deficit

Why government cuts won't hurt growth

S&P has a point: We need to cut more spending. Debunking the Keynesian argument that the forthcoming spending cuts will be a job and growth killer.

FORTUNE -- Congress may have narrowly escaped a debt debacle last week, but it couldn't agree on enough cuts to satisfy Standard & Poor's, which downgraded U.S. sovereign debt after the deal's $2.1 trillion in proposed cuts came in below the $4 trillion the rating MORE

Debt, deficits, divisiveness: How did we get here?

We've been here before, with growing deficits and political gamesmanship over the debt ceiling. Here are four factors that made it different this time.

FORTUNE – After weeks of political wrangling and name calling, Congress this week finally approved plans to cut the deficit and raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit.  The move may have saved Americans from a financially disastrous default, but the experience was, at best, anti-climatic.

All the MORE

We're all losers in the debt deal

Washington thinks it won a victory on the debt ceiling debate, but a victory for whom remains the question -- it will do very little to alleviate the bleak fiscal outlook of the United States.

By Daryl G. Jones, Hedgeye

The debt deal is done and, despite the best fear mongering by both parties and many of the talking heads on TV, the credit markets -- both Treasury yields and credit defaults MORE

Staring down a AA-rating

A deal was reached, but it didn't go far enough to satisfy S&P's original requirements. A debt downgrade still looks likely, but does it really matter?

FORTUNE -- The U.S. might have avoided a debt default and a government shutdown, but the deal Congress reached to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit does little to improve its long-term fiscal position. After weeks of political wrangling that culminated in a rushed MORE

Debt deal needs a QE3 plan

Most of the spending cuts won't kick in until 2013, but it's not clear the U.S. economy will be ready to handle the blow even then.

FORTUNE -- Markets today initially cheered the rough sketches of a highly anticipated deal to raise the U.S. government's debt limit, but how the nation's fragile economic recovery responds will depend on the final details of the plan and how it eventually rolls out.

After weeks MORE

Pity the federal worker. Washington won't.

Think the latest GDP numbers are bad? Just wait until the stiffs who punch the clock for Uncle Sam have their paychecks in limbo if no resolution on the debt ceiling is reached.

By Tory Newmyer, writer

FORTUNE -- The austerity consensus among policymakers in the debt ceiling debate has ensured that the federal workforce will face cuts -- just how much is still unknown. And as soon as next week, government employees MORE

Nothing but a Congressional comb-over

Even when a compromise is reached, the current bills proposed to lower the deficit are merely covering up long-term budget deficit issues that will need to be addressed again in the next 12 to 18 months.

By Daryl G. Jones, Hedgeye

Discussion of the debt ceiling debate has become the one of the most overhyped factors in global markets and it is a little depressing to analyze the political shenanigans going on in MORE

Who's missing from debt talks? Corporate America.

The business lobby has entered the debt ceiling debate at the 11th hour with only a whimper, considering the stakes of a default for corporations.

By Tory Newmyer, writer

FORTUNE -- If the specter of a default has spooked corporate America, you wouldn't know it by watching their hired guns in Washington over the last several weeks.

Aside from sending a handful of letters urging Congress to act, the big business lobby has MORE

Gang of Six deficit-reduction plan: Like two toppings on one sundae

Could it be possibly be true?  Reducing the deficit and getting rid of the hated AMT? It's a long shot, but hope springs eternal.

FORTUNE -- For years, taxpayers and lawmakers have complained about the Alternative Minimum Tax. It was established in 1969 to make sure the uber-rich paid their fair share. But because the tax code doesn't factor inflation, it has increasingly cut into the pocketbooks of America's middle class.

Now MORE

How to raise the debt ceiling? Cut military spending

Defense spending helped create today's fiscal problems. So why isn't it being considered seriously as a way to help fix them?

FORTUNE -- Throughout the drama that's stalled Washington lawmakers in raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit, there's been little talk of slicing military spending as Republicans call for big budget cuts. Reductions to Medicare, Medicaid and possibly Social Securityhave been the bigger focus.

The talks have reached a frenzy on Capitol Hill. MORE