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[Tuff-Stuff]

~~>Germany's Merkel to Cut Social Security

(Market should just LUV this on top of all else)

MESEBERG, Germany -- Chancellor Angela Merkel says she wants to trim Germany's generous social welfare benefits in order to save money.

Merkel said Saturday, one day before her cabinet convenes to decide on budget cuts or higher taxes, there is a need to "make the structures of our social systems more efficient."

Germany faces a budget deficit of more than 86 billion euros ($103 billion) this year and has said it needs to cut at least 10 billion euros a year through 2016 to meet a constitutional balanced budget requirement.

The government originally wanted to cut taxes, but more recently has debated tax hikes instead.

Merkel added that the trims are now "at the center of the issue," as opposed to continued talk about generating more income for the federal budget