Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
On August second, President Obama signed a bill
raising the nation's borrowing limit. That debt
deal, however, failed to keep stock markets from
dropping on economic concerns about the United
States and the world. The legislation followed
months of arguing that only added to those concerns.
Congress sent the bill to the president on the last
day that the government said it had enough money to
make all of its payments. The Budget Control Act of
2011 lets the government seek financing to pay its
bills until twenty-thirteen. Congress agreed to lift
the debt ceiling by over two trillion dollars, but
also to make spending cuts. President Obama said,
"This compromise guarantees more than two trillion
dollars in deficit reduction. It's an important
first step to ensuring that as a nation, we live
within our means. Yet it also allows us to keep
making key investments in things like education and
research that lead to new jobs. And assures that
we're not cutting too abruptly while the economy is
still fragile." Richard Gordon formerly worked with
the International Monetary Fund. He says there is a
risk in cutting the federal budget too much when
unemployment is high. "If the federal government
does not put money into the economy, the economy
will stall. And that will result in another
recession, and that cannot help anybody." The
national debt is more than fourteen trillion
dollars. At the end of last year, private investors
in the United States held the largest share --
thirty-six percent of that government debt. China
was the single largest foreign holder of Treasury
securities, followed by Japan and Britain.The Budget
Control Act calls for almost one trillion dollars in
spending cuts over ten years. A committee of six
Democrats and six Republicans will have to identify
another trillion and a half dollars in deficit
reductions. Congress has to get proposals by
November twenty-third and vote within a month.What
happens if the committee cannot agree? Then an
enforcement measure known as a trigger would go into
effect. It would cut money from domestic and defense
programs, but not in popular social programs for
retirees and the poor. The budget deal contained no
tax increases, but that issue has not gone away.
Richard Gordon -- now a law professor at Case
Western University in Ohio -- says the deal leaves a
big question. "What is going to be the economic
policy of the federal government in the next two
years?"For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
