budget deficit

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Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap
 Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap 
Jul 15, 2009 12:27 PM CDT

Deal Near on Calif. Budget Gap

(Newser) - The California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are just steps away from an agreement that would close the state’s $26.3 billion deficit, the Los Angeles Times reports. Talks are expected to conclude today. “I don’t think there is anything that would make negotiations shut down at...

Deficit Tops $1T for First Time
 Deficit Tops $1T for First Time 
Jul 13, 2009 2:25 PM CDT

Deficit Tops $1T for First Time

(Newser) - Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time. The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation; there's also concern about trying to reverse the deficit—by reducing government spending or raising taxes—in the midst of a harsh...

Calling Obama Socialist 'Won't Stick:' Jeb Bush

(Newser) - Jeb Bush has a pretty dim view of President Obama, but he wouldn’t go so far as to call him names. When Tucker Carlson asks the former Florida governor if Obama is “a socialist” in an interview for Esquire, Bush demurs. “I don't know,” he responds....

Top 5 States of Confusion
 Top 5 States of Confusion 
OPINION
Jul 3, 2009 12:14 PM CDT

Top 5 States of Confusion

(Newser) - It’s not easy being an elected official in a time of crisis, but a select few governors are having a particularly tough time. And some of them are even trying to get reelected. Politico looks at the 5 worst-off states:
  • California: No surprise here. The state's issuing of IOUs
...

California Begins Printing IOUs
California Begins
Printing IOUs
Jul 2, 2009 7:49 PM CDT

California Begins Printing IOUs

(Newser) - Thousands of Californians still waiting for their state tax returns will open their mail to find an IOU instead of a check. Unable to close a gargantuan budget deficit, the state began printing a $53 million batch of IOUs this afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reports. Some banks have agreed...

Health-Care Reform Will Save Economy, Too: Obama

He pushes reform during town hall meeting

(Newser) - Americans will suffer doubly without immediate health-care reform because the economy needs the boost, President Obama said in a town-hall meeting today as he tried to sell a plan half of Americans say they don’t really understand. He cited rising premiums, less employer coverage, and increasing Medicare costs as...

Arnold Declares Emergency in Calif. Budget Mess

(Newser) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a fiscal emergency and ordered lawmakers to produce a plan to close the state’s $24.3 billion deficit within 45 days, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. To accomplish that, Schwarzenegger called a special session of the legislature, and also ordered 220,000 state...

Facing $24B Shortfall, Calif. Gets No Love From Feds

Washington refuses state's requests for aid

(Newser) - California may be the world’s 8th-largest economy and key to President Obama’s re-election, but requests for financial aid are falling on deaf ears in Washington, Politico reports. The Golden State remains deadlocked over a $24 billion budget deficit, and many of its own officials are unsympathetic. “Why...

NYT Poll Continues Theme: Control the Deficit

(Newser) - The second major poll of the day is out, and a clear theme is emerging for President Obama: Take care of the budget deficit. About 60% of respondents in a New York Times/CBS poll say the president hasn't developed a clear strategy to keep the deficit down. The findings echo...

WSJ Poll: US Likes Obama, Iffy About Economic Moves

(Newser) - Barack Obama remains a popular president—75% of poll respondents like him personally—but a new survey by the Wall Street Journal and NBC finds growing worry about his financial policies and the deficit in particular. Overall, Obama's approval rating fell to 56%, down 5 points from April. Nearly 7...

Feds Reject Plea for Calif. Bailout

Aid ruled out for now as state warns of fiscal meltdown

(Newser) - The federal government has rejected pleas for emergency aid from top California officials, reports the Washington Post. State officials warn that its budget crisis is approaching the point of a "fiscal meltdown" that will cause massive cuts and deepen the state's recession. But the Obama administration fears bailing out...

Republicans See Rising Debt as Obama's Soft Spot

(Newser) - Republicans think they’ve found one chink in President Obama’s armor: public fear over rising national debt. Some 51% of Americans disapprove of Obama’s efforts to control federal spending, according to a recent poll. In every other area, Obama enjoys positive ratings. “The president is still popular,...

How We Wound Up With a $1.2T Deficit
How We Wound Up With
a $1.2T Deficit
Analysis
Jun 10, 2009 9:24 AM CDT

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...

Policymakers Float Federal Sales Tax Idea

American VAT long rejected as politically impossible policy

(Newser) - A federal sales tax has long been seen as politically off-limits, but the massive deficit has some in Washington pushing for it. “It's common to the rest of the world, and we don't have it,” a tax analyst tells the Washington Post. In dire times, “fundamental tax...

Calif. Voters Torpedo Budget Crisis Measures

Defeat leaves Governator facing massive service cuts

(Newser) - Californian voters soundly rejected five ballot measures that would keep the hard-hit state economically solvent until the end of the year, on a turnout of little more than 10%. The vote against extended tax increases and capped spending is a sharp rebuke to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators who...

Proposed Tax No Fair, Brown U. Students Say

Providence mayor wants to charge them $300 a year

(Newser) - Students at Brown University say they contribute to their community in countless ways, and a proposed $150-per-semester tax shouldn’t be one of them, the AP reports. “We’re more able to provide labor, we’re more able to apply the things that we're learning in the classroom, than...

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

(Newser) - 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...

Budget Cuts Trim 'Pennies, Not Dollars'

(Newser) - President Obama’s vow to scour the federal budget for savings hasn’t amounted to as much as many hoped, the Washington Post reports. The administration will today announce $17 billion in proposed cuts to 121 programs, a sliver of the $3.4 trillion budget. “Even if you got...

Obama Asks Workers How to Curb Spending

(Newser) - President Obama appealed to federal workers today to propose ways to make their agencies' and departments' budgets more efficient. The president said employees' ideas would be key as his Cabinet officials cut millions from the federal budget and trim the deficit. "After all, Americans across the country know that...

Obama Fakes Center, Goes Liberal
 Obama Fakes 
 Center, Goes Liberal 
OPINION
Apr 4, 2009 6:36 PM CDT

Obama Fakes Center, Goes Liberal

(Newser) - If President Obama were a quarterback, he’d be a master of the fake, Fred Barnes writes in the Weekly Standard. Using “misdirection,” he markets “his product—the liberal agenda, plus a few add-ons—in a manner that disguises what he's really up to.” While trumpeting...

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