Surplus to deficit: How we got here

Obama has doubled spending and tax cuts of Bush.

Jeremy Scahill: Blackwater Founder Creating Private Army of 'Christian Crusaders' in the Persian Gulf

The United Arab Emirates has secretly signed a $529 million contract with Erik Prince’s new company to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign mercenaries.

Obama and Netanyahu Are Facing a Turning Point

When they meet Friday, President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel face a turning point in a relationship that was not warm to begin with.

Private Prisons Found to Offer Little in Savings

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As Arizona and other states look to resolve budget problems, research suggests private prisons can cost about the same as state-run ones.

Glenn Beck's Absurd Jerusalem Rally: Why Religious Conservatives Are Obsessed With Israel

Beck's newfound adoration for Israel may seem comical, but it represents a convergence of right-wing ideologies that is in fact quite dangerous.

Planning for smaller Social Security checks

Instead of abandon Medicare work with it

Reporting by Gabriel Kazakias 04/26/2011

The analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that Ryan's plan would increase the cost of healthcare to seniors. It would exceed the income of most retirees, as healthcare costs outpace income growth.

However this is not the result of cost-shifting from the government. It comes from the higher cost of private insurance compared with the government-run Medicare system.

CBO is projecting the increase cost of buying Medicare-equivalent insurance policies through the private sector is roughly six times the size of the projected social security shortfall. This indicates the enormous cost savings that Medicare provides relative to private insurers.

Budget Cuts that Make Sense

Many in the government propagating the myth that it is Social Security and Medicare driving the deficit up. They claim that discretionary spending is a tiny part of the budget. The truth is that this deficit has been caused by welfare entitlements like Medicaid and food stamps.

The following illustrates this key point:

Category                 2008   2010  

Welfare                   $260   $400  

Domestic                 $485   $682  

Medicare                 $456   $528  

Social Security         $612   $700  

Defense                   $612   $690  

Below is a sample list of specific budget cuts in discretionary spending that make the most sense.

• Save $30 billion a year by freezing new highway construction for three years. Only maintenance and safety.
• Save $4 billion by making passengers and airlines pay for airport improvements rather than using tax money
• Save $500 million a year by rolling back the cost of Congress to 2008 levels.
• Save $3 billion a year by a 20% cut in diplomatic missions and foreign service staff
• Save $1 billion a year by eliminating the Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities and ending PBS subsidies.
• Save $5 billion a year by making no new commitments for low-income Americans housing.

A clash between Pakistani ground troops and NATO helicopters added another irritant to the already sour relationship between the United States and Pakistan.

For the better part of the past decade, and particularly in the past few months, the dollar has been the weakling of the foreign exchange world. That may be starting to change.

6 Absurd Excuses Conservatives Make to Protect Greedy Oil Giants from Paying Their Taxes

Claims that taxes on Big Oil will kill the economy and that US drilling is our only solution to high gas prices defy logic.

Is Israel at a Strategic Dead End as Palestinian "Arab Spring" Arrives?

The Palestinian "Arab Spring" is arriving and Israel has no political strategy to deal with it. Instead, Israel used the only weapon in its current arsenal - brute force.

Gingrich Calls G.O.P.'s Medicare Plan Too Radical

The £400 test that tells you how long you'll live

Bin Laden: Exposing Pakistan's paradoxes

Killing of al-Qaeda leader puts focus on state's delicately balanced contradictions and strategic ambiguity.

Israel Opens Fire on Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Killing More Than a Dozen

Potential new flashpoints in the unrest sweeping the Middle East have opened after Israel opened fire on pro-Palestinian protesters on its borders with Syria and Lebanon, killing more than a dozen people and drawing furious condemnation from the Syrian regime.