Northwest Indiana Discussion

You know, those "STRICT gun control laws trying to be rammed down our throats by the democrats."

The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.

“USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance,” the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance” web page. “Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”

While this quarter's earnings reports have crossed a substantially lowered profit bar, future expectations through the year indicate a recession could be on the way.

Estimates for the third and fourth quarters have been dropped to levels not seen since the days of the 2008 financial crisis, below even the muted 2 percent expected level of inflation.

That's an ominous recession sign for an economy that has barely managed to attain positive growth this year even with the strong level of earnings beats, according to an analysis by Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx in New York.

"Revenue estimates for the back half of 2012 have been slowly working their way lower this year," Colas said. "This trend, however, has accelerated to the downside over the past 30 days and we are fast approaching levels where these estimates are unambiguously pointing to the risk of a U.S./global recession later into 2012 and 2013."

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Tuesday estimated that the federal budget deficit stands at $975 billion through July.

This guarantees that the deficit for fiscal 2012, which ends Sept. 30, will be above $1 trillion.

The deficit under each year of the Obama administration will have exceeded $1 trillion, after coming to $459 billion in 2008.

The deficit through the first 10 months of 2011 came to $1.1 trillion, $125 billion more than through the first 10 months of this year.

CBO reported that despite the budget battles between President Obama and Congress, spending is virtually identical this year to spending in 2011.

Through July, the government spent $2.98 trillion, just $11 billion less than in 2011.

CBO: Federal Deficit To Top $1 Trillion For Third Straight Year

WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit is approaching $1 trillion for a fourth straight year, even though the government is collecting more tax revenue than last year.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the deficit grew by $124.6 billion in May. That put the deficit through the first eight months of the budget year at $844.5 billion, or 8.9 percent below last year's imbalance for the same period.

Still, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the deficit for the entire 2012 budget year, which ends Sept. 30, will total $1.17 trillion. The deficit recorded in fiscal 2011 was 1.3 trillion. The 2012 number is certain to keep the federal budget near the center of the presidential campaign.

So far this year, government receipts are running 5.3 percent higher than a year ago. A better job market and modest economic growth have led to higher tax revenue.

Receipts in May totaled $180.7 billion, the second-largest tax take ever for May.

Rising tax collections have also helped state governments. U.S. states expect to collect higher tax revenue in the coming budget year that, combined, will top the collections received before the recession, according to the findings of a survey released Tuesday by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers.

The extra tax revenue hasn't cooled the budget debate in Washington.

President Barack Obama and Republicans remain at odds over how much to spend, where to cut and whether tax increases should be on the table.