trillion

President Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget request Monday that hikes taxes on the rich, spends new money on infrastructure and education, but does little to reform the entitlement programs that pose the biggest long-term threat to the federal budget.

The year couldn't end without a final word about the nation's debt ceiling.

As the clock is ticking for the super committee to make some $1.2 trillion in cuts, companies and groups are spending more to influence what's on the chopping block.

The super committee is in the middle of a frantic scramble to agree on a debt reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion.

Former BusinessWeek editor Amy Cortese spent a year uncovering the most innovative experiments in citizen finance around the world, and proposes a culture of "locavesting" --investing in businesses within 50 miles of where you live-- as a way of rebuilding sustainable communities in the U.S. Excerpt: "Americans have about $26 trillion dollars in investments, and now it's probably closer to $30 trillion.

The super committee has to cut government spending by more than $1 trillion. But now Democrats, Republicans and big business are all talking cuts more than three times that much.

How come?

What's the easiest way to scare the biggest, baddest fighting force on the planet? Budget cuts.

House Speaker John Boehner drew a line in the sand on Thursday, saying that a special debt committee tasked with cutting at least $1.2 trillion from federal deficits shouldn't consider tax hikes.

A small, bipartisan group of lawmakers will be hunkering down this fall, negotiating ways to reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade.

The last-minute debt ceiling deal Congress is racing to enact would reduce deficits by at least $2.1 trillion over 10 years.