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10 May 2011 17:30

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U.S.: Democrats push Senate bill to cut big oil’s tax breaks

  • $21 billion saved in bill to cut big oil tax breaks (over 10 years) source
  • » Democrats can pretend to fix the deficit, too! Not to be all gloom and doom, obviously — the oil industry is one of the most successful financial conquests in human history, and if anybody doesn’t need drawing on breaks from the government, they don’t. Stripping their very generous tax breaks would be both a practical and moral victory in our current political climate. That said, the attempt by the Democratic Party to paint this as a deficit-buster is just as disingenuous as the Republican effort to say the same about last month’s budget deal, which cut $38 billion in spending long-term. The deficit is around $1.4 trillion for this fiscal year, though, which makes the earlier figures seem limp and anemic. Still, it’ll be a nice day for American priorities if this thing passes.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Apr 2011 17:38

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Politics: Bernanke takes dim view of Congress’ budget deal

  • The cuts that have been made so far don’t seem to us to have very significant consequences for short-term economic activity… so far I’ve not seen any fiscal changes that have really changed our near-term outlook.
  • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke • Speaking at his press conference today, when asked by a reporter about the package of budget cuts congressional Democrats and Republicans agreed upon. Bernanke’s dim view of the package is very easy to understand, as the size of the cuts were incredibly overstated; taking the long-term value of the package (this year’s savings reportedly only amount to $353 million or so) as $38.5 billion, you’re still talking about chump change as far as the total deficit, estimated over $1.5 trillion, is concerned. Bernanke also said Standard & Poor’s downgrading America’s outlook rating isn’t surprising, because everyone knows the U.S. is on shaky fiscal ground, but that he hopes it will spur more action.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 16:39

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Politics: Rep. Allen West didn’t much like that Obama speech

  • What you continue to see is a third world dictator-like arrogance, that’s what I saw in that speech last week…This whole talk about shared prosperity I mean that really gives me the goosebumps because I’m starting to believe that a community organizer is nothing but a low-level socialist agitator.
  • Rep. Allen West • Speaking to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about President Obama’s speech on the deficit last week. This is an extreme example of the general tenor of conservative criticism since he made the speech (another point being that he specifically invited Paul Ryan to the speech, only to trash his plan publicly). This isn’t surprising, as you can usually count on Allen West’s rhetorical style to be intensely hard-right, as well as loaded with hyperbolic drama — dictatorial arrogance normally has a higher price than speechifying. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2011 09:52

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Biz: Amid deficit, S&P warns about U.S. credit-rating dangers afoot

  • Because the U.S. has, relative to its ‘AAA’ peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable.
  • A statement from the Standard & Poor’s • Revealing that, while they affirmed the United States’ spectacular “AAA” credit rating, they were suggesting the the outlook of said credit rating could go negative in the future. They want the country to figure out its budget mess by 2013. “If an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation is not begun by then,” they write. “this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer ‘AAA’ sovereigns.” Feel that? That’s the grumble of the money beast, wanting to be fed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Apr 2011 14:15

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Politics: Deficit commission heads endorse Obama’s plan

  • yesterday The budget plan pitched by the President Obama in his big speech was very similar to the proposal advanced by his bipartisan deficit reduction commission, under Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.
  • today Bowles and Simpson met with the President earlier today, and after their meeting, the dynamic duo endorsed his twelve-year, $4 trillion reduction plan (their plan called for $4 trillion over just ten years). source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Apr 2011 23:26

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Politics: Paul Ryan: Tax the rich? Nah, just cut services for the poor

  • 67% of Paul Ryan’s spending cuts hit poor Americans source
  • » But don’t worry, not everyone gets the shaft under Ryan’s proposal. Although 2/3 of the savings derived from his plan come by cutting services for poor people, his budget does firmly protect–surprise!–George Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. In all fairness, letting those cuts expire would increase tax rates for the highest earners by an appalling 4%, but it would also save the country an additional $1 trillion over the next ten years. So let’s get this straight: Ryan wants to cut services for the poor and retain absurdly-low tax rates for billionaires. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be the new face of the Republican party?
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Apr 2011 13:48

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Politics: Scott Brown defends the poor

  • “A wholesale reduction in spending, without considering economic, cultural, and social impacts is simply irresponsible. We must also be mindful that many of the proposed spending reductions would disproportionately affect the neediest among us.
  • Sen. Scott Brown • In a letter to Senate Republicans. This is notable primarily due to how rare it is for a Republican legislator to speak so bluntly on behalf of the poor. He also voiced flat opposition to a government shutdown. Only time will tell what these words translate into policy-wise. Still, Brown is looking more and more like a true moderate Republican, a rare site in Congress these days. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Apr 2011 11:15

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U.S.: Unemployment falls, 261k new jobs added in March

  • 8.8% unemployment rate, lowest in two years source
  • » There’s more: In the last four months, unemployment has fallen a total of one percent. This may not seem significant, but it’s in fact the largest four-month drop since 1983. Even if the economy continued to grow at this rate, though, the US wouldn’t be back to pre-recession employment rates until–wait for it–2018. So while this is a good jobs report, it’s not quite good enough. Here’s to the future!
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 21:59

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Politics: No, we can’t eliminate the deficit by cutting foreign aid

  • If you want to cut the budget, you have to cut useful and necessary things…[Obama is] explaining to the public that the free-ride view of budget cutting — we can cut our way out of the deficit by eliminating waste and spending that only benefits foreigners — is wrong.
  • Jon Chait • Interpreting the message behind Obama’s budget. There’s a widespread perception, often repeated by politicians, that if we’d just cut earmarks, foreign aid, and general wasteful spending, we’d eliminate the deficit. But that just ain’t the case. The real culprits are Social Security, defense, and Medicare — programs we actually like. So if we’re serious about taking a bite out of the deficit, we’re gonna have to make some tough decisions. That, Chait says, is the point behind Obama’s proposal. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 1 Comment • Permalink

09 Feb 2011 10:50

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World: Rough budget conditions behind Pakistan’s dissolving cabinet

  • 60 the number of ministers and junior ministers that just stepped down from the Pakistani cabinet
  • under 40 the number of folks that will likely replace those 60 people, according to reports source
  • » Why did they dip out? Budget issues. The International Monetary Fund gave the country a stern warning back in December to avoid slippage in their financial situation. Their budget deficit is forecasted to be 4.7 percent of gross domestic product for the current fiscal year. To convince Pakistan to fix their situation, they withheld part of its loan to the country.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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