Discretionary Spending

Retailers posted a mild uptick in sales in October as consumers took a break from back-to-school splurging in advance of the holiday season. Major chain stores reported a 1.6% sales increase in October compared with the same period a year earlier, in line with analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 28 retailers released Thursday. In a sign that cost-conscious shoppers are continuing to shop frugally, discount chains made a strong showing, posting a 3.8% year-over-year increase.

Federal Reserve ChairmanBen S. Bernanke implored lawmakers last week to keep the federal government from driving off a "fiscal cliff" - a phrase he coined earlier this year to describe the hefty spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect simultaneously in January. But he was talking to the wrong audience. The two men he should have been lobbying are the ones running for president. Bernanke's remarks came amid a global economic slowdown, with Europe, Asia and China in varying degrees of decline.

Travelocity.com Inc. the leading travel Web site, announced cost cuts that included laying off 320 people, or 10% of its non-customer service work force, instituting a hiring freeze and cutting advertising and other discretionary spending. Citing a sharp reduction in air travel after the Sept.

After several months of strong retail sales, shoppers appeared more cautious about spending in April as rainy weather and fresh worries about the economy curbed people's urge to shop. Major chain stores posted a 0.8% sales increase in April compared with the same month a year earlier, falling short of analysts' expectations of a slightly better 1.5% rise, according to Thomson Reuters ' tally of 20 retailers. Top performers were a mixture of high- and low-end stores. Action-sports chain Zumiez Inc. led the way with a 10.1% bump.

President Bush's budget would impose much deeper long-term cuts than he has proposed for next year in domestic programs such as the environment, community development and law enforcement, according to an analysis by congressional Democrats. But senior Bush administration officials contend the Democratic analysis is based on faulty assumptions about the White House's long-term budget plans, and they dismiss its conclusions as erroneous.

President Barack Obama will propose a three-year freeze on federal spending outside of national security to save an estimated $250 billion over a decade as part of an effort to rein in record deficits, two administration officials said. Obama will unveil his election-year fiscal strategy during his State of the Union address to Congress on Jan. 27. The limit on discretionary spending would reduce the deficit by $10 billion to $15 billion in 2011, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on the plan.

Re "Fiscal Responsibility, Adieu," editorial, April 11: The implication of your editorial is truly scary. Using the logic displayed in the editorial, we should never attempt to rein in government spending because it is a lost cause. We will just have to live with the inevitable pork that weighs down budget after budget solely for the benefit of incumbents and a few selected constituents. Discretionary spending should just continue to increase at two to three times the rate of inflation in order to fund new priorities.

President Bush wants the voters to believe that he has made valiant efforts to cut government spending, but has been thwarted by a spendthrift Congress. He implies that Congress failed to live up to the 1990 budget agreement, for which he broke his no-new-taxes campaign promise. He claims that he has submitted specific proposals for balancing the budget, which Congress has rejected. There is little truth to any of these allegations. Nevertheless, they are widely believed, even by Democrats.

You travel on a crumbling interstate highway to your vacation destination: the shabby grounds of the national park, where the guardrails on the mountain overlook are twisted and rusting. During the ride, you worry about how to come up with the extra $5,000 to pay the emergency tuition hike just announced by your daughter's college, which is desperate for money after losing its last federal research grants.

President Obama formally unveiled his 2012 budget Monday. The plan now must go through Congress, a route made more perilous by maneuvering for the 2012 presidential race. Here is a primer on a topic that will probably dominate political discussion for months: What did President Obama do? He released his budget for the fiscal year that begins in October and lasts until the end of September 2012. The budget calls for $3.7 trillion in spending, with a deficit of $1.1 trillion.

President Obama will call for new spending on infrastructure, education and manufacturing research, as well as higher taxes on top earners, in a budget proposal aimed at underlining his top economic priorities as he gears up his reelection campaign. Senior administration officials Friday offered a preview of the president's 2013 budget proposal, which is due to be formally unveiled Monday. The blueprint outlined pulls heavily from proposals previously put forward by the president — including his jobs bill, most of which is stalled in Congress, and his deficit reduction plan, which fizzled in the failed congressional "super committee" charged with reducing the deficit.

President Obama formally unveiled his 2012 budget Monday. The plan now must go through Congress, a route made more perilous by maneuvering for the 2012 presidential race. Here is a primer on a topic that will probably dominate political discussion for months: What did President Obama do? He released his budget for the fiscal year that begins in October and lasts until the end of September 2012. The budget calls for $3.7 trillion in spending, with a deficit of $1.1 trillion.

President Obama's deficit reduction commission fell a few votes shy of the number needed to send its proposal to Capitol Hill for action, but still received enough bipartisan support to raise hopes that political leaders are girding to tackle the nation's gargantuan debt. The commission's final report, with the cinematic title, "The Moment of Truth," won the backing of 11 out of 18 members ? three short of the supermajority required under the executive order that Obama signed in February when he created the panel.

The bipartisan debt commission issued its final report Wednesday, warning that without the sacrifices it calls for, a fiscal "reckoning will be sure and the devastation severe. " Based on an initial blueprint offered Nov. 10 by the panel's co-chairmen, former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson and former Clinton administration chief of staff Erskine Bowles, the budget blueprint outlines steps that, when taken together, would slash the federal deficit by $828 billion by 2015. "Even after the economy recovers, federal spending is projected to increase faster than revenues, so the government will have to continue borrowing to spend," the report states.

Retailers posted a mild uptick in sales in October as consumers took a break from back-to-school splurging in advance of the holiday season. Major chain stores reported a 1.6% sales increase in October compared with the same period a year earlier, in line with analyst expectations, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 28 retailers released Thursday. In a sign that cost-conscious shoppers are continuing to shop frugally, discount chains made a strong showing, posting a 3.8% year-over-year increase.

It's all about Sunday. Flowers in bright shades of pink, purple and orange are on hand, and designers are busy crafting dramatic new bouquets and arrangements at Mark's Garden in Sherman Oaks as the big day inches closer. In Beverly Hills, Lawry's the Prime Rib restaurant has doubled its normal contingent of waiters, hosts and other staff, anticipating 1,500 diners and a three-hour wait for those without reservations. Boxes of candy are piled high at Godiva chocolate stores. As Mother's Day approaches, jewelers, florists, restaurateurs, card shops, bookstores and merchants of all kinds throughout Southern California are geared up for an onslaught of customers.

The budget deficit has been eliminated. Washington is looking at massive surpluses as far as the eye can see--the biggest piles of cash the federal government has ever accumulated. And at precisely this moment of plenty, President Bush is trying to abruptly tighten the spigot on government spending in all but a few key areas.

After several months of strong retail sales, shoppers appeared more cautious about spending in April as rainy weather and fresh worries about the economy curbed people's urge to shop. Major chain stores posted a 0.8% sales increase in April compared with the same month a year earlier, falling short of analysts' expectations of a slightly better 1.5% rise, according to Thomson Reuters ' tally of 20 retailers. Top performers were a mixture of high- and low-end stores. Action-sports chain Zumiez Inc. led the way with a 10.1% bump.

President Obama's budget for the next fiscal year arrives at an unusually difficult time for Washington. The economy grew with surprising vigor in the last three months of 2009, but much of that growth came from companies cutting their inventories less deeply than before. Meanwhile, more than 10% of the workforce remains unemployed, and that percentage is expected to remain stubbornly high all year. Tight credit markets make it hard for businesses to get loans, but Washington is borrowing at a record-setting clip.