Economics Report.Continuing debt problemsin Greece and Portugal.The banking crisis in Ireland.A trillion-dollar deficitin the United States.These are all reasonswhy high levels of public debtare a big worry around the world.Countries that keepspending a lot more thanthey earn may not be ableto repay their debts.That risk of default can makeit harder and costlier for themto borrow more money.Heavy debt can also affecta country's competitiveness.Voter anger at government spendingand taxes helped lead tothe big Republican gainsin America's elections this month.President Obama saysfor the economy to improve,the government must cut spendingand reduce its deficit.In February, he formedthe National Commissionon Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.The two chairmenare Erskine Bowles,a Democrat, and Alan Simpson,a Republican.Last week, the chairmenpresented their own ideasfor how to cut the federaldeficit to about two percentof the economy by twenty fifteen.The administration estimatesthis year's deficit at aboutten and a half percent.The two chairmen saytheir proposals wouldcut the deficitby almost four trillion dollarsover the next ten years.One hundred billion wouldcome from the military.Other proposals wouldcut the federal workforceby ten percentand freeze civilian pay.The chairmen propose tosimplify the tax lawsand reduce tax rates.But they also propose tocut some popular tax breaks.One target is deductionsfor interest paidon home mortgage loansover five hundred thousand dollars.Another proposal wouldadd two years to the fullretirement age for Social Security-- raising it to sixty-nineby about twenty seventy-five.The commission includes currentand former lawmakers from both parties.The group is supposed to reacha compromise acceptable toat least fourteen of the eighteenmembers by December first.Other groups are offeringtheir own debt reduction plans.Former senator Pete Domeniciand former Clintonadministration official Alice Rivlinled a task force that presentedits plan on Wednesday.That plan aims to save six trilliondollars over ten years.It would freeze federal spendingfor several years,change the tax laws-- and create a national sales tax.And that's the VOA Special EnglishEconomics Report,written by Mario Ritter.You can download all of our programs,including transcripts,at 51voa.com.