New York Times (August 5)
“The latest quarterly report on economic growth showed real G.D.P. up only 1.4 percent over the past year, a marked slowdown from year-over-year growth rates posted in 2012. Much of the weakening can be attributed to self-imposed wounds, including the fiscal-cliff showdown at the end of last year and this year’s payroll tax increase and automatic budget cuts, whose effects now appear likely to carry into the second half of the year.” The recovery could stall as the report suggests “Americans do not have the requisite economic security to absorb those imminent blows, let alone other inevitable setbacks, including another possible standoff over the nation’s debt limit.”“The latest quarterly report on economic growth showed real G.D.P. up only 1.4 percent over the past year, a marked slowdown from year-over-year growth rates posted in 2012. Much of the weakening can be attributed to self-imposed wounds, including the fiscal-cliff showdown at the end of last year and this year’s payroll tax increase and automatic budget cuts, whose effects now appear likely to carry into the second half of the year.” The recovery could stall as the report suggests “Americans do not have the requisite economic security to absorb those imminent blows, let alone other inevitable setbacks, including another possible standoff over the nation’s debt limit.”
Tags: Budget cuts, Debt limit, Fiscal cliff, G.D.P., Security, Setbacks, Slowdown, Standoff, Tax increase, U.S.
New York Times (April 28, 2013)
“At first glance, the latest economic growth report, released Friday, appears to show the economy revving up. In reality, the economy is either stuck in low gear, or worse, slowing to a stop as budget cuts harm not only the users of overstretched government services but the overall economy. This precarious situation urgently calls for more federal spending, not less.”
New York Times (October 24)
“The lesson that should be learned from Greece is that its fiscal mess has been made far worse by severe budget cuts.” Data released on Monday shows that the EU “countries that have most ruthlessly cut their budgets — Greece, especially — have seen their overall debt loads increase as a share of the economy.”
Tags: Austerity, Budget cuts, Debt load, Greece
New York Times (February 22)
Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a budget for New York City which cuts 6,000 teachers, 20 fire stations, 100 senior centers, 8% of library funding, 11% of the parks and recreation budget, and 17,000 child-care options for low-income working parents. The proposed $65.6 billion budget is “less painful than expected,” largely due to the unexpectedly rapid recovery of Wall Street. “The city looks in better shape than we expected, even a few weeks ago.”
Tags: Budget cuts, New York, Wall Street
The Times—London (June 28)
George Osborne, the Chancellor who announced sweeping budget cuts, met with 100 British business leaders. Did any of them complain the cuts would threaten the economy? “Quite the opposite: the chief priority of the delegates, who control businesses together worth roughly £1 trillion, was to stick to the Government’s deficit reduction target.” The Times calls this “an emphatic endorsement of the Government’s strategy.”
Tags: Britain, Budget cuts, Economy, Osborne
