them to be exact.  All of whom are looking to Washington for help.

Unfortunately, the President and his allies in Congress have refused to provide the help these Americans need.  The government cannot create jobs, despite this administration’s efforts to prove otherwise, but we can help encourage an environment where the private sector can flourish.  

How many bad reports are necessary before the President and his allies in Congress recognize their policies are making matters worse, not better, for America?

White House expectations of job creation from this flawed legislation fell flat and we’re experiencing more unintended consequences from this as described in the Weekly Standard.

We are faced with a wide range of issues that will have a big impact on the future of our country. From creating policies that will increase employment opportunities to cutting spending and becoming fiscally responsible to international conflicts that are using American resources, this is a challenging time. I am confident that we can address these topics and be an example for the rest of world.

You can hear my opinions on all the latest issues in this interview I did with Arkansas Abroad.