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CBO: $777 billion deficit for first six months of fiscal yearBy Bernie Becker - 04/06/12 12:44 PM ET The federal government racked up a deficit of $777 billion in the first half of fiscal 2012, the Congressional Budget Office said in an estimate released Friday. The shortfall is the latest sign that the government is well on its way to compiling at least a $1 trillion deficit for the fourth consecutive year. But as CBO noted on Friday, the deficit is also a $53 billion reduction from the same period in fiscal 2011. The budget scorekeeper said that most of...

Senate plans swift action on long-delayed transportation billBy Alexander Bolton - 12/29/11 02:14 PM ET Senate Democrats expect to pass a long-delayed surface transportation bill soon after they return to Washington next month. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said her colleagues have identified a list of offsets that could be used cover the final $12 billion of the bill’s cost. Shortly before Congress left town for the holidays, Boxer told The Hill that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) had put together a variety of proposals to push the legislation over the...

The trustee overseeing the wind-down of MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s brokerage said Monday that more than $1.2 billion in customer funds could be missing from the failed firm, more than double the original estimate of missing cash. Trustee James W. Giddens also added in a statement that he does not have access to funds beyond $1.6 billion already on hand and is "very close to exhausting the funds under his control." Giddens said restoring customer accounts to 60 percent of their value -- a previously announced goal -- would require as much as $1.6 billion. That next step still requires...

Insight: Anger rises as MF Global clients see billions frozenBy David Sheppard and Jeanine Prezioso November 20, 2011 3:28 PM EST **SNIP** MOUNTING ANGER While customers were initially outraged at the thought that MF Global had tapped into their segregated funds, that rage has increasingly been targeted at the trustee and the bankruptcy court for the handling of an unprecedented collapse. "The (bankruptcy) Trustee is creating new protected classes within a pool of segregated customer assets," said John Roe, a spokesman for the Commodity Customer Coalition, a group lobbying for the speedy release of funds representing 7,000 former MF Global...

This FaithIssues video shows the exponential population growth of human beings from a biblical perspective. The bible says in the book of Daniel that in the last days man will travel to and fro and knowledge will increase. And along with that has been a huge population increase. Enjoy this video and share it with your friends. Thank you. Faith Issues Link to video: http://www.youtu.be/KlNYwsAQYzQ

A mystery investor or hedge fund reportedly made a bet of almost $1billion at odds of 10/1 last month that the U.S. would lose its AAA credit rating. Now questions are being asked of whether the trader had inside information before placing the $850million bet in the futures market. There are mounting rumours that investor George Soros, 80, famously known as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’, could be involved. He made more than $1billion on currency speculation when the British pound left the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992.

Senators: The cost of FAA shutdown could exceed $1 billion if unless action taken this weekBy Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, August 2, 3:33 AM WASHINGTON — The congressional standoff that has partially shut down the Federal Aviation Administration has some curious math. Lawmakers risk losing more than $1 billion in revenue from uncollected airline ticket taxes in a quarrel between Senate Democrats and House Republicans who are demanding a $16.5 million cut in rural air service subsidies. The shutdown is less than two weeks old and already the government has lost more than $250 million in revenue because airlines’ authority...

The debt framework President Obama and congressional leaders reached Sunday night runs 74 pages long, and could authorize as much as $2.4 trillion in new debt — or $32.4 billion per page. That debt increase will get the country through the 2012 election, both sides said, but it does not bring to an end the sea of red ink that will continue to wash over the federal government for the foreseeable future. In the near term, the bill sets budget numbers for 2012 that would require a real cut of $7 billion in discretionary spending from 2011 levels, though that’s...

In 2013, the European Space Agency will launch the Gaia spacecraft. Its billion-pixel imaging sensor will be among the largest digital cameras ever to exist, and over the course of its mission, it's estimated that Gaia will detect 15,000 new alien planets. Gaia's gigantic sensor is comprised of 106 separate CCD detectors, mosaiced together to form a monster camera over three feet wide. The resulting imaging system is so powerful that it will be able to precisely measure the width of a hair from over 600 miles away, and from here on Earth, it could spot a dime on the...

Report: $6B missing in Iraq may have been stolenBy Tucker Reals June 14, 2011 7:35 AM The man Congress put in charge of auditing the billions of dollars dumped on Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled has told the Los Angels Times he can't rule out the possibility that $6.6 billion in cash sent from the U.S. was stolen. Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent "the largest theft of funds in national history." It was not, it is crucial to note here, U.S. tax-payer dollars which have gone missing in...

Studies: Missed meds waste billionsPublished: May 27, 2011 at 11:02 AM WASHINGTON, May 27 (UPI) -- Studies say Americans who don't take prescribed medications waste billions annually because the missed doses lead to emergency room visits and hospitalizations. A study by Express Scripts, an independent prescription- filling company, says the problem costs $258 billion a year, while a second study by CVS Caremark, Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital put the figure at $290 billion, USA Today reported Friday. **SNIP** "Drugs don't work if you don't take them, and people often don't take them the way they're supposed to,"...

President Obama’s $5 billion stimulus injection into a decades-old program to help lower energy bills for millions of low-income families by retrofitting their homes to improve efficiency has been plagued by cases of mismanagement, waste and fraud in several states. The most dramatic example can be found in Delaware, where “gross mismanagement and potential fraudulent activity” that federal auditors found last year could affect hundreds of homes, a senior administration official told FoxNews.com. The subsequent repairs and inspections reportedly will cost the state a significant chunk of the $7.5 million remaining from $13.7 million of stimulus it received in 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The government posted a record monthly budget deficit of $222.5 billion in February as spending growth outstripped revenue gains that were crimped by tax cuts enacted late last year, the Treasury Department reported on Thursday. The budget gap for February -- typically a large deficit month -- beat the previous record of $220.91 billion set in February 2010. But it came in under the consensus forecast of a $227.5 billion gap from analysts polled by Reuters.

CBO: Democrats’ “$6.5 Billion” in Spending Cuts Actually $4.7 BillionMarch 08, 2011 5:47 PM Jake Tapper and Matthew Jaffe report: The Congressional Budget Office this week said that the Senate Democrats’ bill offers $4.7 billion in spending cuts -- not the $6.5 billion that President Obama and congressional Democrats said. After last week’s meeting on Capitol Hill among congressional leaders and Vice President Biden, Senate Democrats wrote legislation and gave it to CBO to be analyzed. CBO put the cuts at $4.7 billion. The bottom line: Democrats and Republicans are roughly $52 billion apart in the cuts they want to...

President Obama dumped a real dilly on Congress for Valentine’s Day. That being a $3.73 trillion dollar budget that actually increases the deficit in 2012, but which attacks the problem with tax increases later on. Tax increases? During a recession? Obama’s proposal confirms that the president remains stuck in the quagmire of a “learning curve” gone amuck. It also proves that his short-term memory is wonky as well. Does the date November 2, 2010 mean anything to you, Sir? What about the word “shellacking” ? Ring any bells?

Illinois's Plan To 'Balance' The Budget: Borrow $15 Billion And Ignore $185 Billion HoleMike "Mish" Shedlock, Global Economic Trend Analysis Dec. 29, 2010, 5:29 AM The state of Illinois elected a Keynesian nutcase of epic magnitude in Governor Quinn. Quinn's latest brainstorm is to borrow $15 billion to "stabilize things". Quinn has not said how he will pay back the loans. Then again, he does want to raise taxes like mad and probably will do so. Regardless of what he does, Quinn is so beholden to unions, Illinois will need to borrow again 12 months from now. Please consider Quinn...

Unemployment sets record in WashingtonBy SCOTT SUNDE SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF Wednesday, December 22, 2010 / Last updated 9:55 p.m. PT So much for holiday cheer. By next week, more than a half-million residents in the state will have collected almost $4.7 billion in unemployment benefits. Both numbers are records. "This has been another demanding year for Employment Security, but even more challenging for those who still can't find a job after months and months of looking," said Joel Sacks, deputy commissioner of the Employment Security Department, in a news release. There is little good news in the year-end statistics. In February,...

Retiree Care to Cost City $4.4 BillionBy ELIZABETH LESLY STEVENS Published: December 16, 2010 After months of delays, the San Francisco controller’s office announced Thursday that it expected the city to pay $4.4 billion to provide municipal retirees and their dependents with lifetime health benefits. The city has set aside $9.7 million to cover the costs. The estimate of San Francisco’s unmet health care liability has been closely watched by ratings agencies, labor unions and other groups concerned about the city’s long-term finances. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded San Francisco’s debt rating in November, citing the enormous retiree health-care obligations, among...

The question is — be honest — where will the money come from? Government is chock-full of programs many people view as worthwhile — until the cost is added up. Then, many taxpayers decide priorities need to be set. That is why liberals in government have become adept at concealing the cost of social programs. One example is currently in the news. First lady Michelle Obama insists that healthier foods should be served in public school lunches. That will require a new $4.5 billion program, say the program's proponents. The federally funded school-lunch program feeds 31 million low-income American children...

Student loans overtakes credit debtBy Peter Kerwin of RIHEAA Updated: Tuesday, 17 Aug 2010, 10:11 AM EDT (FOX Providence) - A surprising series of reports from the Federal Reserve Bank and an expert who tracks student loan debt suggest came out last week. These reports suggest that for the first time, student loan debt in the United States is actually greater than credit card debt. Here to talk about this development and what it means for students is Peter Kerwin from the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority . We’ve heard a lot of talk about the staggering levels of...

Democrats in the state Senate on Monday countered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts with a plan to raise taxes by nearly $5 billion, largely by extending temporary taxes and delaying corporate tax breaks for two years.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Democrats in the state Senate on Monday countered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts with a plan to raise taxes by nearly $5 billion, largely by extending temporary taxes and delaying corporate tax breaks for two years.

(CNN) -- African-American farmers hoping for government settlement money in a racial bias case met with lawmakers Wednesday and called on Congress to come up with a way to fund the $1 billion deal. Ralph Paige, director of a Southern family farmer nonprofit, says the settlement is about much more than money. A March 31 deadline to appropriate the funds has passed, and farmers now may withdraw from the settlement and pursue independent litigation against the government. Congress now has a target date of the end of May to come up with a plan. "We spend a billion dollars on...

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), top Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee has released a handy new chart (.pdf) outlining the nearly $700 billion in new taxes enacted by Democrats this Congress. The chart details the "gross tax increases equate to more than $2,100 for every man, woman and child in the United States and include at least 14 violations of the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $200,000 (singles) and $250,000 (married couples)." “The agenda coming out of the Administration and Democrats in Congress is clear -- they want to tax more in...

The Congressional Budget Office reports that the federal deficit for the first six months of fiscal year 2010 is $714 billion,

The politicians want us to think nothing of a billion dollars, in fact we say it so fast and so often it does not sound like much..... How many zeros in a billion??? This is too true to be funny. The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians'spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of it's releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was...

Hollywood poised for record-breaking year at the box office; 2009 set to best 2007's record intakeBy Amy Eisinger DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, December 10th 2009, 3:26 PM The Hollywood box office is having its best year in history, reports Hollywood.com Box Office. This week the box office grand total for 2009 is expected to hit $9.682 billion -- surpassing previous record holder 2007, when the tally was $9.68 billion. With potential top-grossing holiday films still to come, Hollywood is bracing for their first $10 billion year ever. Movies that are still on the way this year include James Cameron's...

Democrats moved Thursday to give special relief to the financially strapped Postal Service, which would be allowed to defer $4 billion in payments due at the end of this month to cover retirement benefits for its employees. Republicans protested the bailout but made no significant effort to block the provision, which has now been attached to a stop-gap spending bill slated to come before the House and Senate in the next week. Proponents of the language argued that the House has previously endorsed equivalent relief for the Postal Service, which faces a $5.4 billion payment to the retirement fund at...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to announce on Friday a competition for $4 billion in federal grants to improve academic achievement in U.S. schools, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Obama wants states to use funds from the competition, dubbed the "Race to the Top," to ease limits on so-called charter schools, link teacher pay to student achievement and move toward common U.S. academic standards, the Post said. Charter schools receive public funding but generally are exempt from some state or local rules and regulations. They are operated as an alternative to traditional public schools.

President Barack Obama has earmarked $1.825 billion (£1.11 billion) in emergency funding The money is part of $7.65 billion (£4.7 billion) already approved by Congress for use by the US Health Department as it strives to prevent the H1N1 virus taking further hold when flu-friendly conditions return in the autumn. Latest statistics show that 211 people in the US have died of the illness, with 37,246 reported cases across the country. But officials estimate that up to one million people across America may have been infected thus far. Today's announcement of the release of funds came in an open letter...

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The United States will spend an another $1 billion for ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Sunday. "There'll be another $1 billion worth of orders placed to get the bulk ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination. Congress has agreed with the president that this is the number one priority, keeping Americans safe and secure," Sebelius said on CNN. Sebelius has said plans were on track for a mid-October vaccination program, although it was not certain Americans would be offered the vaccine for the so-called swine flu.

Obama IRAs Could Raise $100 Billion in Five YearsBy Money Management Executive July 8, 2009 One of President Obama’s proposed financial reforms would require employers that do not offer a 401(k) to automatically enroll their employees into an IRA. If implemented, it would give the biggest boost to the retirement savings industry since the creation of the 401(k) in 1980, enrolling 40 million new investors, and attract more than $100 billion within five years, The Wall Street Journal reports. It would require companies with 10 or more workers that have been in business for at least two years to participate....

How much is 1 trillion dollars? A stack of one trillion one-dollar bills would reach 68,000 miles in space. If you spent $1 million dollars a day from the day Jesus was born until now, you would only have spent about three quarters of a trillion. If you laid one trillion one-dollar bills end to end, it would make a chain from the earth to the moon 200 times. One trillion dollars would stretch nearly from the earth to the sun. It would take a jet flying at the speed of sound, reeling out a roll of dollar bills behind it, four...

The U.S. and Europe were widely expected to clash at the G-20 summit in London last month over how to address the global financial crisis. Voila, in just two days the problem was solved with a joint promise to increase International Monetary Fund resources by $750 billion to a total of $1 trillion. The U.S. portion of this new commitment is more than $140 billion. Yet Congress has debated neither the amount nor the proposed use of the funds. Instead, President Obama and his fellow leaders simply waved their hands, like a Star Trek captain, and said make it so

Last week, President Barack Obama convened a health-care summit in Washington to identify programs that would improve quality and restrain burgeoning costs. He stated that all his policies would be based on rigorous scientific evidence of benefit. The flagship proposal presented by the president at this gathering was the national adoption of electronic medical records -- a computer-based system that would contain every patient's clinical history, laboratory results, and treatments. This, he said, would save some $80 billion a year, safeguard against medical errors, reduce malpractice lawsuits, and greatly facilitate both preventive care and ongoing therapy of the chronically ill.

President Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion. The "reserve fund" in the budget proposal being released today is Obama's attempt to demonstrate how the country could extend health insurance to millions more Americans and at the same time begin to control escalating medical bills that threaten the solvency of families, businesses and the government.

The economic stimulus bill enacted by President Obama will provide $1 billion to Jewish nursing homes and social service agencies, according to the United Jewish Communities. The funds come from the $87 billion that the legislation allots for state Medicaid programs as a result of an increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP. An increase in FMAP was a top priority for UJC, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and other Jewish groups that lobbied for passage of the $787 billion bill signed Tuesday by Obama. The federation system receives about...

GOODBYE, AMERICA! IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTEDFebruary 11, 2009It's bad enough when illiterate jurors issue damages awards in the billions of dollars because they don't grasp the difference between a million and a billion. Now it turns out the Democrats don't know the difference between a million and a trillion. Why not make the "stimulus bill" a kazillion dollars? All Americans who work for a living, or who plan to work for a living sometime in the next century, are about to be stuck with a trillion-dollar bill to fund yet more oppressive government bureaucracies. Or as I call...

Stimulus with interest: $1.2 trillionJeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer Tuesday January 27, 2009, 5:25 pm EST The long-term cost of the $825 billion economic recovery package before Congress could rise to $1.2 trillion over 10 years, a top budget official said Tuesday. That's because the government will borrow to fund the plan and pay an estimated $347 billion in interest, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee on Tuesday. The calculation was made at the request of House Republicans who have questioned the size and effectiveness of the bill. When asked at a press briefing about...

Have you ever wondered how big a Billion is? What about 700 billion???? So I started of my research with how big is a $100 dollar bill (the largest denomination available)? US currency bills are are 2.61 inches wide and 6.14 inches long; they are .0043 inches thick and weigh 1 gram. This gives it an approximate volume of 0.06890922 cubic inches. Next, lets see what a Million Dollars looks like. We all think we have seen this in the movies. Someone shows up with a brief case full of money purportedly worth $1,000,000.00. A quick search turned up this...

Detroit’s Big Three were on Capitol Hill yesterday looking for a bigger bailout. They knew the results numbers coming out this morning would be grim and would offer little cheer for the future. The $700 billion in financial industry aid that motored through Congress last month must have flashed a big green light for the auto industry. Originally, $25 billion in loan guarantees were offered to help U.S. cars get greener. But the car companies say the restrictions on how they can use that money make it less than helpful. In fact, GM and Chrysler might not even pass a...

One day after Barack Obama was elected president, the outgoing Bush administration detailed its plans to borrow a record $550 billion through the end of the year to back the financial bailout. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it will sell $55 billion in bonds next week, part of a huge borrowing effort to cover the $700 billion bailout and a budget deficit expected to hit a record of nearly $1 trillion next year. The Federal Reserve said it will edge up interest rates it pays banks on their required reserves and the excess reserves they choose to deposit with...

The shortfall for fiscal 2008 is even larger than had been feared. It is likely to be a key issue as the presidential race winds down. Compounding terrible economic news, budget officials announced Tuesday that the federal deficit has soared to a record $455 billion, injecting new urgency into the closing days of the presidential campaign about spending in Washington, including efforts to stem the financial disaster. The final accounting for fiscal 2008 produced a larger shortfall than had been projected, reflecting the start of federal efforts to address the economic emergency. It is certain to become a significant issue...

Hey guys..and gals. I haven't posted on FR in some time. I've been traveling for a good portion of the year. But, the $700 billion bailout has gotten my attention, so I wanted to post something. I have never posted a vanity before now and don't want to risk my Member in Good Standing status with this question. But, I'll never know unless I try. Are we allowed to promote personal websites on here? If I had an idea for a product that I felt my fellow Freepers would enjoy, could I direct you to the website with the guarantee...

Pushing back against an increasingly aggressive Moscow, President Bush said Wednesday the U.S. will send an extra $1 billion to Georgia to help the pro-Western former Soviet republic in the wake of Russia's invasion. "Georgia has a strong economic foundation and leaders with an impressive record of reform," Bush said in a statement. "Our additional economic assistance will help the people of Georgia recover from the assault on their country, and continue to build a prosperous and competitive economy." Vice President Dick Cheney, due in Georgia on Thursday, planned to make the massive aid package a major highlight of his...

Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, on Tuesday said it will receive a $7 billion capital injection from private equity firm TPG Inc and other investors. The company also said it expects to report a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion, or $1.40 per share. It expects to set aside $3.5 billion in the quarter for loan losses and said net charge-offs, or loans it doesn't expect to be paid back, will total $1.4 billion. Separately, the company said it will reduce its quarterly dividend to 1 cent per share from 15 cents per share, saving $490 million...

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. E. A billion dollars...

Summary At least twenty-five states, including several of the nation’s largest, face budget shortfalls in fiscal year 2009. Of these 25 states, specific estimates are available for 20 states; the combined deficits of these 20 states are expected to total at least $34 billion for fiscal 2009 — which begins July 2008 in most states. Another 3 states expect budget problems in fiscal year 2010, although some of those gaps may occur earlier than expected. Many of the other states have not yet released information about their fiscal status. The bursting of the housing bubble has reduced state sales tax...

The deficit for the current budget year will jump to about $250 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday, citing the weakening economy. And that figure does not reflect at least $100 billion in red ink from an economic stimulus measure in the works. "After three years of declining budget deficits, a slowing economy this year will contribute to an increase in the deficit," the CBO report said. The figure greatly exceeds the $163 billion in red ink registered last year. Adding likely but still unapproved outlays for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan brings its "baseline" deficit estimate of...

WASHINGTON -The U.S. government spent $43.5 billion on intelligence in 2007, according to the first official disclosure under a new law implementing recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell released the newly declassified figure Tuesday. In a statement, the DNI said there would be no additional disclosures of classified budget information beyond the overall spending figure because "such disclosures could harm national security." How the money is divided among the 16 intelligence agencies and exactly what it is spent on is classified. It includes salaries for about 100,000 people, multibillion dollar secret satellite programs, aircraft,...