I'll halve $1.3trillion deficit in five years, says Obama

AN economic summit held at the White House has been hailed a success by Barack Obama.

The president assembled politicians, union chiefs and business leaders in Washington to outline how he plans to slash the federal budget deficit.

He vowed to cut the $1.3 trillion deficit in half by the end of his first term in office, in 2013, and to end the "casual dishonesty" of budgets applied by the previous administration. He picked on George Bush's technique of budgeting zero dollars for the Iraq war, when it is costing the country $90billion a year. Mr Obama said: "We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, to the next administration or next generation."

He also told the assembled group that the $787billion stimulus Bill was vital if America was to stand any chance of pulling through the recession and tackle "long-term challenges" such as health care, energy and education which "we can no longer afford to ignore".