In the 6:00 p.m. hour on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Heritage expert Paul Winfree will discuss the possibility that Obamacare cost estimates hide $50 billion per year.

At 6:15 p.m. on MSNBC’s ‘MSNBC Live’, Heritage fellow Ernest Istook will debate whether the Tea Party had anything to do with the U.S. credit downgrade.

Earlier today on Fox News, Fox Business and FoxNews.com, Heritage economist Curtis Dubay discussed the president’s proposed spending hikes and why the proposed temporary tax cuts would not help the economy. And on Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” Nile Gardiner discussed the riots in London

Stocks have fallen at the New York Stock Exchange as a result of S&P's downgrade of federal debt. Photo: Flickr/Gerardo Diego Ontiveros

Over the weekend, the United States lost its “best in class” AAA credit rating. Reacting to the inadequate debt reduction measures in last week’s debt deal, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded America’s debt to AA+.

What does this mean? The Heritage Foundation’s JD Foster explains:

A credit rating downgrade will eventually mean higher interest rates on U.S. government debt. This may be hard to imagine given the recent drop in Treasury bond rates in response to events overseas. But higher future rates are certain, and that means that even more federal tax dollars must be dedicated to paying the interest on past government excesses. Higher interest rates and interest cost means greater deficit pressures, which can mean more debt, which can lead to higher interest rates. This is why it is termed a debt spiral.

Foster explains how it came to this: Continue Reading »