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Portugal's turn for fiscal shock 1 hr 7 mins ago LISBON (AFP) – After Spain cut public salaries, Portuguese ministers on Thursday took their turn to enforce a fiscal "shock" to stop the country becoming the next battleground in Europe's debt crisis. While Australia's central bank warned that Europe's turmoil could hit Asian growth, international share prices roses as markets decided that the measures could just work. Portugual's Socialist government was to announce tax hikes, wage cuts and a freeze in major public works as it battles to reduce Portugal's public deficit from a record 9.4 percent to target of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The economic crisis could be entering a "new phase" with rising public debt threatening to undermine the stability of the global financial system, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday. In a biannual report on economic stability, the IMF said the latest challenge to the world's rocky financial system came as banks were regaining their footing amid the nascent global recovery. "Risks to global financial stability have eased as the economic recovery has gained steam, but concerns about advanced country sovereign risks could undermine stability gains and prolong the collapse of credit," the report said. "Without more fully...

Nearly everyone understands that his taxes just went up. President Obama won't admit it, although he must suffer from a guilty conscience. He uncorked a defensive 17-minute-long answer in response to a question at a town-hall meeting about new taxes in the health-care bill, complaining about a lot of misinformation" without citing any. In his cascade of words, Obama didn't get around to mentioning the $500 billion in new taxes during the first 10 years of the health bill. And they're merely a prelude. It doesn't take an economist to understand what public debt at Greece-like levels of 90 percent...

In March, the US government issued a massive amount of debt: $332.8 billion - the biggest amount ever since the all time record of $545 billion raised (most of it purchased by the Fed) during the apex of the financial crisis in October 2008. The US Treasury had $12.717 trillion in debt subject to limit at the end of March, compared to just $12.384 trillion in the beginning of the month. The private-to-public debt transfer is going as planned, still in the full absence of the shadow economy. Below is an artist's impression of what the deck chairs of the...

The Senate has voted on three pieces of legislation today that required 60 votes–to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, to reduce the deficit by establishing five-year discretionary spending caps, and Ben Bernanke’s confirmation–all of which interim Senator Paul Kirk (D-MA) has voted on. In addition, there have been other Senate votes since Scott Brown was elected as Massachusetts senator that Kirk cast a vote. The main question here is: why is former Senator Kirk still voting on these legislative pieces? According to Senate rules and precedent, Kirk’s term expired last Tuesday upon the election of Scott Brown. Furthermore,...

U.K., France, Spain Risk Losing Top Credit Rating In a fresh blow to the standing of some of Europe's fattest economies, France, Spain and the U.K. are at risk of having their credit rating slashed due to their skyrocketing public debt, Fitch warned Tuesday. The ratings agency said unless the three take more concrete measures to reduce their public debt, it will downgrade their sovereign ratings from AAA, the highest rating available. If the three countries' public debt keeps rising at the current pace, it will amount to over 90 percent of their GDP by 2011, Fitch predicted. By contrast,...

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Government is too big and it spends too much. I know, I know. We’ve been hearing this same old refrain all of our lives. But since the Democrats seized control of the nation’s purse strings in 2007, and with Liberals now in control of both the Congress and the White House, the people we’ve chosen to govern our Republic have turned up the flames fueling this smoldering cauldron of debt even beyond maximum. And now, on Friday August 21, the Obama White House announced that over the next ten years America will spend...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJsSb4qtILhg&refer=worldwide Link only, per the rules of King Bloomberg I's news service.

Current Debt Held by the Public Intragovernmental Holdings Total Public Debt Outstanding 03/16/2009 6,741,972,565,592.27 4,291,185,013,077.51 11,033,157,578,669.78

28 October 2008 In 2009 the US Will Be Forced to Selectively Default and Devalue Its Debt We have seen estimates that next year the US will have to finance a $2 Trillion annual deficit. They may be able to push it further into the next Administration than that by the forbearance of the world, but not by much. We'd expect a significant drop in Treasuries by 2011 at the latest. It should be obvious to anyone that we are approaching the apogee of the Treasury bubble, with the credit bubble having broken already. When the Treasury says they are...

AUSTIN – State Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson is proud that he can still work a bulldozer, a skill he learned early on the ranch and in the gas fields. Others would say he still drives it at meetings, committee hearings and town hall gatherings. Mr. Williamson, 55, is one of the most influential men in Texas. He has the ear of the governor, with whom he speaks almost daily. He is the architect behind the state's road plan for the next 25 years. He is smart, studious, self-made. And critics, who seem as endless as a West Texas highway,...

Washington (AP) - Senate Republicans cast symbolic campaign-season votes Wednesday to increase spending for border and port security - one day before a likely vote to increase the national debt by an additional $781 billion, to $9 trillion. The uncomfortable vote to increase the debt is the fourth since President Bush (website - news - bio) took office, and it comes as Republicans struggle to pass a budget plan for next year. GOP leaders have already dropped Bush's plans for tax cuts and curbs to Medicare, but now his cap on appropriated spending is in danger as well. After the...

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm. Interest Expense FISCAL Year 2006 February $ 21,243,326,109.56 January 13,849,325,895.77 December 93,067,144,638.06 November 26,912,473,405.45 October 18,803,709,320.82 ---------------------- FISCAL Year Total $ 173,875,979,369.66

Nantucket Sound, a slice of water wedged between the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and Cape Cod on the mainland, is a lovely place. It’s chock full of fish and, when it’s not cold as all get-out, tourists. And there was a time, not too long ago, when those in favor of alternative energy thought Nantucket Sound would also be the home to a huge offshore wind farm. Giant wind turbines, some of them 420 feet tall, were scheduled to be scattered around a 24-square-mile area. Then Congress, or rather a congressman from oil-rich Alaska, stepped in to effectively...

France's public debt is spiralling out of control, according to a report commissioned by the French government... The debt stands at €1,117 billion, representing 66 per cent of France's GDP ... The staggering figure encompasses the debt accumulated by the state and local authorities, as well as social and health insurance bodies, over the past few decades. However, it does not include the upcoming time bomb of civil servants' pensions. Over the past ten years, the French debt has increased its claim against GDP by over 10 percentage points. France saw the worst debt evolution among the then 15 EU...

Current Month: 10/18/2005 Debt Held by the Public: 4,625,430,149,447.35 Intragovernmental Holdings: 3,378,467,257,463.89 Total: 8,003,897,406,911.24

Just received the following email in my inbox. Could somebody tell me if this is real or a hoax? I'm a little concerned about it, so I thought I would ask you guys for some answers. Here it is: Dear Fellow American, As we fight a war in the Middle East, the politicans are still spending our money like it grows on trees. The National Debt is now over 7.6 TRILLION dollars (7,600,000,000,000) but they do not do anything about it. Interest on the debt consumed 7% of the national budget in 2003 (check your IRS tax booklet pie chart...

Deficit declines $100 billion Jack Kemp (archive) October 18, 2004 | Print | Send The media and all too many political elites, it seems, never learn. For at least 20 of the past 25 years, there has been constant hand-wringing over the federal budget deficit. Well, they're at it again. Headlines around the world last week decried the $413 billion fiscal 2004 deficit as a historic record. The International Monetary Fund, once again interfering in U.S. economic policy, has called on the United States to raise taxes. All of this is exacerbated by political demagoguery of the Kerry campaign saying...

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: October 12, 2003 Many state and local governments, facing ballooning pension promises to police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees, are rushing to sell bonds to cover the shortfall. That strategy has sometimes backfired in recent years, leaving taxpayers on the hook for even more debt. States and municipalities are drawn to bond sales because they bring instant cash, easing budget pressures without further tax increases or reductions in retirement benefits. But critics say the bonds could prove costly for some officials using them — and for the local taxpayers. The cities and states...

any state and local governments, facing ballooning pension promises to police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees, are rushing to sell bonds to cover the shortfall. That strategy has sometimes backfired in recent years, leaving taxpayers on the hook for even more debt.States and municipalities are drawn to bond sales because they bring instant cash, easing budget pressures without further tax increases or reductions in retirement benefits.But critics say the bonds could prove costly for some officials using them — and for the local taxpayers. The cities and states have to pay a fixed rate of interest on the...