budget deficit

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Washington Is Waking Up to Public's Spending Fears
Washington Is Waking Up to Public's Spending Fears
PEGGY NOONAN

Washington Is Waking Up to Public's Spending Fears

GOP needs to build consensus for cuts—and win back White House

(Newser) - President Obama may be just trying to save his political life with the creation of a bipartisan commission on government spending but the move shows Washington is waking up to the public's worries, writes Peggy Noonan. Concerns about federal spending and its implications for America's future have, just in time,...

Greek Debt Crisis Is Warning for US
 Greek Debt Crisis 
 Is Warning for US 
OPINION

Greek Debt Crisis Is Warning for US

Partisan deadlock allowed budget problems to fester

(Newser) - America's on course to become much more like Greece and not in a good way, warns Anne Applebaum. Greece is bankrupt because of financial weaknesses that were allowed to fester for years. Its budget deficit ballooned largely because the nation's deeply partisan political system was paralyzed and no cuts could...

Obama Says He's 'Agnostic' on Middle-Class Tax Hike

Wants all options on the table to cut deficit

(Newser) - President Obama said Tuesday that he is "agnostic" about tax hikes for households making less than $250,000 a year, because he needs to consider all possible options for reducing the deficit. “What I can’t do is to set the thing up where a whole bunch of...

Dems Should Be Scared of This Man—and His Budget

Rep. Paul Ryan is offering a way to avoid deficit disaster

(Newser) - President Obama's outreach to the GOP is looking pretty hollow these days: Soon after Obama told Rep. Paul Ryan that there were some aspects of his budget blueprint he agreed with, Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups slammed the radical plan as a vicious, privatizing assault on Social Security and Medicare,...

Beware of Deficit Hysteria
 Beware of Deficit Hysteria 
PAUL KRUGMAN

Beware of Deficit Hysteria

GOP's fiscal fear-mongering hurts jobless

(Newser) - The "deficit hysteria" spreading throughout Washington and the media reminds Paul Krugman of the fear-mongering about weapons of mass destruction ahead of the Iraq war. Assertions that the deficit will doom the economic recovery and undermine America's place in the world are being tossed about as if they're facts,...

Obama Unveils $3.8T Budget Proposal

Plan includes record deficit, money for job program

(Newser) - Barack Obama sent Congress a budget proposal today that would push the deficit to $1.56 trillion—its highest level in history. The budget would raise taxes on the wealthy and freeze spending on a host of government programs, but calls for spending $100 billion on job creation, including tax...

Obama Readies $3.8T Budget With Record $1.6T Deficit

Record shortfall in current fiscal year would shrink to $1.3T in 2011

(Newser) - President Obama's proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, then start to recede in 2011 to $1.3 trillion, a congressional official said today. The new budget, out tomorrow, says deficits over the next decade will average 4....

Obama Turns Into a 'Deficit Peacock'
Obama Turns Into a
'Deficit Peacock'
paul krugman

Obama Turns Into a 'Deficit Peacock'

His gimmicky idea to cut spending doesn't bode well for the nation

(Newser) - President Obama's gimmicky idea to keep the budget in check by freezing non-defense spending shows he's fallen into the "deficit peacock" camp, writes Paul Krugman. The camp abounds with politicians who support superficial—but politically popular—methods to present the illusion of fiscal discipline. It won't work, and "...

Nation Can't Afford Democrats' Policies
 Nation Can't Afford 
 Democrats' Policies 
REPUBLICAN RESPONSE

Nation Can't Afford Democrats' Policies

Va. governor McDonnell rips federal debt, health reform

(Newser) - The nation cannot afford the spending Democrats have enacted or the tax increases they propose, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said in the Republican response to tonight's State of the Union address. McDonnell criticized the huge run-up in federal debt, and said that while Americans want affordable health care, but they...

'Let's Seize the Moment, Start Anew': Obama
 'Let's Seize the Moment, 
 Start Anew': Obama 
STATE OF THE UNION

'Let's Seize the Moment, Start Anew': Obama

President focuses on health, jobs, ugly politics

(Newser) - In his first State of the Union address, President Obama waded directly into the financial crisis and the partisan mire of Capitol Hill in tonight’s wide-ranging speech. Obama said the US economy is still struggling, but “the worst of the storm has passed.” And, he urged the...

Obama Will Create His Own Deficit Panel

But it'll be weaker than the one the Senate rejected yesterday

(Newser) - In his State of the Union address tonight, Barack Obama will announce the creation of a panel to devise recommendations for reducing the national debt—a day after a proposal for a similar commission failed in the Senate. But Obama’s version will be established by executive order, and, unlike...

CBO Predicts Hefty Deficit, Jobless Figures

Senate, meanwhile, rejects bipartisan panel on red ink

(Newser) - The CBO issued some bleak news today about the economy and prospects for a quick recovery. The nonpartisan agency predicted a $1.35 trillion budget deficit this year—on par with last year's record of $1.4 trillion—and unemployment averaging 10.1%. The forecast for next year doesn't look...

Eying Deficit, Obama Plans $447B Freeze
Eying Deficit, Obama Plans $447B Freeze
STATE OF THE UNION PREVIEW

Eying Deficit, Obama Plans $447B Freeze

17% of US budget affected, not including defense, entitlements

(Newser) - The latest detail to trickle out about initiatives President Obama plans to serve up in Wednesday’s State of the Union address is one aimed at cutting the $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit. Obama will announce a 3-year freeze on $447 billion in spending, a measure that could save...

'Shameless' Karl Rove Wrong on Budget
 'Shameless' 
 Karl Rove 
 Wrong on Budget 
DAVID AXELROD

'Shameless' Karl Rove Wrong on Budget

White House honcho blasts defense of Bush

(Newser) - David Axelrod is amazed by the “sheer audacity and shamelessness” of Karl Rove’s claims about rampant spending under the Obama administration. The former Bush aide predicted last week that congressional Democrats “will run up more debt by October than Bush did in 8 years.” That would...

For Gay Marriage to Pass, Economy Must Bounce Back

Prosperity will translate into more open-mindedness

(Newser) - New Jersey's senate voted down gay marriage less than a day before conservative Portugal's parliament gave it the thumbs-up, and that got Alex Balk thinking: What will it take for same-sex marriage to fly in the US? The answer, counterintuitive though it may seem: economic recovery. "Legislators are not...

Obama Lives in 'Fiscal Fantasy World'
 Obama Lives in 
 'Fiscal Fantasy World' 
KARL ROVE

Obama Lives in 'Fiscal Fantasy World'

Voters are waking up to president's free-spending ways

(Newser) - President Obama is trying to sound like he's turning tough on the deficit and federal spending in his State of the Union address, but Karl Rove isn't impressed and Americans shouldn't be, either. Obama has "rigged the game" by boosting discretionary domestic spending by more than $100 billion from...

Obama Plans Jobs Push Amid Health Care Delays

President expects debate to stretch into February

(Newser) - Barack Obama wants to switch gears and focus on jobs, energy, and deficit reduction, but he’s being hamstrung by a health care debate that he expects to stretch into February. Obama’s been told that disputes, particularly over abortion, will delay the eventual health care deal between the House...

House Narrowly OKs $174B Job-Focused Stimulus Bill

Irate GOP calls measure 'son of stimulus'

(Newser) - President Obama's Democratic allies in the House have muscled through a year-end measure—with a price tag of $174 billion—aimed at creating jobs through a second round of stimulus spending. The 217-212 vote reflected considerable uneasiness among Democrats over the prospect of voting for more debt-financed spending as the...

Treasury: Relax, TARP Cost Trimmed by $200B

Estimated loss to taxpayers down to just $42B as banks rebound

(Newser) - In news that may cool public anger over bailouts, the government expects to get back some $328 billion of the $370 billion loaned to troubled companies during the financial crisis. The portion loaned to banks is even showing a slight profit. A Treasury report to Congress today will reveal a...

We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies
We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies
PAUL KRUGMAN

We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies

This could be the last chance to rein in Medicare costs

(Newser) - Centrist senators worried about the fiscal burden of the health care bill should be asking themselves what will happen if it doesn't pass, writes Paul Krugman. The legislation almost certainly represents the last chance to rein in Medicare costs, the main cause of projected future deficits, before they cause a...

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