The US official tasked with overseeing pay practices at the country's large financial institutions has criticized 17 banks for over compensating their executives during the financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009. But the banks say there are reasons why they paid employees big bonuses.
Kenneth Feinberg, charged with reviewing the pay practices of large U.S. financial institutions, found that 17 banks made a total of $1.6 billion in payments to their top executives after receiving emergency loans from the government.
Feinberg, the Obama Administration's special master for executive compensation, looked at more than 400 banks. "At the time these payments were made they were ill advised - bad judgment on the part of these companies, but they didn't violate any statute. They didn't violate any regulation at the time," he said.
But many Americans say they are outraged that executives were getting big bonuses while taxpayer dollars were keeping the firms alive. "The taxpayer has the right to be outraged," said Feinberg. "Who wouldn't be?"
Damon Silvers represents the US labor federation, the AFL-CIO. "When a firm is in trouble especially a financial firm, cash is the whole deal. Paying out lots of cash, unless you really have to, is not in the interest of the firm and is not in the interest of the public," he said.
Scott Talbott is spokesman for Financial Services Round Table. The organization represents 100 of the largest financial services firms in the U.S. "You have to provide incentives for employees to work hard. And yes, the pay structure for Wall Street vs. the rest of America looks a bit out of wack. But this is a select group of people that can handle or process or engage in these types of activity," he said.
Talbott says special compensations to bank employees were all authorized by third-parties ahead of time. "They're all approved by the shareholders as well as the independent compensation committees in each one of the companies," he said.
Feinberg does not have the authority to force the banks to return any of the money. He says 11 of the 17 companies have already re-paid their government loans with interest. He is encouraging banks to adopt new rules to limit payments to top executives in future crises.
President Barack Obama says the lavish bonuses to bank executives show the need for the financial reforms he signed into law earlier this week.
He says the reforms will eliminate the need for future taxpayer bailouts of financial firms.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
India's Bollywood Film Industry Tries to Produce Crossover Movies
Photo: FilmKRAFT
Barbara Mori and Hrithik Roshan in a scene from 'Kites'
"It has to be a completely different film" - Mumbai movie critic Komal Nahata
The movie Kites, which released in May in more than 30 countries is an emotional love story of an Indian and a Mexican immigrant in the United States. Set in Las Vegas, it stars a popular Bollywood actor, Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Barbara Mori.
Its producer, Rakesh Roshan, called it "a truly Indian global film." Kites was the first big-budget effort by the Hindi film industry to make a movie which would appeal to mainstream audiences in India and in Western countries.
Not impressed
However, the film failed to impress people on either side. Indians said they could not identify with the mix of Hindi, English and Spanish dialogues. A shorter version, Kites: The Remix, released in countries like the United States, fared even worse. Edited by Hollywood director Brett Ratner, it was an attempt at a Hollywood-Bollywood crossover.
Mumbai-based film trade analyst and critic Komal Nahata says Bollywood film producers have long been enthusiastic about trying their hand at crossover cinema. But he says their efforts have not met with success, because audiences in India and Western countries are very different.
"I think it is this urge to tap newer markets, to tap newer audiences," says Nahata. "But our filmmakers don't realize is that what is lacking is cinema which they enjoy. You cant jut tweak Bollywood cinema and say that 'I made it for the crossover audience'. Their tastes are completely different, plus their sensibilities are different."
Successful attempt
Bollywood has a massive fan following, not only in India, but in many Asian countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is also a huge hit with Indians staying in Western countries. About seven percent of the revenues of the $2 billion industry come from overseas markets.
The desire to woo Western audiences got a boost after the runaway success of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The film was a British production, which used Bollywood talent and was shot in the slums of Mumbai fueled the desire among Bollywood production houses to make a similar hit.
Of course, a typical Hindi movie is very different to Slumdog. It is usually a predictable, melodramatic story of boy-meets-girl and overcomes all odds to be together. These films are replete with glitzy song and dance numbers.
Reason for optimism
Many people are optimistic that Bollywood movies have the potential to make their presence felt beyond the traditional markets in India and Asia. Among them is Mumbai-based film critic Taran Adarsh.
"That is what has attracted a lot of people from the Western world… our colors, our songs, our dances, the Bollywood masala," Adarsh says. "I have had a lot of people coming up to me and telling me that they love Bollywood films. They don't understand the language, but there is something about Bollywood films. They find it very interesting."
In their quest to win international audiences, Indian film producers are trying to break the mold and explore more contemporary themes.
Bridging the gap
Several movie critics say the success in several countries of a recent Hindi film, My Name is Khan, shows that Bollywood is starting to tap a wider audience. It is the story of an Indian in America who battles the double problems of fighting Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism) and being a Muslim in a post 9/11 world.
However, trade analyst Nahata points out that crossover audiences are still "miniscule." He feels the distance between a Bollywood and a Hollywood movie is too vast to be easily traversed.
"It has to be a completely different film, which risk the Indian filmmakers won't take because then they fear that the Indian audience and the traditional audiences will be lost to that kind of film, notes Nahata. "The amount of crossover audiences which view our films is so small it hardly matters."
Some Bollywood producers are scaling down their ambitions for crossover projects. But others are not giving up. In September, one of India's best known filmmakers, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, will start shooting in the United States for an English language film called Broken Horses, also aimed at global audiences. Like him, many others hope that some day Bollywood -- which produces the most movies in the world -- will manage to make a mark internationally.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Obama: 'Enormous' Progress With Financial Reform, Other Actions
Photo: AP
President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the economy in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, 23 July 2010
The most significant legislative accomplishment for the president and majority Democrats since the historic health care overhaul achieved earlier this year, is the financial regulatory reform bill Mr. Obama signed on Thursday.
It is the outcome of almost two years of intense debate on Capitol Hill concerning the best ways to respond to excesses on Wall Street, protect consumers, and avoid another financial system collapse.
Speaking in the White House Roosevelt Room, the president said the new law will protect consumers and the economy from recklessness and irresponsibility that led to the worst financial breakdown since the Great Depression.
"It's a reform that will help us put a stop to the abusive practices of mortgage lenders and credit card companies and ensure that people get the straight, unvarnished information that they need before they take out a loan or open a credit card," he said. "It will bring the shadowy deals that caused the financial crisis into the light of day, and it will end taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street firms and give shareholders a say on executive compensation."
To underscore his points, the president referred to a new report by Ken Feinberg, who Mr. Obama appointed to oversee compensation issues. The report said 17 banks gave top executives $1.6 billion in bonuses while they were receiving billions of dollars in government bailout funds.
The president pointed to two other achievements - a six-month extension of emergency government benefits for people out of work, and an initiative to reduce waste in government.
Mr. Obama pressed for Senate action on another piece of legislation; tax incentives and lending for small businesses. And he sounded a theme he will use as he campaigns for Democratic candidates before the November mid-term congressional elections.
"The folks who I have met with across this country, they cannot afford any more political games," he said. "They need us to do what they sent us here to do. They didn't send us here to wage a never-ending campaign; they didn't send us here to do what is best for our political party. They sent us here to do what is best for the United States of America and all our citizens, whether Democrats or Republicans or Independents. In other words, they sent us here to govern."
As the president spotlights achievements, Republicans continue to criticize him on virtually every one of his policies. Indiana Republican Mike Pence asserted that President Obama's policies and those of Democrats will lead to huge tax increases.
"As we have done on their failed stimulus policy, as we have did on their national energy tax, as we did on their government take over of health care, House Republicans will stand in the gap to protect taxpayers from the largest tax increase in American history," he said.
Democratic leaders meanwhile cited Republican opposition as they acknowledged they had given up on passing comprehensive clean energy/climate change legislation before the August recess.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "Unfortunately this time we don't have a single Republican to work with in achieving this goal," Reid said. "For me, it is terribly disappointing."
"We will continue to work with the senators to craft important, comprehensive legislation," said Carol Browner, Director of the White House Office on Energy and Climate Change Policy.
Having accomplished the bulk of the pre-congressional recess agenda, the president will increasingly focus on the November congressional elections, campaigning for Democrats and pressing his messages about economic recovery.
The White House announced he will travel to New Jersey next week, a state that remains strongly Democratic. The unemployment rate there is about 9.6 percent, slightly more than the national level.
Also announced, presidential visits next week and in early August to Chrysler, General Motors and Ford automobile plants in Michigan and Chicago, Illinois. The White House says these will highlight a U.S. auto industry that is strengthening as a result of the president's actions to save it.
Related Articles
AIDS 2010 Calls for Treatment and Prevention Support for Men Having Sex with Men
As the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread, new research shows it’s taking an increasing toll on men-having-sex-with men or MSM. The issue was addressed at the 18th International AIDS conference in Vienna, with calls for greater funding and human rights efforts.
Activists say men having sex with men have been hit hard by the epidemic, but have not received nearly as much attention or resources as many other groups. They’re hoping scientific data on the effects of HIV on MSM – released at the conference - will change that.
Shivananda Khan of India is with Naz Foundation International, which provides technical and development assistance to MSM groups in South Asia. Khan says data from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health comes none too soon.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this data. I’ve been engaged in this area for 20 years and this is the first time I’m hearing this sort of data when from a day-to-day perspective we watch people every day for the last 20 years, getting infected and dying from HIV,” he says.
Who are they?
UNAIDS says the term – Men Having Sex with Men – describes a behavior rather than a group of people. MSM includes self-identified gay, bisexual, or heterosexual men, many of whom, it says, may not even consider themselves gay or bisexual.
In 2008, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said, “In countries without laws to protect sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men, only a fraction of the population has access to prevention.” He added, “Not only is it unethical not to protect these groups; it makes no sense from a health perspective. It hurts all of us.”
Khan warns of grave consequences if things don’t change.
He says, “Right now, if you look at the data from Asia and the Pacific, if there is no increase in HIV interventions for MSM and transgenders, then something like by the year 2020 – which is only 10 years away – 50 percent of all new infections will be MSM or transgenders.”
He says less than four percent of HIV/AIDS funding around the world goes to men having sex with men and transgenders.
“Nine out of ten, nine out of ten MSM and transgenders do not get services. And right now in Asia, every day there are about 200 people – MSM and transgenders – getting infected because they don’t have services,” he says.
Joel Nana of Cameroon says the answer to the problem is readily available.
“What else are we waiting for? I think we do have the solution. The solution is services that target all the populations.”
Nana is executive director of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights. He says besides more prevention and treatment services, MSM need what he calls “an enabling environment.”
“An enabling environment has three components. There is the law component. There is the law enforcement component and there is the access to justice component. So if any of these three is not fulfilled, you do not have an enabling environment,” he says.
From the pulpit
Churches around the world often get involved in the debate over gay rights. Their reaction has ranged from strong support to tolerance to fierce opposition.
Presbyterian minister Dr. Nyambura Njoroge is program executive of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa of the World Council of Churches.
“Sexuality of men having sex with men is one of the most difficult and contested areas and sometimes religious leaders and followers are known to use violent language in expressing their views. Violent language only creates fear and victimhood,” he says.
She says it’s important for the religious community to “dig deep” into religiosity and spirituality, adding, “For we know very well that human beings have physical, spiritual and sexual needs.”
MSM is a controversial issue that triggers strong emotions. For example, in Malawi two men were prosecuted after they went public with their gay relationship. In Uganda, legislation imposing harsh penalties for homosexuality is before parliament. Similar stories can be found around the world.
Rev. Njoroge says the world’s sacred writings all have the same message.
“Human life is sacred. And all human beings are created in the image of God. And so, there is no one who is a misfit in the eyes of God. And I think that is important for all of us who acknowledge,” he says.
MSM and transgender activists hope to play a bigger role at the 19th International AIDS Conference in 2012, when it’s held in the United States.
Activists say men having sex with men have been hit hard by the epidemic, but have not received nearly as much attention or resources as many other groups. They’re hoping scientific data on the effects of HIV on MSM – released at the conference - will change that.
Shivananda Khan of India is with Naz Foundation International, which provides technical and development assistance to MSM groups in South Asia. Khan says data from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health comes none too soon.
AIDS 2010
Shivananda Khan , Naz Foundation International“We’ve been waiting a long time for this data. I’ve been engaged in this area for 20 years and this is the first time I’m hearing this sort of data when from a day-to-day perspective we watch people every day for the last 20 years, getting infected and dying from HIV,” he says.
Who are they?
UNAIDS says the term – Men Having Sex with Men – describes a behavior rather than a group of people. MSM includes self-identified gay, bisexual, or heterosexual men, many of whom, it says, may not even consider themselves gay or bisexual.
In 2008, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said, “In countries without laws to protect sex workers, drug users and men who have sex with men, only a fraction of the population has access to prevention.” He added, “Not only is it unethical not to protect these groups; it makes no sense from a health perspective. It hurts all of us.”
Khan warns of grave consequences if things don’t change.
He says, “Right now, if you look at the data from Asia and the Pacific, if there is no increase in HIV interventions for MSM and transgenders, then something like by the year 2020 – which is only 10 years away – 50 percent of all new infections will be MSM or transgenders.”
He says less than four percent of HIV/AIDS funding around the world goes to men having sex with men and transgenders.
“Nine out of ten, nine out of ten MSM and transgenders do not get services. And right now in Asia, every day there are about 200 people – MSM and transgenders – getting infected because they don’t have services,” he says.
Joel Nana of Cameroon says the answer to the problem is readily available.
“What else are we waiting for? I think we do have the solution. The solution is services that target all the populations.”
AIDS 2010
Joel Nana, African Men for Sexual Health and RightsNana is executive director of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights. He says besides more prevention and treatment services, MSM need what he calls “an enabling environment.”
“An enabling environment has three components. There is the law component. There is the law enforcement component and there is the access to justice component. So if any of these three is not fulfilled, you do not have an enabling environment,” he says.
From the pulpit
Churches around the world often get involved in the debate over gay rights. Their reaction has ranged from strong support to tolerance to fierce opposition.
Presbyterian minister Dr. Nyambura Njoroge is program executive of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa of the World Council of Churches.
“Sexuality of men having sex with men is one of the most difficult and contested areas and sometimes religious leaders and followers are known to use violent language in expressing their views. Violent language only creates fear and victimhood,” he says.
AIDS 2010
Rev. Nyambura Njoroge, World Council of ChurchesShe says it’s important for the religious community to “dig deep” into religiosity and spirituality, adding, “For we know very well that human beings have physical, spiritual and sexual needs.”
MSM is a controversial issue that triggers strong emotions. For example, in Malawi two men were prosecuted after they went public with their gay relationship. In Uganda, legislation imposing harsh penalties for homosexuality is before parliament. Similar stories can be found around the world.
Rev. Njoroge says the world’s sacred writings all have the same message.
“Human life is sacred. And all human beings are created in the image of God. And so, there is no one who is a misfit in the eyes of God. And I think that is important for all of us who acknowledge,” he says.
MSM and transgender activists hope to play a bigger role at the 19th International AIDS Conference in 2012, when it’s held in the United States.
Facebook Has 500 Million Users Around World
Photo: VOA Photo - D. Schrier
Facebook has half a billion users. That's huge for a planet of less than 7 billion people.
In fact, if Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous nation after China and India.
What grew as the pet project of Mark Zuckerberg, when he was a student at Harvard, has exploded - gaining eight new users ever second for the past 15 months.
Facebook has changed the way many people communicate - letting its millions of users share personal thoughts and images with their network of friends.
Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, said, "People have really gotten connected, not only sharing more information and different kinds but being more open and with more people. and that social norm is just something that's changed over time."
And people share a lot. Whole lives play out on Facebook. Births. Graduations. Marriage. Even divorce
Some experts say that sharing too much information can have downsides - including affecting the way prospective employers may evaluate a job candidate.
And some people are downright negative about it. "I think it's terrible. It's narcissistic," said Facebook user Julia.
Yet, people share personal information on the site 70 times per month on average.
And what was once an online destination only for college students has expanded, says Michael Nelson. He worked at IBM and currently teaches at Georgetown University. "It's grandmas, it's executives, it's politicians. It's everybody. The fastest group of users - it's the over sixty group," he said.
Bonnie Speich logs on once a week to keep in touch with family. "Every minute of my grandson's life is on that thing," she said.
Mike Aedenran checks in a lot. "I usually go on about five times a day, five to ten minutes every time," he said.
But not everyone is excited about having an online community of friends. Kevin Sampson said "If they are finding comfort with friends online rather than meeting people, that's pretty sad."
Still, Facebook is so popular that public figures have taken notice. President Barack Obama is credited with using the power of Facebook during his 2008 campaign.
Even Pope Benedict has a profile - sharing updates in eight languages.
And Facebook played a role during Iran's post-election upheaval. Khsro, a graduate student from Iran said "For a lot of Iranians, like a year ago, it became one of the foremost important tools to get news from inside Iran. Right after the elections, basically the international news agencies were not allowed to get news and the first place you would check for the videos from Iran, the protest videos and so on, was just on Facebook."
Information can easily go viral with the click of a mouse, says Nelson. "Now we have this technology for this one community to talk to another community, and all these different conversations happen at the same time. Almost effortlessly," he said.
He says, the future of social media is mobile. More phones will be able to support Facebook giving even more people access to their online communities from the palm of their hand.
Venezuela's Chavez Breaks Diplomatic Ties With Colombia
Photo: AP
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to the media at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas
President Chavez made the announcement on national television Thursday, saying he was forced to sever all relations because Colombia claims he has failed to act against rebels who allegedly have taken shelter in Venezuelan territory. Mr. Chavez said he has ordered Venezuelan military forces to be on "maximum alert" along the border.
President Chavez acted after Colombia went before the Organization of American States' permanent council in Washington to present photographs, maps, coordinates and videos it said show 1,500 leftist rebels hiding in Venezuela.
Colombia's ambassador to the OAS, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, said the documents show what he called "the consolidated, active and growing presence of these terrorist bands" in Venezuela.
Hoyos said Venezuela had not attacked the guerrilla groups as it should. He challenged Venezuelan officials to let independent observers inspect the sites where he said Colombian rebels were taking shelter.
Venezuela's OAS envoy, Roy Chaderton, said the documents that Hoyos presented did not provide any solid evidence of a guerrilla presence in Venezuela.
Later, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro announced that the Chavez government had ordered its embassy in Bogota closed and had given Colombian diplomats in Venezuela 72 hours to leave the country.
Both Colombia and Venezuela had already recalled their respective ambassadors as the dispute intensified.
On Thursday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Venezuela's rupture of relations with Colombia is not a "proper way" to address concerns in the region.
Colombia requested the OAS session after charging last week that leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, are hiding in Venezuela.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has had tense relations with President Chavez, steps down next month after two terms in office. Bogota previously has accused Venezuela of financing and supporting Colombian FARC rebels, a charge Venezuela has denied.
In 2008, Venezuela and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Colombia after Colombian troops raided a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, killing FARC commander Raul Reyes and at least 20 other people.
Venezuela and Colombia also have been at odds over a 2009 agreement allowing the United States to use seven Colombian military bases for anti-drug operations.
President Chavez has called the deal a threat to his country, but the U.S. and Colombia say their agreement does not pertain to other nations.
Asia Pacific, Western Representatives Hold Regional Forum
Photo: AP
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, front left, stands next to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she greets other delegates at the ASEAN Regional forum in Hanoi, 23 Jul 2010
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Regional Forum is meeting Friday for annual talks among representatives of 26 nations and the European Union.
Security issues, rights abuses by Burma and alleged aggression by North Korea are expected to be the key topics of discussion.
Burma, a member of ASEAN, is under fire for rampant human rights violations and plans this year to hold elections, the first in two decades.
Burma's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is banned from the elections, which critics say are designed to keep the military in power.
North Korea is seeking diplomatic support at the forum over the sinking of a South Korean navy ship that killed 46 sailors.
Washington and Seoul say the North torpedoed the ship and plan joint military exercises this weekend as a show of force.
Pyongyang denies it was responsible and a North Korean spokesman at the forum warned Washington to call off the exercises if it wants a nuclear free Korean peninsula.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending the forum. She told ASEAN ministers Thursday America's future was intimately tied to the Asia Pacific.
"The United States is a Pacific Nation and we are committed to being an active partner with ASEAN and with all of you," she said. "Our partnership is rooted in common interests. We are committed to assisting the nations of Southeast Asia to remain strong and independent and that each nation enjoys peace, stability, prosperity, and access to universal human rights."
Clinton noted the region is the sixth largest market for U.S. exports and has more American business investments than China.
The United States, under President Obama, has become more active in Southeast Asia and has begun a policy of engaging Burma while maintaining economic sanctions.
Clinton on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Pyongyang and U.S. lawmakers Thursday voted to renew sanctions against Burma for human rights violations.
But ASEAN, which includes several authoritarian governments, is against sanctions and is more reluctant to criticize member Burma and North Korea.
ASEAN ministers issued a statement this week urging free, fair and inclusive elections in Burma.
The ministers also deplored the sinking of the South Korean ship, which they called an "incident," and rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
But their statement stopped short of criticizing Burma and did not even mention North Korea, saying only that it supported efforts for a nuclear weapons free Korean peninsula.
ASEAN members are Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Related Articles
White House lowers budget deficit forecast this year
WASHINGTON -- U.S. federal budget deficit is expected to reach an all-time high of 1.47 trillion U.S. dollars this year, 84 billion dollars lower than projected in February, the White House said on Friday.
The 2010 deficit is equal to 10.0 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), about the same as the 2009 level, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in its mid-session budget review.
This year's deficit was trimmed due to lower expenditure forecast. For 2011, the red ink is expected to decline to about 1. 42 trillion dollars, or 9.2 percent of GDP, but 150 billion dollars higher than projected in February.
The report predicted that the ratio of budget deficit to GDP will drop sharply to 5.6 percent in 2012, and further down to 4.3 percent in 2013, when President Barack Obama's first term ends.
"The deficit projections show that the budget is still on track to meet the president's goal of cutting the deficit, as a percent of GDP, in half by the end of his first term," said the report.
The deficit that Obama inherited from the Bush administration was equal to 9.2 percent of GDP.
In addition, debt held by the public is projected to reach 9.2 trillion dollars at the end of 2010, or 62.7 percent of GDP. Public debt is expected to continue increasing throughout the ten- year budget horizon to a projected 77.4 percent of GDP in 2020.
The ever-floated budget deficit has aroused widespread concerns and is considered to potentially endanger the sustainability of the country's economic recovery.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the U.S. to rein in its soaring budget deficit.
"The central challenge is to develop a credible fiscal strategy to ensure that public debt is put -- and is seen to be put -- on a sustainable path without putting the recovery in jeopardy," the IMF said in a report.
The 2010 deficit is equal to 10.0 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), about the same as the 2009 level, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in its mid-session budget review.
This year's deficit was trimmed due to lower expenditure forecast. For 2011, the red ink is expected to decline to about 1. 42 trillion dollars, or 9.2 percent of GDP, but 150 billion dollars higher than projected in February.
The report predicted that the ratio of budget deficit to GDP will drop sharply to 5.6 percent in 2012, and further down to 4.3 percent in 2013, when President Barack Obama's first term ends.
"The deficit projections show that the budget is still on track to meet the president's goal of cutting the deficit, as a percent of GDP, in half by the end of his first term," said the report.
The deficit that Obama inherited from the Bush administration was equal to 9.2 percent of GDP.
In addition, debt held by the public is projected to reach 9.2 trillion dollars at the end of 2010, or 62.7 percent of GDP. Public debt is expected to continue increasing throughout the ten- year budget horizon to a projected 77.4 percent of GDP in 2020.
The ever-floated budget deficit has aroused widespread concerns and is considered to potentially endanger the sustainability of the country's economic recovery.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the U.S. to rein in its soaring budget deficit.
"The central challenge is to develop a credible fiscal strategy to ensure that public debt is put -- and is seen to be put -- on a sustainable path without putting the recovery in jeopardy," the IMF said in a report.
| Editor: Mu Xuequan |
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