budget crisis

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Portugal Gov't Verges on Collapse

Country could soon go the way of Greece, Ireland

(Newser) - Today promises to be a tumultuous day in Portugal, with all signs pointing to the resignation of Prime Minister Jose Socrates and the collapse of his minority Socialist administration. The country’s parliament is expected to vote down Socrates’ austerity plan, a move the prime minister contends will force the...

States Weigh Delaying Primaries to Save Cash

Some consider switching to caucuses

(Newser) - With money tight, some states may push their presidential primaries later, or even cancel them and hold party-run caucuses instead, skipping out on the race for visitors and media attention. Resigned to the influence of states like New Hampshire and Iowa, some lawmakers are making financial concerns their priority, Politico...

EJ Dionne: No, We're Not Broke -- Budget 'Crisis' Is Fake
 Budget 'Crisis' 
 Is Made-Up 
EJ DIONNE
Mar 14, 2011 1:52 PM CDT

Budget 'Crisis' Is Made-Up

It's an 'arresting metaphor' to push ideological agenda

(Newser) - We keep hearing that “we’re broke”—a good way for politicians to make a deceptive case for cutting taxes on the rich and cutting social programs. But the fact is, “we’re not broke,” writes EJ Dionne in the Washington Post . “Yes, nearly all...

Wisconsin Protests: Gov. Scott Walker Threatens 12K Layoffs; Police Threaten to Kick Protesters Out of Capitol Building
Gov. Walker Threatens 12K Layoffs
wisconsin protests
Feb 26, 2011 7:54 AM CST

Gov. Walker Threatens 12K Layoffs

And police threaten to kick out Capitol protesters

(Newser) - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dug in his heels even further yesterday, threatening to trigger as many as 12,000 layoffs starting next week if his controversial budget bill is not passed. Walker is still determined not to compromise on the portion of his bill that strips public employees of many...

Providence Board Votes to Terminate All Teachers

More than 700 gathered to protest

(Newser) - Those 1,926 pink slips will definitely be going out in Providence: After two hours of debate, the school board voted last night to send out termination notices to every public school teacher in the city. More than 700 teachers gathered to express their feelings: "disrespected," "bullied,...

Providence Giving All Its Teachers Pink Slips

But it won't actually fire them all

(Newser) - All 1,926 teachers in the Providence Public School District are about to get termination notices. Tomorrow the school board will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher on the last day of school, Superintendent Tom Brady announced in a staff email today, according to the Providence Journal . Not...

Texas's Busted Budget Shows Failure of GOP Theory
Texas's Busted Budget
Shows Failure of GOP Theory
paul krugman
Jan 7, 2011 12:04 PM CST

Texas's Busted Budget Shows Failure of GOP Theory

Paul Krugman: State faces huge hole over taxes-are-evil mantra

(Newser) - To all appearances, things were going great in Texas until recently. Gov. Rick Perry even boasted of a surplus in the billions in his re-election run. For conservatives, it was a shining example of good fiscal practice: never raise taxes; use only spending cuts to balance the budget. Now, though,...

Tax Cut Showdown: Dems' Two Options

Must win centrists as Bush cuts expire

(Newser) - When it comes to tax cuts, the Democrats’ options are few. Politically speaking, it’s too late to force the expiration of Bush cuts on those earning more than $250,000. But Dems have two notable choices, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times : one, to let the Bush...

Portugal Screeches to Halt as Unions Strike

Trains, planes, banks shut down in unions' joint effort

(Newser) - The largest Portuguese unions banded together and went on joint general strike today, the first of its kind since 1988, the New York Times reports. The unions, protesting a government austerity plan amid a debt crisis, halted trains, buses, planes, health care, and banking services. “What’s coming for...

Deficit Breaks $1T Again

 Deficit Breaks 
 $1T Again 
Oct 15, 2010 7:10 AM CDT

Deficit Breaks $1T Again

Budget gap shrinks, but is set to grow

(Newser) - The federal budget deficit is set to break a trillion dollars for the second year in a row, the Obama administration is set to report today. Officials foresee a deficit of $1.29 trillion for the 2010 budget year that ended Sept. 30, the AP reports, down from last year’...

Cash-Strapped LA Builds $578M School

And it's the district's third 'Taj Mahal'

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a $640 million budget shortfall, but you’d never know it by looking at its newest school. The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex will be the nation’s most expensive public school when it opens next month, clocking in at $578...

States Are Going Crazy, as Well as Broke
States Are Going Crazy,
as Well as Broke
gail collins
Apr 29, 2010 10:32 AM CDT

States Are Going Crazy, as Well as Broke

Arizona and Oklahoma are leaders in both insanity and insolvency

(Newser) - The Tea Partiers may be up in arms over the federal government meddling in their lives and not being able to balance its books, but Gail Collins points out that it's the states that are going into overdrive passing wacky laws (hello, Arizona, Oklahoma!) and whiffing on budget cuts...

Goldman Helped Greece Hide Catastrophic Debt

Bank concocted deal with phony exchange rate

(Newser) - Greece's budget problems were allowed to grow to their current monstrous size with the help of a Goldman Sachs deal worthy of an Oscar for creative accounting. Greek government officials—no strangers to number-juggling themselves—used the US bank to concoct a derivatives deal that allowed the country to circumvent...

Populism Swings Left as Oregon Votes to Tax the Rich

Voters hit corporations, to, in state referendum

(Newser) - Don't be too quick to extrapolate from the Massachusetts election that the country's populist surge swings to the right: Oregon voters yesterday approved tax hikes for corporations and the rich. The referendum, which reversed more than two decades of Oregon voters shooting down tax increases, came as the cash-strapped state...

Broke, California Holds Huge Garage Sale

(Newser) - Just how bad has California’s budget crisis gotten? So bad that it’s holding what it’s calling the “Great California Garage Sale” this weekend, hoping to unload piles of junk and wasteful property that the state’s accrued over the years. Hundreds of items will be available,...

States Lose Shirts as Gamblers Cut Back

(Newser) - Every state but Utah and Hawaii allows some form of legal gambling, and most have come to rely on it as a growing source of revenue. Unfortunately, a lot fewer people are hitting the slots or buying lotto tickets these days, the Wall Street Journal reports. Commercial casinos produced 2....

Mich. Town: Send Us the Gitmo Detainees!

(Newser) - When the Obama administration floated Michigan’s Standish Maximum Security Correctional Facility as a possible landing point for Guantanamo Bay detainees yesterday, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and several state legislators swiftly condemned the idea. But residents of the nearby town are perfectly willing to take them, if it saves the endangered...

Republicans See Rising Debt as Obama's Soft Spot

(Newser) - Republicans think they’ve found one chink in President Obama’s armor: public fear over rising national debt. Some 51% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s efforts to control federal spending, according to a recent poll. In every other area, Obama enjoys positive ratings. “The president is still popular,...

How We Wound Up With a $1.2T Deficit
How We Wound Up With
a $1.2T Deficit
Analysis
Jun 10, 2009 9:24 AM CDT

How We Wound Up With a $1.2T Deficit

(Newser) - President Obama’s agenda plays a very small role in the massive deficits facing the country, but it won't do anything to correct them, wither the New York Times reports. After reviewing a decade’s worth of Congressional Budget Office reports, the paper explains how the government turned a $800...

California OKs Long-Delayed Budget
 California OKs 
 Long-Delayed Budget 
update
Feb 19, 2009 9:43 AM CST

California OKs Long-Delayed Budget

Dems make big last-minute concessions

(Newser) - The California Assembly quickly stamped its approval on a state budget passed by the Senate early this morning, ending a 3-month budget deadlock. The final Republican vote needed to pass the bill came with steep concessions, though billions of dollars in tax hikes and program cuts remain intact, the Los ...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev