Looking at our nation’s weak economy, high unemployment and eye-popping $14.3 trillion debt, President Barack Obama and a majority of the members of Congress should easily recognize the need to slash the dangerous levels of spending that have prevailed in Washington for much too long.
But if those negative economic indicators alone cannot persuade them to start making some commonsense budget cuts, perhaps a serious warning from the International Monetary Fund will help them make up their minds.
The IMF, a global lender that is based in Washington, has reduced its forecast of U.S. economic growth for this year and for 2012. The IMF had said earlier that our economy would expand by 2.8 percent this year and 2.9 percent in 2012 – which are not exactly “strong” growth figures to begin with.
But now the IMF predicts that our country will see only about 2.5 percent growth this year and 2.7 percent growth next year.
Why the downgrade?