budget deficit

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Obama to Democrats: Let the Bush Tax Cuts Expire

But he won't veto a compromise that extends them

(Newser) - President Obama intends to take a clear stand against extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of earners in a speech today, sending a message to Congressional Democrats who are leaning toward a compromise with Republicans. Obama won’t actually threaten to veto a bill that extends the...

Why We Need the Bush Tax Cuts (for Now)
Why We Need the Bush Tax Cuts (for Now)
PETER ORSZAG
Sep 7, 2010 11:28 AM CDT

Why We Need the Bush Tax Cuts (for Now)

Ex-budget director preaches eventual belt-tightening

(Newser) - America actually has two deficits: a budget deficit, and a jobs deficit. The jobs deficit is a problem in the near term, while the budget deficit is more of a medium- and long-term problem. That’s why we need to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years, and then...

Arizona Can't Afford Immigration Crackdown

Jailing immigrants costly for cash-strapped state

(Newser) - Arizona might have one little problem with its controversial new immigration law: It can’t afford to enforce it. The state already has a budget deficit of at least $368 million, and jailing illegal immigrants could expand that significantly. Holding, say, 5,000 immigrants would cost the state $182.5...

Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO
Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO
Aug 19, 2010 11:30 AM CDT

Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO

But analysts expect it to improve soon

(Newser) - Congress' budget analysts are estimating that this year's federal deficit will exceed $1.3 trillion, slightly below last year's total but still a huge ocean of red ink. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the enormous shortfall is a result of the still staggering economy, which has meant lower federal...

Stewart: Republicans Are Financial Doofuses

They're letting the deficit eat their children!

(Newser) - Last night, Jon Stewart set his sights on the GOP and the scary, scary deficit. He started with a clip montage outlining Republicans' fears: "Spending is out of control." "People are aghast." "They're scared to death about the future for their kids." In other...

Stop Worshiping at the Altar of Paul Ryan
Stop Worshiping at the Altar of Paul Ryan
paul krugman
Aug 6, 2010 8:43 AM CDT

Stop Worshiping at the Altar of Paul Ryan

His praised financial plan is a 'fraud' that helps only the rich

(Newser) - Paul Ryan has been getting glowing press coverage of late, the kind that portrays the Republican congressman as one of his party's deep thinkers on fiscal matters. And then there's Paul Krugman's column today: "The Ryan plan is a fraud that makes no useful contribution to the debate over...

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...

Neb. Town Giving Away Land for Free

 Neb. Town 
 Giving Away 
 Land for Free
new homesteaders
Jul 26, 2010 10:48 AM CDT

Neb. Town Giving Away Land for Free

Beatrice hoping to generate tax revenue

(Newser) - Beatrice, Neb., was founded by homesteaders, and now it’s hoping to recapture that 19th-century magic. In the midst of a budget squeeze, the city has passed “the Homestead Act of 2010,” a plan to give away city land to anyone willing to build a home there and...

Schwarzenegger Drops State Workers to Minimum Wage

State controller refuses to cut smaller checks

(Newser) - Arnold Schwarzenegger upped the ante in his budget standoff with the state legislature yesterday, ordering almost all state workers' pay cut to the federal minimum wage—$7.25 per hour—effective immediately. The State Controller, Democrat John Chiang, says he won’t obey that order, the LA Times reports, but...

California May Put Digital Ads on License Plates

Critics worry it'll distract drivers

(Newser) - California lawmakers are considering turning every license plate in the state into a kind of digital billboard, in an effort to close the state’s yawning $19 billion budget deficit. Proponents say that selling ads on the plates will earn the state money, and allow it to spread the word...

Is US Like Greece? NYT Writers Disagree
 Is US Like Greece? 
 NYT Writers Disagree 
krugman vs. leonhardt
May 12, 2010 1:10 PM CDT

Is US Like Greece? NYT Writers Disagree

Our federal debt may or may not doom us

(Newser) - David Leonhardt warns in the New York Times today of the parallels between Greece and the US. "The basic problem is the same," he says. "Both countries have a bigger government than they're paying for." He cites a stat showing that our federal debt is projected...

Senate Breaks GOP's Unemployment Filibuster

Moderate Republicans break ranks to move bill past key hurdle

(Newser) - A GOP attempt to filibuster another extension of unemployment benefits failed last night after four moderate Republicans voted with the Democrats. The bill—a package of measures that includes extending benefits for another month for around 200,000 long-term unemployed—is expected to pass a final vote later this week,...

Postal Service Moves to Halt Saturday Delivery

Long-awaited plan would save $3.3B

(Newser) - The Postal Service will eliminate Saturday delivery in early 2011 and save $3.3 billion in just the first year of the new schedule, according to a regulatory filing. The cutback has been contemplated for some time, but today's announcement marks the first USPS confirmation of the exact plan, which...

Get Ready for a National Sales Tax
 Get Ready for a 
 National Sales Tax 
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
Mar 26, 2010 3:24 AM CDT

Get Ready for a National Sales Tax

VAT will be only way to cover health-care costs

(Newser) - European-style taxes will follow European-style health care entitlement as surely as night follows day, warns Charles Krauthammer. ObamaCare, when you remove the "budgetary gimmicks," will add trillions to the national debt, leaving the president's deficit reduction committee with no option but to call for the introduction of value-added...

Democrats Are Out of Gas
 Democrats Are Out of Gas 
DAVID BROOKS
Mar 23, 2010 5:39 AM CDT

Democrats Are Out of Gas

Party 'lacks vigor now that welfare state is complete'

(Newser) - The Democrats' passage of health care reform felt like a family reunion where you saw "the whole panoply of what you loved and found annoying about these people" to David Brooks. President Obama and Nancy Pelosi deserve posterity "for sheer resilience," he writes, but as the last...

Health Bill to Shave $130B Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer
Health Bill to Shave $130B
Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer
house votes on sunday
Mar 18, 2010 9:28 AM CDT

Health Bill to Shave $130B Off Deficit in Decade: Hoyer

Vote scheduled for Sunday as Dems try to wrangle 10 yeas

(Newser) - The Congressional Budget Office numbers aren’t in yet, but House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer assures wary legislators that health care reform will save billions, even trillions, over the next 20 years. His statement comes as House Democrats try to wrangle the 10 additional votes needed to pass the bill,...

Deficit's Not a Dirty Word
 Deficit's Not a Dirty Word 
EJ DIONNE JR
Mar 11, 2010 4:00 AM CST

Deficit's Not a Dirty Word

'There's smart debt and stupid debt'

(Newser) - The debate over the deficit is being crippled by a failure to face up to what we need the government to do, writes EJ Dionne Jr. To have a rational debate about the budget, lawmakers should admit that running a deficit during a time of high unemployment is a good...

Soon, We'll Be Broke Like Greece
Soon, We'll Be Broke Like Greece 
Dana Milbank
Mar 9, 2010 11:50 AM CST

Soon, We'll Be Broke Like Greece

Unless things change, the US will be begging for help, too

(Newser) - America, remember the plight of George Papandreou, the Greek prime minister who arrived in Washington this week, hat in hand, as part of his world tour seeking help for his nearly bankrupt nation. Because “if current trends persist, an American president will be doing the same thing in about...

Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes
Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes
UPDATED
Mar 4, 2010 6:34 PM CST

Across US, Students Decry Budget Woes

Calif. rallies draw thousands; violence mars Wis. protest

(Newser) - Thousands of students, from university down to elementary-school level, are rallying today across the US to protest the ever-more-dismal state of education funding. California demonstrators, who also included faculty and parents, have been most visible, and mainly peaceful, though a car windshield was smashed during the gathering at the University...

Calif. Pols Vote for 'Cuss-Free Week'

No enforcement plans—just penalty jars at Capitol

(Newser) - Taking a break from slightly more serious measures—$20 billion budget deficit, anyone?—California’s state house today passed a bill that would have the state observing “Cuss-Free Week” effective Sunday. “We’re not going to be calling out the CIA or FBI or CHP to go around...

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