budget deficit

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Obama Unveils Budget, Slams 'Dishonest Accounting'

(Newser) - Barack Obama rolled out his ambitious 2010 budget proposal today, promising a break from the “dishonest accounting” of the past. “For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth,” the president said. “Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost...

Obama Plans to Slash Deficit by 2013
Obama Plans
to Slash Deficit by 2013
Feb 21, 2009 10:33 PM CST

Obama Plans to Slash Deficit by 2013

Goal hinges on Iraqi withdrawal, letting Bush's tax cuts lapse

(Newser) - Having proved he can get the government to pony up $787 billion to stimulate the economy, President Obama will now attempt to highlight his frugal side. Obama will unveil a budget Thursday that aims to cut the deficit—which could climb to $1.9 trillion in 2009—to $533 million...

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
OPINION
Jan 30, 2009 1:27 PM CST

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers

Party has ditched his wise stimulus ideas of summer

(Newser) - Throughout 2008 Larry Summers was proposing the right kind of stimulus—fast, targeted, and temporary. “Poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease,” he warned. Now Summers is a top Obama adviser, but Democrats are ignoring his every proviso. The stimulus is a “...

Wall Street Bonuses Fall 44%
 Wall Street Bonuses Fall 44% 
Jan 28, 2009 4:58 PM CST

Wall Street Bonuses Fall 44%

State may lose $1B in tax revenue

(Newser) - Wall Street firms still dished out end-of-year bonuses in 2008, but they were a lot smaller. Cash bonuses fell 44% from the year prior, from a total of $33 billion to $18 billion, Reuters reports. That drop may take $1 billion in tax revenue from New York state, which is...

Postmaster Wants to Drop Delivery 1 Day a Week

Deficits, declining volume could lead to drastic cut

(Newser) - Massive deficits could force the postal service to cut out 1 day of mail delivery per week, the postmaster general told Congress today. John Potter asked lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail 6 days a week. "It is possible that the cost of 6-day delivery...

Germany Moves to Rein In Future Borrowing

Constitution will be changed to ban excess borrowing: Merkel

(Newser) - As Berlin rolls out a record $65 billion stimulus package, it's also making excessive government borrowing a constitutional crime. The new amendment—which will limit the national deficit to .5% of GDP "in normal economic times"—is a sign of the government's discomfort with its new stimulus, which...

Cash-Squeezed Calif. to Close Offices Twice a Month

Labor unions file suit opposing cost-saving move

(Newser) - In another creative and/or desperate budgeting move from the Governator, California state offices will close 2 days a month, the Wall Street Journal reports. The state is low on cash and facing a budget deficit expected to swell to $42 billion deficit over the next 18 months. The days off,...

$800B Stimulus Too Much for GOP, Too Little for Dems

Adding to already-enormous debt worries Republicans; excess of caution has other side jumpy

(Newser) - The GOP responded today to Barack Obama’s calls for immediate action on the economy, cautioning that too bold a move could have dire consequences, the Hill reports. “Let’s not use the obvious need as a way to make the problem worse,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch...

US 2009 Deficit at Least $1.2T
 US 2009 Deficit at Least $1.2T 
Jan 7, 2009 11:19 AM CST

US 2009 Deficit at Least $1.2T

(Newser) - This fiscal year, which started in October, will see the US running a budget deficit of at least $1.2 trillion, the largest ever, the Washington Post reports. That number could swell to $1.6 trillion if Barack Obama’s massive $800 billion stimulus plan is approved by Congress. The...

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...

Obama Names New 'Chief Performance Officer'

Picks a consultant to be budget watchdog

(Newser) - Warning that the nation faces “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come” even if the economy begins to recover soon, Barack Obama said today he will create a “chief performance officer” position to ensure "efficiency, transparency, and accountability" in the budget process, and he named Nancy Killefer to...

Keep State's Woes From Dragging Down Economy
Keep State's Woes From Dragging Down Economy
OPINION
Dec 29, 2008 10:13 AM CST

Keep State's Woes From Dragging Down Economy

Now is no time to require balanced budgets

(Newser) - When the economy goes south, the government has no business aiming for a balanced budget. But all 50 governors are faced with slashing spending to do so, and “at the expense both of their most vulnerable constituents and of the nation’s economic future,” Paul Krugman writes in...

French-German Relations Cool Ahead of EU Summit

France, Germany, UK clash over handling recession

(Newser) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy began his six-month European Union presidency by quibbling with Germany, and he appears to be ending his term the same way, Bloomberg reports. Half a year after clashing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over a Mediterranean alliance, Sarkozy shrugged off the traditional France-Germany pre-summit chat and...

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...

Bailout Harks Back to FDR, With More Risk

'Unimaginable' spending will mean WWII-sized deficit

(Newser) - Washington's latest $1 trillion injection into the economy echoes Depression-era and WWII revival plans, but with a dangerous twist, writes Jim Puzzanghera in the Los Angeles Times. Even if the bailouts succeed, the government's mountain of debt will likely bury the next generation in high interest rates and inflation. And...

Soaring National Debt Takes Backseat to Bailout

Congressional Budget Office says deficit could reach $700 billion this year

(Newser) - There's a strange silence in Washington these days about the federal deficit, the New York Times reports, as the immediate economic crisis trumps worries about adding hundreds of billions in debt. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are unusually sanguine about paying for the bank bailouts and another proposed...

Enough about the Deficit: It's Time to Spend
Enough about the Deficit: It's Time to Spend
OPINION
Oct 17, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Enough about the Deficit: It's Time to Spend

The Fed can't help much, but the government can

(Newser) - Volatile markets rule the headlines, but the imperiled nonfinancial economy is more worrisome, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times. The way to get that rolling again, contrary to what John McCain said in Wednesday’s presidential debate, is to ignore the deficit and increase government spending. As retail...

Tax Hikes Loom as Deficit Nears $1T
 Tax Hikes Loom as 
 Deficit Nears $1T 
ANALYSIS
Oct 16, 2008 10:03 AM CDT

Tax Hikes Loom as Deficit Nears $1T

Blue or red, next president may need to boost revenues with increase

(Newser) - The bailout and other government spending are adding on to an already-enormous US budget deficit, and the next president might well have to raise taxes, no matter who it is, the Christian Science Monitor reports. This fiscal year will put the US down nearly $1 trillion, one nonpartisan group estimates,...

States Warn Feds They May Ask for Cash, Too

Deficits and tight credit may force states to beg for Treasury dollars

(Newser) - The credit crisis is threatening states with budget shortfalls, and they could be the next group seeking a federal bailout, the Christian Science Monitor reports. California, looking at a $7 billion deficit, has informed the Treasury that it could come calling. States take loans to cover lean times, in the...

Times Square Debt Ticker Runs Out of Numbers

$10 trillion national debt takes up too much space for mounting tally

(Newser) - America's national debt has outgrown the ticker designed to draw attention to it, the BBC reports. The Times Square counter, set up in 1989 when the debt was a mere $2.7 trillion, ran out of space for digits recently when the debt ballooned to more than $10 trillion. Its...

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