Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Man Tries to Order Priciest Starbucks Drink Ever Total cost: $23.60 »

NEWS ABOUT: deficit

Social Security Is Just Fine

There's no crisis, conservatives just hate the program

(Newser) - Social Security turned 75 last week, but nobody felt much like celebrating, because the program is under an “unnecessary, unfair and—let’s not mince words—cruel attack,” writes Paul Krugman of the New York Times . Some Democrats and most Republicans claim social security is in crisis, and... More »

Geithner to World: Relax, We're Raising Taxes

Axing the Bush tax cuts is just the start

(Newser) - Tim Geithner said something pretty interesting about the Bush tax cuts in his speech yesterday at the Center for American Progress. The Treasury secretary explained why the administration was letting the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans expire now. “The world is likely to view any temporary... More »

Bush's Tax Cuts Need to Go

Republicans seem to have lost touch with fiscal reality

(Newser) - Republicans seem to have two beliefs about taxes: First, taxes can go down, but never up, and second, no matter how high taxes are, they’re too high. That stance is “intransigently divorced from reality,” writes Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post . Just as Democrats have to accept... More »

Voters Support Helping Jobless, Despite Deficit

Polls show support for extending benefits

(Newser) - Most voters are in favor of helping the unemployed even if it means adding to the deficit, writes Arthur Delaney at the Huffington Post , who rounds up recent polls:
  • A CBS survey found that 52% of respondents—including 35% of Republicans—supported extending unemployment benefits at the cost of increasing
... More »

G20 Leaders Head Home, Vowing to Cut Deficits

Economic powers set goals for reducing public debt

(Newser) - The leaders of the Group of 20 nations wrapped up their 2-day summit today in Toronto, striking an agreement to reduce deficits over the next 3 to 6 years without endangering the global economic rebound. The major economic powers vowed to cut their deficits in half by 2013 and "... More »

Deficit Hawks Impervious to Math, Logic

It's the '30s all over again as Germany, US cut spending

(Newser) - Paul Krugman is in Germany, and he’s sparring with deficit hawks, in this case supporters of Angela Merkel’s new austerity plan. It “feels a bit like arguing with US Iraq hawks back in 2002,” he writes in the New York Times . “They know what they... More »

Why We Need a Bank Tax

There will be future bailouts, so make banks pay their share

(Newser) - The recent financial crisis wasn't the first time banks needed a taxpayer bailout, and it won't be the last. That's why a bank tax is the best way to protect taxpayers from the cost of future crises, David Leonhardt writes in the New York Times —better than the current... More »

Ticket-Crazed Virginia Hands Out 6,996 in One Weekend

States across the nation look to motorists as a way to fix budget gaps

(Newser) - In the olden days, cops handed out traffic tickets to keep us safe; in our brave, new, cash-strapped world, states and municipalities are pushing police to hand out as many as possible—for the money they bring in. Just look at Virginia, where last weekend police wrote 6,996 tickets... More »

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... More »

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,... More »

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,... More »

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... More »

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... More »

Rick Warren Asks Followers for $900K, Pronto

Unexpected deficit sparks 'urgent' call for donations by tomorrow

(Newser) - Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church has hit a major fundraising speedbump and has asked members to help out with almost $1 million by tomorrow. Warren described the situation yesterday in an “urgent letter unlike any I've written in 30 years.” Last weekend, “our total offerings were less... More »

Obama to Tackle Jobs, Deficit

Pols split on how to use bailout bucks for recovery

(Newser) - President Obama will today outline a new push to tackle the country's surging unemployment and mounting deficit. The speech, at the Brookings Institution, comes as legislators are locked in a debate over how, exactly, to use surplus TARP funds to boost a tepid recovery. Republicans oppose dipping into the surplus,... More »

Dems: Use TARP Funds to Aid Jobless, Homeowners

White House wants to use balance to cut deficit

(Newser) - Democrats in Congress want to direct some of the remaining billions in the Wall Street bailout funds to struggling workers and homeowners—a plan that puts them at odds with the White House, which aims to put the TARP balance toward deficit reduction. The change in Congress comes as unemployment... More »

White House Eyes TARP Cash to Slash Deficit

Administration debating options for leftover $200B

(Newser) - The White House is debating using some of what remains in the $700 billion bailout fund to help cut the nation's deficit. Around $210 billion remains unspent and financial institutions are expected to repay another $50 billion over the next 18 months. The administration wants to keep some of that... More »

Hey Blue Dogs, We Need a Second Stimulus

Rising unemployment makes it essential

(Newser) - The ever-worsening employment situation demands a second stimulus, writes former Labor Secretary Robert Reich . Yes, the first stimulus is only half-spent, but the remaining programs won’t affect mounting job losses. Blue Dog Democrats, worried about the deficit and 2010 elections, will be hard-pressed to support a second round, but... More »

China's Rise Threatens to Turn US Into Britain

America will end up as an also-ran if it can't reinvigorate its economy

(Newser) - America used its financial clout to knock the British Empire into second place last century and it's in danger of receiving the same treatment from China in the not-too-distant future, writes Zachary Karabell. China is the American government's biggest creditor, much as the US was to Britain in 1946, Karabell... More »

Social Security Faces Grim Forecast for 2010, 2011

Payouts will exceed tax receipts for first time since 1980s

(AP) - Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next 2 years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s. The deficits—$10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in... More »

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne