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.
If the government budget follows popular sentiment, education, social security and Medicare are safe. Those are the areas where fewest Americans want to see government spending cuts, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.
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.
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.
The Federal Reserve is doling out billions to buy bonds in hopes of keeping interest rates low and stimulating the economy. However, several powerful forces are working against that low-rate strategy, ranging from investor psychology to global competition for capital.
Just a day after a successful bond auction in Portugal, Spain hopes to raise up to $3.9 billion in its first debt auction of the year. The auction will be a key test of investor appetite for European bonds.
Doomsayers insist the recent rapid rise in yields means the nation's creditors are finally getting fed up with financing U.S. deficits. But a stronger argument says the cause is better-than-expected economic reports that have been piling up recently.
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.
The new plan to reduce the national deficit, expected to be released Wednesday, includes many of the highly controversial proposals from the previous version, including increasing the Social Security age and reducing benefits from the program.
The U.S. must act to rein in its massive budget deficits or face the risk of a bond market crisis, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday. If deficits begin to frighten the bond market, interest rates will rise, undermining the recovery, and possibly causing a double-dip recession.
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.
If stocks are rising, that should mean the economy is improving. Yet even though the S&P 500 has soared 80% from its March 2009 lows, 70% of Americans don't believe the recession is over. Which side has a firmer grasp of reality?
Before the GOP power surge on Tuesday, President Obama had steadfastly refused to consider extending the Bush tax cuts -- due to expire at the end of the year -- for America's wealthiest taxpayers. Now, he says he's willing to compromise.