national debt

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Europe Offers $41B to Greece
 Europe Offers $41B to Greece 

Europe Offers $41B to Greece

Officials hope loan will calm markets

(Newser) - European officials made $41 billion in emergency financing available to Greece, hoping the easy access to credit would soothe fears that the country will default. EU Finance ministers agreed to price the loans at a below-market interest rate of 5%, as the Greek government is already struggling to pay high...

Deficit's Not a Dirty Word
 Deficit's Not a Dirty Word 
EJ DIONNE JR

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

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...

Obama Moves Forward on Debt Commission

Names Simpson, Bowles co-chairs in spite of GOP protests

(Newser) - Ignoring GOP resistance, President Obama is moving ahead with plans for a commission to bring down the federal debt. Obama will tomorrow name Clinton White House vet Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson to co-chair the panel, which will seek to knock the federal debt down from...

Where Has Our Favorite Maverick Gone?
  Where Has 
  Our Favorite 
  Maverick Gone? 
Dana Milbank

Where Has Our Favorite Maverick Gone?

A John McCain fan laments the senator's new 'reflexive opposition'

(Newser) - Narry a whimper when the Supreme Court gutted the campaign finance laws he vowed to fight for "until I draw my last breath." No support for a bipartisan commission on the national debt that he had sponsored. Hectoring an admiral who supports the end of "don't ask,...

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...

Obama Will Create His Own Deficit Panel

But it'll be weaker than the one the Senate rejected yesterday

(Newser) - In his State of the Union address tonight, Barack Obama will announce the creation of a panel to devise recommendations for reducing the national debt—a day after a proposal for a similar commission failed in the Senate. But Obama’s version will be established by executive order, and, unlike...

Obama's First Year in Numbers

 Obama's 
 First Year 
 in Numbers 
DOW'S UP, AT LEAST

Obama's First Year in Numbers

The Dow is up more than 2,600 points, at least

(Newser) - President Obama is about to celebrate—maybe that's not the right term—one year in office, and the AP takes a look at some numbers that have defined his inaugural turn around the sun.
  • The Dow: Perhaps the only clear victory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen from 7,
...

Congress Ups Nat'l Debt Ceiling to $12.4T

Bill would authorize Treasury to fund gov through Feb.

(Newser) - The Senate voted today to raise the ceiling on the government debt to $12.4 trillion, a massive increase over the current limit and a political problem that President Barack Obama has promised to address next year. The Senate's rare Christmas Eve vote, 60-39, follows House passage last week and...

Hoyer: US Must Raise Debt Ceiling $1.8T

Not until we have a solution, say moderate Dems and GOP

(Newser) - House Democrats are attempting to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion to pay for loans coming due next year, despite strong opposition from Blue Dogs, their brethren in the Senate, and the GOP. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today the move is necessary, and Nancy Pelosi...

Debt-Happy US Faces Payback Time as Rates Rise

Cost of debt to skyrocket $500B in next 10 years

(Newser) - Like a homeowner heading for mortgage default as interest rates rise, the US is heading for a nasty shock as cheap national debt suddenly becomes much more expensive. The White House estimates that the cost of servicing our $12 trillion debt will be more than $700 billion a year by...

Wanna Buy the Chunnel? Get it Now From Slash Gordon

Brown mounts $25.3B asset sale, including underwater rail link

(Newser) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is launching a massive $25.3 billion sell-off of Britain's assets, ranging from student loans to the Chunnel linking England and France, in order to reduce record deficits and maintain public expenditures. As the British election draws nearer, the Labor Party is attempting to burnish...

Don't Fear Debt &mdash;Failed Reform Is Scarier
Don't Fear Debt —Failed Reform Is Scarier
OPINION

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...

Recession Will Pass, but Dollar May Be Doomed

(Newser) - The American economy is heading out of recession, but the long-term fate of the dollar may not be so bright, writes the Wall Street Journal. Growing numbers of economists and investors, including Warren Buffett, say that stimulus spending and rate cuts will boost inflation and weaken the greenback. At the...

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...

How We Wound Up With a $1.2T Deficit
How We Wound Up With
a $1.2T Deficit
Analysis

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...

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...

To Cut Deficit, Rein in Health Costs: Orszag
To Cut Deficit, Rein in Health Costs: Orszag
OPINION

To Cut Deficit, Rein in Health Costs: Orszag

Budget director makes White House's case for cutting expenses

(Newser) - With the future of Medicare and Social Security in the headlines, the Obama administration is jumping at the chance to push its health care reform agenda. Up today: budget director Peter Orszag. "Slower growth rate in overall health-care spending would help to promote and sustain a slowdown in...

Calm Down, Government Debt Won't Kill Us
Calm Down, Government Debt Won't Kill Us
OPINION

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...

Obama Plans to Slash Deficit by 2013
Obama Plans
to Slash Deficit by 2013

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...

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