Treasury Secretary Yellen said the US hit its $31 trillion debt ceiling on Jan. 19. Economists and markets are worried Congress won’t act in time, which could trigger a financial crisis.
Government spending bills that cost billions or trillions of dollars can seem abstract.
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It’s awfully hard to wrap your mind around a sum that large. But converting it to a more bite-size representation can affect a voter’s willingness to support government spending.
Congress is spending trillions of dollars trying to rescue the US economy and support workers and businesses. Can America afford it? ‘No sweat,’ according to modern monetary theory.
Washington state cut both merit raises and instituted furloughs as it faced a projected $8.8 billion budget deficit because of the coronavirus.
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State and local government jobs are being axed, public schools won’t get money the state planned to send them, and fire and police departments budgets are being slashed. All because of the pandemic.
Canada’s federal deficit has skyrocketed since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. How will Ottawa pay back the money its borrowed?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Canada’s federal deficit has ballooned as Ottawa spends billions in response to the coronavirus pandemic. An economist explains why the massive spending will not harm Canadians in the future.
Rishi Sunak, the UK chancellor, has already said he is “deeply troubled” by the OBR projections.
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Why most debt and deficit projections are still way too upbeat.
The time has come to accept that energy corridors and fossil fuel exports will be a declining feature of Canada’s economic future.
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In the aftermath of the election, what is striking about many of the policy positions of Canada’s federal parties is their timidity, especially when it comes to climate change.
Pork-barrel spending – that often reviled custom otherwise known as ‘earmarks’ – may well help Congress pass bills on schedule. Banned since 2011, they may be making a comeback.
The government is proposing to save A$2.2 billion on education over the next four years, which will hit students the hardest.
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The cuts to higher education funding are more about making savings than improving higher education, and would be extremely hard to change in the future.
Speaker Paul Ryan talks about the new GOP tax plan.
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President Trump recently released his tax plan, but he’s also said he wants to stimulate the economy with infrastructure spending. Is one more effective than the other at boosting growth?
At the tertiary level, Australian households and international students contribute more than double the OECD average expenditure.
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