Budget

Save Social Security: 10 Questions for the Deficit Commission

Dave Johnson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Military, Defense, Budget, Taxes, Deficit, Social Security, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Medicare, Medicaid, Politics News
Dave Johnson

It is possible that there is going to be a "deficit commission" to reduce our country's budget deficits. I have some questions for them to ask to help get things started in the right direction.

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In Search of Budget Sanity: A Dispatch From the Belly of the Beast

John Milewski | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fairness and Independence in Redistricting Act, Debt, Budget, Economic Crisis, Jim Nussle, John Tanner, Congressional Budget Office, Federal Budget, Alice Rivlin, Redistricting, National Debt, Federal Budget Deficit, Wall Street, Financial Crisis, Bipartisanship, Medicare, Partisanship, National Press Club, Politics News
John Milewski

At a session on the looming debt crisis comprised of Republicans, Democrats, and others, one of the key findings of the group is that the "process is broken."

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On the Sovereign Debt Crisis

Edward Harrison | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Taxes, Debt, Bankruptcy, Deflation, Budget, Government Spending, Jobs, Forex, Government Bonds, Mortgages, Unemployment, Foreign Exchange Trading, Inflation, Carry Trade, Double Dip Recession, Interest Rates, Business News
Edward Harrison

In a sovereign debt crisis, the central government's debt become so high that everyone knows they cannot possibly tax the population enough to cover their expenses and service it.

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The Budget Deficit Crisis: The Blame Is Bipartisan

Dean Baker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Federal Budget Deficit, Budget, Debt, U.S. Debt, Business News
Dean Baker

Relative to the size of the economy, America's deficit level does not come close to the levels hit in World War II. The idea that we are near some debt-driven crisis is absurd.

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High Cost Of War Weighs On Obama's Troop Decision For Afghanistan

New York Times | CHRISTOPHER DREW | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pentagon, Deficit, Cost of War, Karzai, Afghanistan War, White House, Afghanistan, Budget, Kabul, Obama, Cost of Afghanistan War, Hamid Karzai, World News

While President Obama's decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan is primarily a military one, it also has substantial budget implications tha...

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Murderers Released: Illinois Prisoners Freed In Budget Shortfall

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pat Quinn, Prison, Illinois Department of Corrections, Inmates Released, Chicago, Mgt-Push, Politics, Prison Release, Budget, Illinois, Released From Prison Early, Murderers Released, Video, Chicago News

The Chicago Sun-Times reports Wednesday that 21 people convicted of murder or attempted murder were released from prison early, as part of a controver...

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New York Times: Lobbyists Fighting Last Big Plans to Cut Health Care Costs

New York Times | DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gop, Cadillac Tax, Public Option, Lobbying, Cbo, Lobbyists, Budget, Senate House, Democrats, Health Care Bill, Costs, Health Care Reform, Max Baucus, Health Care Insurers, Medicare, Republicans, Jim Cooper, Health Care, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- As the health care debate moves to the floor of Congress, most of the serious proposals to fulfill President Obama's original vow to cur...

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Cook Your Way Rich and Thin in 2010!

Denise Brodey | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Diet, Budget, Cookbooks, Recession Cooking, Cooking, Best Cookbooks, Healthy Eating, Recession, Mark Bittman, Culinary Institute of America, Weight Watchers, Books, Cooking on a Budget, Best Books, Books News
Denise Brodey

There are two ways to survive the recession. Cook--and eat delicious healthy stuff that you can save for leftovers. Or don't cook--order out, spend your cash, watch your ass (grow).

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Obama's misguided spending freeze

Brendan Nyhan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Budget, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Obama, Spending, Pollster, Politics News
Brendan Nyhan

Since the beginning of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and his advisers have repeatedly claimed that they don't listen to DC's conventional wi...

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Will California Become America's First Failed State?

The Observer | Paul Harris | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Outlook, California Bailout, Finances, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, State of California, Bailout, Budget, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Meg Whitman, Unemployment, Foreclosure Rate, Foreclosure, Jerry Brown, State Workers, Budget Deficit, Poverty, Economy, Business News

California may be the eighth largest economy in the world, but its state staff are being paid in IOUs, unemployment is at its highest in 70 years, and...

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Budget Woes Meet the Blake Street Boys -- Rocktober Here We Come!

Judy Montero | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: City Council, Stadium District, Judy Montero, Denver, Budget, Colorado Rockies, Lower Downtown Denver, Denver Lodo, Economic Development, Rocktober, Denver News
Judy Montero

The Rockies success couldn't come at a better time because our restaurants and night clubs have been feeling the sting of this economy as much as anyone.

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Congress Gets Paid, Veterans Get Shafted

Paul Rieckhoff | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Veteran, Iava, War, Health Care, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congress, Budget, Shinseki, Paul Rieckhoff, Politics News
Paul Rieckhoff

This year, like 20 out of the last 23 years, the veterans' health care budget is late. In fact, the only budget that did pass on time this year was the one that funds salary checks for members of Congress.

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Progressives and the Budget Deficit

Dean Baker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care Reform, Deficit, Budget, Federal Budget Deficit, Economic Crisis, Housing Bubble, Business News
Dean Baker

There seems to be a bipartisan consensus that completely missing the biggest economic calamity in almost 80 years doesn't call into question your competence as an economic analyst. This should scare people.

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Avoid the Temptation to Cut Marketing Budgets to Balance the Books

Jenny Darroch | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Marketing, Advertising, Nielsen, Marketing Trends, Budget, Advertising Age, Economy, Economic Crisis, Recession, Business News
Jenny Darroch

Firms that spent more on marketing than their peers during the recession enjoyed a higher market value five years after the recession ended.

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Time for Congress to Face Facts: They Are the Death Panel

David Paul | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Outsourcing, Debt, Congress, Federal Budget Deficit, Death Panels, Budget, Economic Development, Exports, Sarah Palin, Health Care Reform, Jobs, Health Care, Federal Budget, Politics News
David Paul

For two decades now, we have become accustomed to justifying any manner of spending, from education to tax cuts, as an investment in our future.

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How do Health Care Lobby Dollars Match Influence in Congress?

Adam Clark Estes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Baucus, House of Representatives, Budget, Lobbyists, Rangell, Obama Administration, Congressional Budget, Barack Obama, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Campaign Donations, Senate, Health, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Healthcare, Home News
Adam Clark Estes

A better question might be: Who's really paying for and benefiting from reform? Taxpayers? Or health care industry lobbies?

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Cali Budget Cuts Could Cause 'Public Safety Emergency'

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund and ProPublica | Ben Protess (Huff Investigative Fund) and Emily Witt (ProPublica) | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Public Safety Emergency, California, California Budget Crisis, California Budget Cuts, Budget Cuts, Budget, Politics News

As California lawmakers tackle their state's $24 billion deficit, one little-known proposal on the table is a $20 million cut to the state crime lab. ...

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Bailed-Out Banks Making Profits -- For Taxpayers

Chris Weigant | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: President Obama, Bail Out, Troubled Asset Relief Program, Obama, Fannie, Taxpayer, Bush, Government, Deficit, Aig, Bailout, General Motors, Insurance, Interest, Toxic Mortgage, Bank, President Bush, Tarp, Wall St, Gm, Budget, Barack Obama, Invest, Executive Compensation, Chrysler, Profits, Profit, Wall Street, Investment, Chris Weigant, Companies, Return, Investment Firms, Freddie, Banks, George W Bush, Auto, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Money wasn't just "given" to Wall Street firms. It bought something of value. And now that the firms (and the market in general) are recovering, they're starting to pay it back. With interest.

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Irresponsibly Following the Congressional Budget Office

Dean Baker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Economic Stimulus, Health Care, Budget, Cbo, Congressional Budget Office, Business News
Dean Baker

Members of Congress would be foolish to ignore the projections provided by the CBO, however they would be irresponsible if they treated this analysis as the final word.

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The Nexus and the Fiscal Crisis

Harry Moroz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Health Care, State Budgets, Medicaid, Stimulus, Budget, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Local Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, Business News
Harry Moroz

It is not the current recession that has put the fiscal condition of state governments at risk. The primary driver of these fiscal challenges is "the growth in health-related expenditures."

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UC System Funding: Less Can't Masquerade as More

Mark Levine | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Taxes, Uc, Education, University of California, College, Budget, California, Politics News
Mark Levine

Students are being hurt already and will suffer even more, while the state will find itself short hundreds of thousands of college-educated workers necessary to move back toward prosperity.

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CBO Warns of Higher Unemployment: Washington Worries About the Deficit

Dean Baker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Unemployment, Recession, Budget, Congressional Budget Office, Financial Crisis, Cbo, Business News
Dean Baker

The CBO will release a new set of economic projections for the next decade that are likely to show a cumulative deficit that is $2 trillion higher than the deficit projected in January.

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Why Republicans Should Back Health Care Cost Remedies

Stephen Herrington | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Government, Congress, Gdp, Social Security, Federal Budget Deficit, Conservatives, Budget, Gop, Marxism, Medicare, Health Care, Fiscal Responsibility, Veterans, Politics News
Stephen Herrington

Socialization of risk, a risk pool, is the very business model of private insurance for profit -- and government is simply the largest risk pool of all.

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Obama's Second Hundred Days

Chris Weigant | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Michael Jackson, Supreme Court, Latina, Sessions, Burris, Empathy, A Tale of Two Cities, Al Franken, Reform, Dickens, Sarah Palin, Second 100 Days, Muslim, Latino, Sotomayor, Health Care, Analog Television, Birthers, Age of Foolishness, Budget, Democrat, Congress, Sanford, Democrats, Barack Obama, Transparency, Rahm Emanuel, First Hundred Days, Health, Sonia Sotomayor, Credit Card, Souter, Healthcare, Senate, Polls, Mark Sanford, Cap and Trade, Gates, President Obama, Cia, Speech, Second Hundred Days, Jeff Sessions, David Souter, Flu, Obama, Democratic, Iraq, Media, Scotus, Republican, Bush, Pelosi, Television, Iran, Gay Rights, Nuclear Weapons, Baucus, Russia, Beer Summit, Arlen Specter, Credit Card Reform, House, Specter, Photo Op, Msm, Beer, Franken, Worst of Times, Charles Dickens, Roland Burris, Gay, Mainstream Media, Waterloo, Best of Times, First 100 Days, Torture Photos, Chris Weigant, Palin, Cairo, Max Baucus, Bipartisanship, Torture, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Our look back at Obama's second 100 days will begin with a short overview, and then move on to the categories: "the best of times," "the worst of times," and "the age of (media) foolishness."

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Orszag Vs. CBO: The Battle Over The Budget Gets Personal

MSNBC | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: White House, Cbo, Budget, Ezra Klein, Bill Clinton, Office of Management and Budget, Steve Elmendorf, Obama Administration, White House Budget Director, Peter Orszag, Congressional Budget Office, Boston Globe, Politics News

"Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag accused Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf of 'overstepping' in a Web post Sat...

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