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(Reuters)
The massive U.S. budget deficit is the gravest threat facing the economy, topping high unemployment and the risk of inflation or deflation, according to a survey of forecasters released on Monday.
The National Association for Business Economics said its 47-member panel of forecasters increased its estimate for the 2011 federal deficit to $1.4 trillion from $1.1 trillion in its previous survey in November. Get the full story »
The House Budget Committee chairman says Republicans don’t want to see the government shut down in a fight with President Barack Obama over spending priorities.
Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan also tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” the GOP doesn’t want to “rubber stamp” spending policies it opposes just to keep the government running. Get the full story »
It provoked protests in European capitals from Athens to Brussels, hurt sales of Heineken beer and stole the spotlight at a June G20 summit in Canada. “Austerity” is now Merriam-Webster’s top word of 2010.
“Austerity,” which the Springfield, Massachusetts-based publisher defines as “enforced or extreme economy,” spiked to the top of the company’s top ten list based on the number of searches at its website, www.merriam-webster.com.
Coupled with No. 2 “pragmatic,” the list reflects a year when searchers were still worried about a rocky world economy, said Peter Sokolowski, the dictionary’s editor at large. Get the full story »
Debt Commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles, right, and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A presidential commission trying to balance the budget on Wednesday softened a proposed tax overhaul to win broader support for its bold plan to slash the $1.3 trillion federal deficit.
The plan faced an uphill struggle to win sufficient backing to trigger a congressional vote. Even if that happens, analysts predict Congress won’t take substantive steps to reduce the deficit this year.
Changes made to the plan included dropping a proposal to kill the popular mortgage interest tax deduction, as had been recommended on November 10. The revised version proposed a limited, 12 percent mortgage interest tax credit. Get the full story »
Deficit reduction commission co-chairman Erskine Bowles says he won’t “do a whitewash” on the call for austerity measures merely to get a bipartisan consensus among panelists.
Former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson released recommendations last week calling for steep cuts in Medicare, lifting the Social Security retirement age and increasing taxes, including a 15 percent hike in federal gasoline tax. Get the full story »
The United States needs to consider a European-style tax on consumption to help tackle the burgeoning U.S. deficit, a member of a presidential deficit panel said on Tuesday. Get the full story »
Greece will cut its deficit to reach the target this year without taking any further austerity measures, the country’s central banker said Tuesday.
“I believe we will achieve the deficit target of 8.1 percent of GDP from 13.7 percent (last year),” Bank of Greece governor George Provopoulos told Greek television Mega Channel. Get the full story »
