Treasury Reports Rare $113B Surplus in April
The U.S. Treasury said Friday that it took in a rare surplus of $113 billion in April, the largest in five years.
The U.S. Treasury said Friday that it took in a rare surplus of $113 billion in April, the largest in five years.
House Republicans are sending mixed signals in agreeing to meet with President Barack Obama for talks over the budget impasse.
The federal deficit likely grew sharply in February from January but stayed below last year's pace through the first five months of the budget year.
The federal deficit will continue to shrink, official estimates show, even if Congress does nothing further to cut spending or raise tax revenues.
With less than two weeks to go until the March 1 deadline for automatic budget cuts, the administration is issuing dire warnings about how crucial government services are about to wither. Many of the warnings may come true.
President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming sequestration cuts would be economically damaging.
The U.S. annual budget deficit is on track to reach $1 trillion for a fifth straight year, though government revenue jumped last month as people paid some taxes early to avoid higher rates in 2013.
When the fiscal cliff deal finally passed, the Dow Jones industrial average surged. But that doesn't mean the volatility is over. In fact, there could be more turmoil in the market soon because decisions on cutting the federal budget deficit have been put off until March, when the government will reach its borrowing limit.
The GOP-controlled House is moving ahead Thursday on a bill that would raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year, sparing most workers from a tax hike but leaving in place painful budget cuts to the military and domestic agencies as "fiscal cliff" talks appear stalled.
The U.S. federal government's budget deficit widened in November compared to October, a sign that the nation is on a path to its fifth straight $1 trillion-plus deficit. The budget gap rose to $172 billion in November, up from $120 billion in October, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year. But a modest improvement in economic growth helped narrow the gap by $207 billion compared with last year.
Britons recently took to the streets to protest a plan to tax "pasties" -- popular baked goods that resemble Hot Pockets -- and the government couldn't take the heat. Here's why that tax protest victory is likely to leave a bitter taste in U.S. mouths.
Most people pay their taxes voluntarily, but with at least one type of tax, millions of Americans break the law every year -- and many probably never realize it. Now, states in desperate need of more revenue are trying to do something about that.
Republicans pushing for spending cuts in the 2011 federal budget may be ready to shut the government down to get their way. But is anyone ready to do what it would take to really make a dent in the federal budget: raise taxes on the rich and close corporate tax loopholes?
The Republicans are winning this year's budget battle: Discretionary spending will decrease. But this is hardly the time for the GOP to take a victory lap: Next, the GOP will have to lower unemployment and improve the average American's daily life -- two areas where the party has historically come up short.
Right now, everything is coming up roses for the Republican Party: It's won the first round of the budget battle, and if the GOP%u2019s momentum continues, the new federal budget will reflect its spending-reduction priorities, not the Democrats'. Even so, if the two parties can agree on a budget, the greater danger, a potentially market-impacting government shutdown, will have been averted.
Despite all the headwinds blowing against it -- and they're fierce -- the U.S. dollar has been holding its own against the world's major currencies. And if the U.S. recovery remains on track, the greenback has good odds of actually strengthening in 2011.
In its latest report, the IMF applauds national policymakers for stabilizing credit markets and putting the global economy on a recovery track. However, thorny problems remain -- including how to prevent overheating in emerging markets, and how to cut the U.S. deficit while lowering its unemployment rate.
Without a doubt, this country's debt overhang needs to be chopped considerably. But does a large national debt doom a nation to economic ruin? Only if you believe that countries like Germany, France, and Japan are economic basket cases, too.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama didn't shy away from tackling the ongoing questions about the health care reform law head on. And though he opened with a joke, he made it clear that while he's serious about repairing any flaws in the law, repeal is not an option.
The Tea Party says everything is on the table regarding its goal to cut federal spending and balance the budget -- including defense spending. If the political faction succeeds in cutting military spending, not only would the U.S. economy benefit, national security could well be strengthened.
It took about 10 years of decisions for the federal budget to get more than a trillion dollars out of whack, and it's going to take at least five years to balance it again. The only way to do it is piece-by-piece, with equal sacrifices from both Republicans and Democrats.
The deficit grew to a higher-than-expected $150.4 billion in November as government spending increased for the month. But November brought some bright spots as well: Federal revenue also grew at a higher rate in November, which confirms that the economy is expanding.
Economic performance among EU nations is getting more divergent. While Germany and France continue to modestly expand, debt-plagued countries like Greece are shrinking. That makes it tough for the European Central Bank to set its monetary policy.
The U.S. government started the new fiscal year on the right foot, posting $140.4 billion deficit in October, the first month of the new fiscal year. That was substantially lower than the $148 billion deficit that had been forecast.
Investors received another sign Friday that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal: The 2010 U.S. budget deficit came in at a smaller-than-predicted $1.29 trillion. Though it was still the second-highest deficit on record, the numbers reflect growth in tax revenues, and thus in the economy.
It has been two years since Lehman Brothers went under, sparking the Great Recession. While the banks have done surprisingly well in past two years, the economy is still struggling to recover and millions remain out of work. Here are 10 charts of key economic indicators to watch.
Investors received another slice of good news Monday about the U.S. economy: The federal budget deficit for August totaled a smaller than expected $90.5 billion, thanks to rising government revenues due to higher tax receipts from stronger corporate profits.
The annual U.S. budget deficit is well over a trillion dollars, and in the long term, that's unsustainable. But a closer look at the sources of most of that gap shows that balancing the budget wouldn't be nearly as hard as it might at first appear.























