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 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.
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.
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.
Analysts lately have loudly proclaimed the end of the dollar, leaving investors looking to stay ahead with a choice of betting on stocks, which have 17% fallen in the last decade, or staying "safe" in very low-yield money market funds. But there is an alternative: commodities.
The federal deficit will amount to the equivalent of approximately 10% of U.S. gross domestic product for the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, according to a Treasury official. That's about the same percentage as the previous fiscal year.