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26 Jan 2011 13:35

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U.S.: The high cost of unfunded tax cuts

  • $1.07 trillion could have been our deficit in 2011 source
  • » Not to belabor the point: The extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, which the President hashed out with Republicans, was a compromise granted to a political party that claims to be concerned about the deficit. You might therefore think the deal wouldn’t staggeringly increase the deficit, but you’d think wrong. This news will invariably be spun into another story about reckless liberal spending, but remember: this was the war trophy the Republican Party got out of the President, unfunded expenditure be damned.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 1 Comment • 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

25 Jan 2011 21:53

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Politics: Deficit: President calls for cutting more than just domestic spending

  • We have to stop pretending that cutting [annual domestic] spending alone will be enough. It won’t.
  • President Obama • Laying out his vision for taking a bite out of our deficit . source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 14:11

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Politics: Obama unlikely to tip hand on deficit reduction tonight

  • Reaching agreement requires both sides to demonstrate a willingness to compromise. He’s going to want everyone to show their hand at the same time.
  • Rep. Chris Van Hollen • The Maryland congressman, who is the most senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, commenting on President Obama’s likely tact on deficit reduction in his State Of The Union address. its been widely said the President will not endorse any specific suggestion of the Deficit Commission tonight, in particular their proposal to raise the retirement age and make cuts to Social Security. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 20:41

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U.S.: Jerry Brown gives California a bitter budgetary pill to swallow

  • $12.5B the size of the spending cuts that Jerry Brown’s trying to sell to California residents
  • five the number of years of tax increases that would also be part of the fairly risky deal
  • no Republicans are on board with Brown on this yet – he used the phrase TAX INCREASE! source
  • » About those tax increases: They would extend a series of temporary tax increase implemented in 2009, which are set to expire in July. Californians are set to vote on the increases in June. And other changes are recommended too – certain services could be transferred from state local governments (such as prisons), and services for the poor are among the ones getting cut the most. However, K-12 schools will be protected from cuts (and just about nothing else).
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2011 21:08

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U.S.: Posted without comment: The National Debt, in Tetris form

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Jan 2011 20:45

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Politics: Poll: Start cutting the deficit by raising rich people’s taxes

  • 61% of respondents would prefer that taxes increase for the rich to help cut the deficit
  • 20% of respondents say that defense spending would be a better first choice to hack away at
  • 4% of respondents would prefer instead that we took the scalpel to Medicare source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Dec 2010 21:52

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Politics: Deficit committee may not have needed votes by tomorrow

  • Our debt crisis is a threat not just to our way of life but to our national survival. And the threat that we face is so real and so close that we do not have further time for gridlock or inaction. It’s necessary that we take strong, aggressive action now.
  • Idaho Sen. (and deficit committee member) Mike Crapo • Revealing that he, along with Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, would be voting in favor of the deficit committee’s proposal Friday. That means that, along with retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, three Republicans would be voting to send the proposal for a vote in Congress. Problem is, that brings the grand total up to around nine votes. Fourteen of the nineteen members need to vote yes. At least three other  Republicans (including our boy Paul Ryan) and one Democrat (Max Baucus) will vote against it. But that may not matter, according to committee co-chairman Alan Simpson. “Whether we get two votes or 18, this baby ain’t goin’ away,” he said. He’s right; the ideas will remain no matter what happens. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Oct 2010 17:51

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Politics, U.S.: Hey, the deficit’s actually getting smaller! Yay!

  • $125 billion decrease in the deficit over the last year source
  • » Of course, if you listen to a lot of conservative candidates this year, you probably wouldn’t know it. For example, Alaska’s Joe Miller proclaims, “the federal budget deficit was $1.4 trillion last year and is on track to be that, or more, this year.” Then again, Miller has already proved himself to be not the most responsible voice on fiscal issues, so perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Miller’s financial qualms aside, perhaps keep this number in mind next time a Republican decries Obama’s reckless government spending.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 20:28

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Tech: Tech CEOs to Obama: Let us tell you how to cut the deficit

  • Our report contains straightforward, proven ways to pare back $1 trillion from the deficit while increasing productivity and enabling sustainable competitiveness.
  • Dell CEO Michael Dell • Regarding the suggestions the Technology CEO Council has for the President regarding reining in the national debt. Dell, whose own company knows something about leveraging partnerships and cutting corners in the money-saving process, is one of many CEOs backing the plan, which reportedly would cut debt by around $1 trillion in a decade using such methods as consolidating and standardizing processes, using virtualization and cutting energy usage. The methods have already been in use at many of the companies and have already shown results. Will Obama take the bait? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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