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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House Speaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. Eastern to discuss the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, his office said. Without a deal, $85 billion in gradual budget cuts will begin on Friday,

KRUGMAN: Paul Ryan's Budget Plan Is Ludicrous And Cruel Paul Krugman has had a look at the Paul Ryan plan to save America from bankruptcy. Not surprisingly, he hates it. He blasts the (ludicrous) logic that tax cuts will increase revenue. He ridicules the implied cuts in non-healthcare spending, which call for everything but Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to fall from 12% of GDP last year to 3.5% eventually (3.5% is more than we spent on defense alone last year). He lambastes the 2.8% unemployment assumption. He also ridicules the idea that "vouchers" will enable seniors to buy private...

IMF paints grim picture of fiscal tightening needs Sat, Mar 20 2010 BEIJING (Reuters) - Developed countries with big budget deficits must start now to prepare public opinion for the belt-tightening that will be needed starting next year, the No. 2 official at the IMF said on Sunday. John Lipsky, the International Monetary Fund's first deputy managing director, said the scale of the adjustment required was so vast that it would have to come through less-generous health and pension benefits, spending cuts and increased tax revenues. "Addressing this fiscal challenge is a key near-term priority, as concerns about fiscal sustainability...

BBC staff revolt after spending cuts announced BBC staff have reacted angrily to a package of proposed cuts, including the closure of BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network, outlined by the corporation's director general Mark Thompson. By Urmee Khan, Digital and Media Correspondent Published: 2:09PM GMT 02 Mar 2010 The plans to slash the BBC's radio, television and website services have been billed as the biggest shake-up the corporations 88-year history. Mr Thompson's plans have been criticised by union leaders who say the BBC should be focusing on cutting executive pay rather than programmes and content. Union leaders will...

California lawmakers consider $5 billion in budget cuts kyamamura@sacbee.com Published Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010 In the midst of an economic free fall one year ago, state lawmakers scrambled to pass a $40 billion deficit solution in an emergency session. Democratic leaders locked down the Capitol for days at a time. A handful of Republicans believed the situation was so desperate that they voted for tax hikes. The pace is markedly slower this time. California faces a $19.9 billion deficit, but lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have decided against trying to solve the problem in one February fell swoop. State leaders...

Sens:Won't Vote To Lift Debt Ceiling Without Action On Spending By Corey Boles, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Two Democratic senators said Tuesday they wouldn't vote to support an increase in the nation's debt ceiling without corresponding action to address the country's long term fiscal imbalances. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) told a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee they would vote against a needed increase in the limit the federal government can borrow unless Congress creates a commission to come up with proposals to bring the deficit and debt under control. The...

The spending plan is the first completed on time in six years. Criticism of his trimming was muted as Democrats got most of what they had sought. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state's first on-time budget in six years Friday, after using his veto power to scale back the expansion of environmental enforcement and healthcare programs approved by the Legislature earlier this week. The $131-billion spending plan signed by the governor will use a surge of unanticipated revenue that filled California's coffers this year to pay back billions the state borrowed from schools in recent years as well as to...