Agree, we've been snookered by both sides. The government is unwilling to cut its spending. Nothing short of a revolution is going to change that. Welcome to the New Tyranny.
LOL AK Forty Seven is dumber then a fucking post.... Do you realise that saying "Obama is responsible for the largest part of the debt" means that he is responsible for the largest share out of any of the previous presidents? Not your understated "3 of 14"
IMF Urges US to Tame Deficit Before It Is Largest Among Major Economies The U.S. is set to have the largest budget deficit of major developed economies this year and should narrow it now rather than face tough adjustments in the next two years, the International Monetary Fund said. The U.S. shortfall will reach 10.8 percent of its gross domestic product this year, ahead of Japan and the U.K., the Washington-based IMF said in a report released today. It estimates that President Barack Obama will need to cut the deficit by 5 percentage points of GDP in the next two fiscal years, the largest adjustment in âat least half a century,â to meet his pledge of halving it by the end of his four-year term. âMarket concerns about sustainability remain subdued in the U.S., but a further delay of action could be fiscally costly, with deficit increases exacerbated by rising yields,â the IMF wrote in its Fiscal Monitor report, published several times a year to analyze public finance development. The IMF recommended âa down paymentâ in the form of deficit reduction this year that would make the government goal âcompatible with a less abrupt withdrawal of stimulus later.â Obama is expected to announce long-term proposals for cutting the federal deficit tomorrow, following a budget deal he reached with congressional leaders last week that averted a government shutdown. In May, the government may be forced to increase the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. will meet its financial obligations. Economic Stimulus The U.S. delayed its fiscal tightening with the adoption of a package extending tax cuts in December, the IMF said. It estimates that the stimulus measures, which also include emergency unemployment benefits, will have a small impact on growth relative to fiscal costs. The IMF also called for a U.S. commitment to a medium-term debt target âas an anchor for fiscal policy.â China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys with a portfolio of $1.15 trillion in January, according to U.S. government data. Japan is the second-largest with $885.9 billion. In Japan, where the government is planning additional spending for reconstruction after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the deficit is expected to reach 10 percent of GDP this year, the IMF said. The countryâs authorities will need to incorporate such costs into a medium-term fiscal adjustment plan âbacked up by measures more clearly identified than in the past,â according to the IMF report. âPrudentâ Debt A few days after Europeâs Greek-born debt crisis forced Portugal to seek financial aid from the European Union and the IMF, the fund said it is âessentialâ for all advanced economies to start bringing their debt to âprudent levelsâ in the medium term. It forecast that the average gross domestic debt ratio in advanced economies will breach the threshold of 100 percent of GDP for the first time since the years after World War II. Debt will peak at 107 percent of GDP in 2016, 34 percentage points above levels before the global financial crisis, the report said. The IMF estimates that financing needs in the richest nations will continue to rise this year after surging in 2010, and will remain high in 2012. Japan has the highest financing requirements for its deficit and its maturing debt this year, with the total amounting for 56 percent of its GDP. The U.S. is second, with needs at 29 percent of GDP, followed by Greece, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and France, which all have needs above 20 percent of their GDP, according to the IMF report. Euro Members In the euro region, âmarket conditions remain tense in several smaller countries, in part due to ongoing concerns about possible feedback between the financial sector and the sovereign,â it said. As the region narrows its deficit, investors are âdiscriminating in favor of countries with credible policy frameworks,â according to the IMF. In the U.S., the stronger economic outlook âhas been reflected in higher real yields, leading towards more normal interest rate levels,â the report said. At the same time, the Federal Reserveâs latest bond purchase program is likely to have lowered them, it said. Yields on U.S. 10-year notes were little changed yesterday at 3.59 percent in New York, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. They will increase to 3.90 percent by year end, according to the weighted-average forecast of 71 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. âRollover problems for the largest advanced economies remain a tail risk, but one that would entail huge costs for them and the rest of the world,â the IMF said. By contrast, investors perceive emerging-market risks as âbenign,â according to the report. Deficits in such countries are narrowing amid fast growth and higher commodity prices, it said. The deficit in emerging economies will narrow to 2.6 percent of GDP this year, compared with 7.1 percent in their developed counterparts, the IMF forecasts. Still, the pace of fiscal tightening is short of what is needed and these nations should refrain from increasing spending in the near term and rebuild fiscal space, the IMF said.
GOP'S BUDGET DREAM TEAM By DICK MORRIS "Amid a Congress of baby steps, Paul Ryan strides like a giant. In a party of timidity, hand-wringing and hesitation, Michele Bachmann roars like a lioness. Together, Ryan and Bachmann are the core of the new, young Republican Party in the making, rising -- as Gingrich did in 1994 -- from the ashes of the discredited establishment. Rep. Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget blueprint is a thing of beauty. Stepping boldly on the third rails of our politics, he outlines a vision for a return to free enterprise and limited government that would have made Thomas Jefferson's heart proud. His proposal to block-grant Medicaid and turn it over to the states breathes new life into federalism and gives us back the 10th Amendment. If courageous governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida can wrest education from the control of the labor unions and Ryan can free Medicaid from the feds, we can have state government again in America. His proposal to let the states determine eligibility and benefits and to let them experiment with Health Savings Accounts uses the laboratory of federalism to test solutions to our healthcare crisis -- the opposite of the one-size-fits-all socialism of ObamaCare. No less significant is Ryan's plan to return non-defense discretionary spending to below its 2008 levels, reducing the cost and, inevitably, the power of Washington. By repealing ObamaCare, reining in the Environmental Protection Agency and rolling back the stimulus spending, he would scrub the budget clean of the scars of the Obama presidency. His Medicare proposal repeals the $500 billion of cuts in healthcare to the elderly over the next 10 years that financed ObamaCare and implements vast savings in the program a decade hence. Any cuts in the federal budget over the next decade are, of course, conjectural. When one goes further out, it is fanciful. But Ryan shows us how to do it when we get there. But the timidity of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in refusing to go to the mat for a full $61 billion of spending cuts shows how difficult it will be to progress toward Ryan's goals. That's where Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) comes in. Alone among the GOP establishment and the Republican presidential possibilities, she stood up and demanded that the Republican Party keep its campaign promises to the American people. Alone, she had the courage to say we must fight and the wisdom to predict that we would have won had we done so. Closer to the American people than the denizens of D.C., she realized the issue would not have been whom to blame for a shutdown, but to which party should go the credit for standing up against exorbitant spending. She got it that the contest would have been between more spending and less spending and that the Republican Party would have emerged covered with glory. But, in a larger sense, she realizes we need a hammer if we are to build a house guided by Paul Ryan's blueprint. We won't persuade the nails to go in, we need to pound them in. Republican plans to cut spending and reform budgeting before raising the debt-limit ceiling and to make Ryan's budget a reality hinge on their willingness to use the one weapon they have: a government shutdown. The very essence of one-house control is the negative veto power of zero appropriations. To forswear its use is to embrace impotence. Are we seeing a Thatcher in the making? Is this outspoken lawyer from Minnesota -- with a master's degree in tax law -- the one to persuade us to return to conservative principles? In a field that includes Huckabee's values and Gingrich's intellect (and Romney's flip-flops), shall we add Bachmann's courage to the mix? It's too early to tell, but in the crucible of this conflict, she has certainly come through for her country and her party. Between Ryan and Bachmann, maybe there's hope after all."