News
Washington Times | House passes stopgap bill at Democrats’ spending level
After fighting all year for a lower spending number, House Republicans reversed course Thursday and passed a bill funding the government at the level Democrats had pushed for all along. The vote that averts the kind of government-shutdown showdowns that have become increasingly frequent.
WSJ | IMF Official Sees Need for More Greek Aid
Greece will need additional funding from its creditors to overcome its budget gap, the country's representative on the International Monetary Fund's board said Thursday.
Market Watch | Budget deficit crosses $1 trillion mark
The U.S. government's budget deficit for fiscal 2012 crossed the $1 trillion mark in August, the Treasury Department said on Thursday, to stand at $1.16 trillion.
Washington Times | Hill panel gets earful from small business about ‘fiscal cliff’
With the so-called “fiscal cliff” quickly approaching at the end of the year, small-business owners on Thursday told a House subcommittee that the Obama administration’s tax proposal would hurt the nation’s leading job providers and prevent them from hiring or increasing wages and benefits.
Bloomberg | Spain’s Aid Dilemma in Focus at Euro Crisis Meeting
European finance ministers squared off over a possible aid program for Spain, with creditors unwilling to commit until the government takes additional steps to boost competitiveness and rid the economy of debt.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Washington Times | There are only two ways to cut budget deficits
The core of President Obama’s campaign is built upon the fallacious idea that Mitt Romney’s plan to get the economy growing again will take us back to the policies that caused the Great Recession.
Washington Times | Obama’s runaway red ink
The national debt vaulted past the $16 trillion mark two weeks ago, but there’s no sign of a slowdown. The federal government is entering the fourth straight year in which it has spent $1 trillion more than it collected in revenue. An imbalance so large can’t continue without threatening America’s future.
Blogs
WSJ | Some Bright Spots, but U.S. Cities Still Face Fiscal Strain-Survey
America’s cities are projecting a sixth straight year of revenue declines in 2012, but more financial officers feel their municipalities are better able to meet their fiscal needs, according to a survey released Thursday by the National League of Cities.
Political Calculations | Summer 2012: To Whom Does the U.S. Government Owe Money?
Although the United States' total public debt outstanding has now exceeded 16 trillion dollars, at least as of 31 August 2012, the relative percentages for the major holders of all the debt issued by the U.S. government shown above are likely unchanged.
