National debt hits $16 trillion

National debt hits $16 trillion

WASHINGTON

The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the national debt has topped $16 trillion, the result of chronic government deficits that have poured more than $50,000 worth of red ink onto federal ledgers for every man, woman and child in the United States.

The news was greeted with a round of press releases from Barack Obama’s GOP rivals, who used the grim-but-expected news to criticize the president for the government’s fiscal performance over his 31/2 years in office. Obama has presided over four-straight years of trillion dollar-plus deficits after inheriting a weak economy from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

“We can no longer push off the tough decisions until tomorrow,” said No. 2 House Republican Eric Cantor, R-Va. “It’s time to address the serious fiscal challenges we face and stop spending money we don’t have.” Last summer, Cantor dropped out of a set of budget talks hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, citing the insistence of the White House on tax increases to help close deficits that require the government to borrow 33 cents of every dollar it spends.

The spiraling debt means that lawmakers and the eventual winner of the White House in November will have to pass a law early next year to raise the government’s borrowing cap from the current ceiling of $16.39 trillion. Passing such legislation last year proved enormously difficult, and the nation’s credit rating suffered.

FBI denies claims of Apple data breach

WASHINGTON

A hacker group’s claim that it obtained from an FBI laptop a file with more than 12 million identification numbers for Apple iPhones, iPads and other devices has set off widespread speculation about why a federal agency would possess such information.

But the FBI disputed the allegation Tuesday, saying that “at this time, there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”

If the FBI’s denials prove correct, the agency may have been the victim of a clever hoax by the group known as AntiSec that spurred thousands of headlines around the Web and left readers wondering how and why the FBI could have gotten access to Apple customer records.

Bankruptcy judge throws out contract

NEW YORK

American Airlines took a major step toward emerging from bankruptcy Tuesday when a federal judge threw out its pilots union contract.

The airline’s management already has negotiated concessions from its flight attendants, maintenance workers and other unionized employees. The decision by Judge Sean H. Lane will now let the Fort Worth-Texas airline lower its pilot payroll.

The move will quicken American’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, either as a stand-alone airline or potentially merged with US Airways Group Inc.

Vindicator wire services