We The People of Longview, TX » Economy/Budget

Some Possible Consequences of a U.S. Government Default

Cindy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:40 +0000

Few now doubt that the U.S. government is rushing headlong toward a major fiscal crisis. Promised future outlays, mainly for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, far exceed projected future revenue, and the total federal debt continues to grow beyond previous boundaries, says Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, an associate economics professor at San Jose State University.

The [...]

The Federal Budget In Pictures

Cindy — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:01:08 +0000

The federal government is spending more per household than ever before. Since 1965, spending per household has grown by nearly 162 percent, from $11,431 in 1965 to $29,401 in 2010. From 2010 to 2021, it is projected to rise to $35,773, a 22 percent increase. Click here for budget charts…

50 ECONOMIC NUMBERS FROM 2011 THAT ARE ALMOST TOO CRAZY TO BELIEVE

Cindy — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:43:14 +0000

Even though most Americans have become very frustrated with this economy, the reality is that the vast majority of them still have no idea just how bad our economic decline has been or how much trouble we are going to be in if we don’t make dramatic changes immediately. If we do not educate the [...]

How President Obama Killed Thousands of Jobs

Cindy — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:26:39 +0000

If Americans needed any further proof that the Obama Administration is one of the most political on record, or that, for all the recent demagoguing, it really cares only about re-election, not about job creation, then you need look no further than its cynical Keystone XL oil pipeline decision last week.

Over the last several [...]

Chinese ratings agency threatens US with new debt downgrade

Cindy — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:07:27 +0000

The head of China‘s biggest ratings agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating, is warning that it may downgrade the US’s sovereign debt rating again because of Washington’s failure to tackle the federal budget deficit.

Dagong, which has maintained a pessimistic outlook on US fiscal policy, has been leading the charge [...]

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac executives get big housing bonuses

Cindy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:08:50 +0000

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, the government regulator for Fannie and Freddie, approved $12.79 million in bonus pay after 10 executives from the two government-sponsored corporations last year met modest performance targets tied to modifying mortgages in jeopardy of foreclosure.

The executives got the bonuses about two years after the federally backed mortgage giants received [...]

We’re Still Not Cutting

Cindy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:32:20 +0000

Despite bipartisan promises to cut spending after the 2010 elections, Washington politicians are still voting to make the government even bigger and more expensive than ever.

Even though the federal government is nearly $15 trillion in debt, it’s spending at record-high levels. Federal spending has gone up 5 percent in the [...]

Nearly Half of U.S. Households Receive Government Benefits

Cindy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:09:40 +0000

Families were more dependent on government programs than ever last year, says the Wall Street Journal.
Nearly half — 48.5 percent — of the population lived in a household that received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2010, according to Census data. Those numbers have risen since the middle of the [...]

Obama Has Now Increased Debt More than All Presidents from George Washington Through George H.W. Bush Combined

Cindy — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:58:21 +0000

The Obama administration passed another fiscal milestone this week, according to new data released by the Treasury Department. As of the close of business on Oct. 3, the total national debt was $14,837,099,271,196.71—up about $44.8 billion from Sept. 30. Continue reading…

The Fed Audit

Cindy — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:06:05 +0000

The first top-to-bottom audit of the Federal Reserve uncovered eye-popping new details about how the U.S. provided a whopping $16 trillion in secret loans to bail out American and foreign banks and businesses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed [...]