federal deficit

President Obama's proposed spending plan seeks to slash $1.1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Republican House Speaker John Boehner says that's too little. In this case, both Obama and Boehner are wrong. The nation doesn't need to spend less. It needs to spend more -- a lot more.

Many people blame America's high unemployment rate on a mismatch between workers' skills and the fields with open jobs. But jobs are scarce across all sectors. That means effective policies are needed to stimulate demand and rebuild economic output.

With the economic recovery gaining steam, President Obama's State of the Union address -- and the GOP response -- should be seen as a shift to a less activist approach. Feel-good rhetoric may be wiser than heavy-handed policies that could easily backfire.

The bank now says positive trends in consumer spending, employment and the stock market will likely boost U.S. economic growth higher than the 3% most analysts had previously predicted. Deutsche's chief equity strategist is predicting a 23% rise in the stock market for 2011.

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.

Washington has been borrowing Social Security's surpluses for decades and issuing IOUs in return. However, the ability to pay those IOUs depends on the Treasury borrowing more money on global bond markets at affordable rates. That's hardly a sure thing.

GOP leaders will plead for the benefits of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, bringing arguments and numbers to support their viewpoint, while House Democrats will continue their counterpush, throwing very different numbers at the American public.

When some new members of Congress recently said they oppose raising the U.S. debt limit, it triggered warnings of "catastrophic consequences." Indeed, the result wouldn't be pretty. But here's what's at stake as the country's debt burden swells every year.

Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's are both considering downgrading their ratings on U.S. debt because of rising interest-to-revenue ratios, the nation's jobless recovery, and rising Social Security and health care costs, among other factors, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Debt and government spending are firmly at the top of the new Congress's agenda. And just the threat that the U.S. wouldn't pay its bills has traders worried and wondering if the U.S. could end up on the same chaotic economic path taken by Greece or Spain.