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NEWS ABOUT: deficit

Don't Fear Debt —Failed Reform Is Scarier

Krugman: We need deficits in a recession; they 'saved the world'

(Newser) - Paul Krugman isn't surprised that the projected $9 trillion deficit over the next decade is being greeted as a sign of economic apocalypse—and that commentators think it proves health care reform should be scuppered. In fact, he writes in the New York Times, it's good to run a deficit... More »

US Deficit Soaring to $1.6T This Year

(Newser) - Here's the latest eye-popping number produced by the recession: $1.6 trillion. The White House and CBO today projected that figure as this year's deficit, reports the New York Times. While it would be the biggest since World War II, the figure is actually about $260  billion better than anticipated... More »

Buffett: Cut Our 'Greenback Emissions'

With recovery in sight, Congress should curb deficit spending

(Newser) - Just as carbon emissions could have a dire effect on the environment, Warren Buffett thinks “greenback emissions” could wreak havoc on the economy, he writes in the New York Times. The government has spent staggering sums to avoid economic disaster, and that was wise. Now, the economy is “... More »

Awash-in-Red USPS 'High-Risk': Fed Watchdog

(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office has put the struggling US Postal Service on its list of “high-risk” federal programs, the Hill reports. The federal watchdog says the USPS will lose $7 billion this year, and that even the end of the recession will not return business that has migrated to... More »

Inaction Costlier Than Health Reform

(Newser) - If you want to see a health care plan that will hike your taxes, increase your medical expenses, and swell the deficit, Steven Pearlstein can name one: "Doing nothing as we continue to search in vain for the perfect plan." For the Washington Post columnist, a somewhat... More »

Why GOP Sees Hope for 2010

GOP could mount a comeback, if it plays smart

(Newser) - They got an electoral thumping in 2006 and did no better in 2008, but Republicans may be getting their groove back. The GOP is still polling at record lows, and the Ensign scandal won’t help the party buck its reputation for moral hypocrisy. Yet, Politico reports, the opposition is... More »

Geithner to China: Your Assets Are Safe

Treasury secretary seeks to reassure China about growing US deficit

(Newser) - Tim Geithner began his trip to China with a speech at Peking University, where the Treasury secretary said that once the current recession and financial crisis are over, the administration will bring down soaring fiscal deficits. But students at the college where Geithner himself once studied peppered him with tough... More »

US Deficit to Quadruple to $1.8T, Top 2008 Record

pls. try to get into head/deck that this figure is 4x the record, set in 2008

(AP) - With the economy performing worse than hoped, revised White House figures point to deepening budget deficits, with the government borrowing almost 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year. The deficit for the current budget year will rise by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion—about four times... More »

Obama to Cabinet: Cut $100M From Budgets

Move comes amid pressure to slice deficit

(Newser) - Facing pressure over spending, President Obama will unite his Cabinet today for the first time and ask members to find $100 million worth of potential budget cuts over the next 90 days, the Washington Post reports. Though it’s a tiny sum compared to a $3.5 trillion budget outline,... More »

Moderate Dems Balk Over Obama Deficit

Right wing of the president's party will fight to shave budget

(Newser) - Barack Obama may be president, but it’s Congress that passes the budget, and moderate Democrats are the ones holding the keys to the federal treasury, reports Time. Obama’s 2010 budget calls for $3.6 trillion in federal spending. And though deficit-hawks appreciate the president’s honest numbers (in... More »

Calm Down, Government Debt Won't Kill Us

(Newser) - Republicans have become born-again deficit hawks, decrying the debt President Obama is handing America’s grandkids. “What’s missing,” writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post, “is any sense of perspective.” The added $2 trillion pales before the $66 trillion spent annually on Social Security and... More »

Obama's 'All-In' Budget Presents Huge Risks

President banks his future on an ambitious economic reinvention

(Newser) - With his first budget, Barack Obama has presented a program of stunning cost and complexity that underlines his ambition to transform the United States, writes Dan Balz in the Washington Post. Its $600-billion-plus health package, taxes on the wealthy that exceed campaign rhetoric, and shocking $1.75 trillion deficit show... More »

Obama Budget Relies on Rosy Growth Estimates

(Newser) - President Obama is more optimistic about the nation's economic prospects than most economists, Bloomberg reports. His budget plan forecasts a GDP contraction of 1.2% this year, followed by a 3.2% expansion in 2010. The median forecast of economists calls for a contraction of 2% this year and growth... More »

Calm Down! 7 Reasons to Be Skeptical

Yep; here are some reasons for concern and skepticism about Obama

(Newser) - Yesterday’s inauguration was such a feel-good fest, and our problems are so dire, that everybody is on board with President Obama. Leave it to Politico’s Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris, then, to give us some reasons for skepticism:
  • The genius fallacy: The best and brightest screw up,
... More »

Obama Targets Social Security, Medicare

Faced with trillion-dollar deficit, president-elect vows reform, trims

(Newser) - In his first foray into the hazardous terrain of entitlement programs, Barack Obama said yesterday that his administration would overhaul Social Security and Medicare to clamp down on government spending. At a news conference and in a subsequent interview with the New York Times, the president-elect said, "If we... More »

Stimulus Widens Unemployment Coverage

Part-timers would be eligible; plan expands health-care options

(Newser) - The Obama stimulus plan will include a $7 billion provision intended to force states to extend unemployment insurance to part-time workers, reports the Wall Street Journal. A separate plan subsidizes COBRA payments and allows uninsured workers who get laid off to buy into Medicaid, and all three measures are riling... More »

Obama: Expect Trillion-Dollar Deficits

(Newser) - Barack Obama delivered yet another dose of sobering economic news today—the nation should expect to run trillion-dollar deficits for multiple years, the Washington Post reports. The once unthinkable sum—we're already well on our way toward it in fiscal 2009—is more than double the previous high. Obama acknowledged... More »

Forget the Deficit: Spend, Spend, Spend!

We need massive fiscal expansion, not budget restraint: Krugman

(Newser) - As the incoming administration prepares a massive fiscal stimulus to jolt America's floundering economy back to life, some are worrying about what billions in spending will do to the budget deficit. On the contrary, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times: Deficit spending now will help, not harm, the... More »

Bush Unveils Record-Busting $3T Budget

Critics on both sides immediately pounce on 'irresponsible' plan

(Newser) - As expected, President Bush unveiled a record-busting $3.1 trillion federal budget plan today. It met fierce opposition from congressional Democrats—as well as some Republicans, reports the New York Times. Harry Reid called the budget “fiscally irresponsible and highly deceptive, hiding the costs of the war in Iraq... More »

Canadians Invade US as Loonie Climbs

Exchange rate nears all-time high, sparking spending—and gloating

(Newser) - The commodity-heavy Canadian loonie rose above US$1.04 this morning—just short of its 1957 all-time high of $1.06—on news that Mexico would cut oil production 20%, reports the National Post. Now that the currency tables have turned, Canadian shoppers and vacationers couldn't be happier, the Guardian reports.... More »

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