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01 Feb 2012 10:07

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Politics: CBO: What if Congress did nothing this year? Well, we’d cut the deficit

  • positive According to a hypothetical posed by the Congressional Budget Office, if Congress’ deadlock worsened and nothing got done this year, the deficit would shrink heavily as the Bush tax cuts would expire and other spending initiatives would end. Huh.
  • negative However … this comes with a lot of pain. As federal workers lose their jobs, the unemployment rate would rise above 9 percent again, and the economy’s recent gains would get pushed back, according to CBO estimates. Would the cost be worth the benefit, guys? source
  • » The trade-off: “On the one hand, if policymakers leave current laws unchanged, the federal debt will probably recede slowly,” said CBO director Douglas W. Elmendorf. “On the other hand, changing current laws to let current policies continue … would boost the economy and allow people to pay less in taxes and benefit more from government programs in the next few years — but put the nation on an unsustainable fiscal course.” That’s a tough one, kids.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2011 10:38

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U.S.: Budget deficit: Smaller than previous years, still pretty freaking huge

  • $1.28 trillion deficit in ’11, down slightly from ’09 & ’10 source
  • » A report full of mediocre news: The Congressional Budget Office’s report on the deficit notes that while the deficits will be smaller over the next decade — by $3.3 trillion over ten years — as a result of the arm-twisting budget deal passed earlier this month, another $3.5 trillion in deficits will be added on top of everything else. Oh, and lest you think that $1.28 trillion is a small amount, it’s only small compared to the prior two years, which were basically the two largest yearly deficits on record. So this total redefines “smaller.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Mar 2011 13:24

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U.S.: CBO report: Obama’s deficit balloons, and tax cuts to blame

  • $9.5 trillion the size of the deficits that will be required under current policies through 2021, the CBO says
  • $2.7 trillion the increase over the previous expected budget numbers – a huge leap, to say the least source
  • » Why is this? The CBO’s report says that in regards to what’s behind all this, “Of the various initiatives that the President is proposing, tax provisions would have by far the largest budgetary impact.” In layman’s terms, tax cuts — especially those for the middle class — are the largest factor affecting deficits. While he’s pushing for tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, they won’t offset the effect of the tax cuts. You know what’s funny though? Even though the CBO’s report specifically says this, the Washington Times reported this story as if spending was the culprit.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 11:06

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U.S.: Party-poopin’ CBO: Our deficit will jump significantly in 2011

  • $1.48
    trillion     the expected deficit the CBO says we’ll have at the end of the 2011 fiscal year
  • 14%
    increase     the expected jump in the $1.3 trillion deficit from 2010’s fiscal year (ended Sept. 30) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Aug 2010 11:09

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U.S.: The 2010 federal budget’s deficit projection: It’s down … slightly

  • $1.342
    trillion     the budget deficit projection of the Congressional Budget Office today
  • $1.368
    trillion     the projection of the CBO in back in March (like we said, slight) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2010 09:54

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Politics: Twitter’s debating the CBO’s health-care findings



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2010 09:50

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Politics: The CBO’s firm numbers on health care help the Democrats

  • $940B the amount the bill as written will cost to implement
  • $130B the amount the bill will cut the deficit in the next ten years
  • $1.2T the amount the bill will cut in the ten years after that source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

26 Jan 2010 09:56

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U.S.: The ’10 federal deficit: Still huge, but at least it’s sloping downward

  • $1.4T the size of the deficit in 2009; that’s a record
  • $1.3T the estimated size of the deficit in 2010
  • $687B the size of the deficit by year 2020 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Oct 2009 22:32

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U.S.: Nancy Pelosi’s got the House health care bill under $900 billion

  • The preliminary estimates we’ve seen from the CBO enable us to make our choices knowing that whatever choice we make will reduce the deficit and will pay for the bill.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi • On reining in the cost of the health care bill while paying back the defecit. Currently, there are three separate bills that need to be merged together, but after the Congressional Budget Office took a look at the bills, they now feel they can reasonably combine them into something ready for a vote on the House floor. Hopefully, the Senate can get their stuff together, too. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Oct 2009 20:03

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U.S.: So, what’s next on the health-care roadmap? More meetings

  • The Finance Committee’s bill will be combined with a bill passed in July by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. source
  • After that, the Congressional Budget Office and Senate Democrats will do vetting of the combined bill to make sure it passes muster. source
  • Finally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promises, the bill will be voted on by the full Senate by the end of the month. Then the House gets it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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