fiscal policy

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Bernanke to Congress: Stop Screwing the Economy

Says he's not taking his foot off the gas with monetary policy

(Newser) - The Federal Reserve isn't planning to take its foot off the gas pedal anytime remotely soon, Ben Bernanke told Congress today, while rebuking legislators for not doing their own part to juice the economy. The Fed's interest rate has been near zero since 2008, and Bernanke said he...

State and Local Spending Drops to Lowest in 30 Years

Democrats and Republicans alike slashing budgets

(Newser) - State and local governments have cut back spending to the lowest level in 30 years, according to a USA Today analysis. Both Democrats and Republicans are denying handouts, even with tax revenue going up and powerful interest groups lobbying for funds. Local and state spending dipped 0.8% this year...

As Euro Zone Fractures, It Eyes Closer Ties

Countries seek deal that would forge tighter economic bond

(Newser) - Amid fears of dissolution, euro zone leaders are considering going the opposite way: tying member states’ economies closer together. As the debt crisis continues, European leaders are considering a fiscal union that would have been a political impossibility mere months ago, the Wall Street Journal notes. A pact on the...

Righties to GOP: Stick to Shrinking Gov't

Gay Republicans, Tea Partiers want brass to skip social issues

(Newser) - Gay Republicans and Tea Party leaders are calling on Congressional Republicans to steer clear of social issues, Politico reports. In a letter, advocates ask John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to focus on “the principles of the Tea Party movement”—which they say have nothing to do with social...

Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO
Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO
Aug 19, 2010 11:30 AM CDT

Budget Deficit Will Be $1.3T: CBO

But analysts expect it to improve soon

(Newser) - Congress' budget analysts are estimating that this year's federal deficit will exceed $1.3 trillion, slightly below last year's total but still a huge ocean of red ink. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the enormous shortfall is a result of the still staggering economy, which has meant lower federal...

Hey, Stimulus Backers, Don't Be So Arrogant
 Hey, Stimulus Backers, 
 Don't Be So Arrogant 
david brooks
Jul 6, 2010 12:21 PM CDT

Hey, Stimulus Backers, Don't Be So Arrogant

At least concede the possibility you're wrong

(Newser) - David Brooks sounds a bit fed up with all the economists— Paul Krugman , he's looking at you—loudly demanding another stimulus. Among the shots in today's New York Times column:
  • "The Demand Siders are brilliant, but they write as if changing fiscal policy were as easy as adjusting the
...

We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies
We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies
PAUL KRUGMAN
Dec 4, 2009 2:13 AM CST

We'll Be on Fiscal Life Support if Health Bill Dies

This could be the last chance to rein in Medicare costs

(Newser) - Centrist senators worried about the fiscal burden of the health care bill should be asking themselves what will happen if it doesn't pass, writes Paul Krugman. The legislation almost certainly represents the last chance to rein in Medicare costs, the main cause of projected future deficits, before they cause a...

I Want Misguided Obama Policies to Fail: Thompson

He offers prez his help in curbing social spending

(Newser) - Former presidential hopeful Fred Thompson today joined the chorus of Republicans rooting for President Obama’s recession spending to flop. “I want his policies that I believe take us in the wrong direction to fail,” he told CNN, warning that higher inflation and interest rates loom. “I’...

Obama Makes GOP Miss Clinton
 Obama Makes 
 GOP Miss Clinton 
OPINION
Mar 5, 2009 2:23 PM CST

Obama Makes GOP Miss Clinton

(Newser) - Back in the '90s you wouldn’t hear many Republicans waxing poetic about Bill Clinton, but these days, that’s exactly what Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune is doing. “Clinton, for all his appetites and excesses, was a cautious, centrist sort of Democrat” who “proclaimed—or conceded—...

Fiscal Summit Not Exactly a Hot Ticket
 Fiscal Summit 
 Not Exactly a Hot Ticket 
OPINION
Feb 24, 2009 10:20 AM CST

Fiscal Summit Not Exactly a Hot Ticket

(Newser) - When President Obama announced his fiscal responsibility summit, it sounded like a momentous occasion. Turns out it was so momentous no one bothered to show up, Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post. Administration big-wigs like Paul Volcker and Leon Panetta skipped out on the panels they were supposed to...

Japan's PM Slams 'Buy American' Provision

World leaders roundly criticize stimulus provision

(Newser) - Japan’s prime minister today slammed the “Buy American” clause in the proposed economic-stimulus bill currently being considered by the US Senate, the Financial Times reports. Speaking in parliament, Taro Aso said that requiring stimulus projects to use US-made materials is “definitely wrong,” and contrary to the...

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers
OPINION
Jan 30, 2009 1:27 PM CST

Democrats: Please Listen to Larry Summers

Party has ditched his wise stimulus ideas of summer

(Newser) - Throughout 2008 Larry Summers was proposing the right kind of stimulus—fast, targeted, and temporary. “Poorly provided fiscal stimulus can have worse side effects than the disease,” he warned. Now Summers is a top Obama adviser, but Democrats are ignoring his every proviso. The stimulus is a “...

Germany Moves to Rein In Future Borrowing

Constitution will be changed to ban excess borrowing: Merkel

(Newser) - As Berlin rolls out a record $65 billion stimulus package, it's also making excessive government borrowing a constitutional crime. The new amendment—which will limit the national deficit to .5% of GDP "in normal economic times"—is a sign of the government's discomfort with its new stimulus, which...

Obama Must Spend Boldly— or It's Great Depression II

Only government can save us now: Krugman

(Newser) - For decades economists believed that a second Great Depression was impossible; all the Fed had to do, they said, is print more money. But as Paul Krugman writes, monetary policy has failed; despite "supplying liquidity like an engine crew trying to put out a five-alarm fire," credit remains...

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