Want more proof that the U.S. economy is still in a fragile state? Consider this. People are still holding back on buying burgers, soda and beer. So much for fast food, soft drinks and booze being recession-proof.
Question: We're in our late 60s, retired and have a comfortable amount of money in retirement accounts, mostly mutual funds. My husband wants to liquidate most of our holdings and put the proceeds in money market funds, laddered CDs, maybe an annuity, as he fears the political situation will lead to another recession. Is he right? --Sharon, Kennewick, Washington
With 14.8 million people out of work, competition for new jobs is easing ever so slightly, according to a government report released Tuesday.
When the Senate grudgingly reconfirmed Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman two days before his term expired, he was only a stand-in for the man 30 senators were really mad at. "I knew that he would continue the legacy of Alan Greenspan, and I was right," said an angry Jim Bunning, a conservative Republican from Kentucky who voted no. Fumed Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the Senate's only (admitted) socialist: "He said it publicly -- I want to follow in the footsteps of Alan Greenspan. Alan Greenspan's philosophy is a disaster." Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Bernanke "helped set the fire that destroyed our economy." Only helped, that is -- and we all know whom he helped.
The government's monthly job report on Friday showed that the disastrous labor situation plaguing the nation's economy is moderating. But the report also underlines an unsettling reality: 8.4 million jobs have been vaporized since the recession began, and digging out won't be easy.
The Obama White House likes to say that the theories of John Maynard Keynes form the foundation for its fiscal policies. Most notably, it draws upon the legendary British economist's idea of spending big to pull out of a recession.
Despite modest January job losses the good news for job seekers is that after a brutal recession that swallowed stimulus packages whole with barely a burp, the business cycle is finally your friend in 2010.
As Haiti continues to dig out from the earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, local microlenders are gearing up to begin rebuilding the country's shattered economy.
As bad as the government's jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we'll soon find out the real situation likely was worse.
Bill and Melinda Gates on Friday made the largest donation ever to a single cause: $10 billion to develop vaccines for the world's poorest nations.
Want more proof that the U.S. economy is still in a fragile state? Consider this. People are still holding back on buying burgers, soda and beer. So much for fast food, soft drinks and booze being recession-proof.
Question: We're in our late 60s, retired and have a comfortable amount of money in retirement accounts, mostly mutual funds. My husband wants to liquidate most of our holdings and put the proceeds in money market funds, laddered CDs, maybe an annuity, as he fears the political situation will lead to another recession. Is he right? --Sharon, Kennewick, Washington
With 14.8 million people out of work, competition for new jobs is easing ever so slightly, according to a government report released Tuesday.
When the Senate grudgingly reconfirmed Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman two days before his term expired, he was only a stand-in for the man 30 senators were really mad at. "I knew that he would continue the legacy of Alan Greenspan, and I was right," said an angry Jim Bunning, a conservative Republican from Kentucky who voted no. Fumed Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the Senate's only (admitted) socialist: "He said it publicly -- I want to follow in the footsteps of Alan Greenspan. Alan Greenspan's philosophy is a disaster." Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said Bernanke "helped set the fire that destroyed our economy." Only helped, that is -- and we all know whom he helped.
The government's monthly job report on Friday showed that the disastrous labor situation plaguing the nation's economy is moderating. But the report also underlines an unsettling reality: 8.4 million jobs have been vaporized since the recession began, and digging out won't be easy.
The Obama White House likes to say that the theories of John Maynard Keynes form the foundation for its fiscal policies. Most notably, it draws upon the legendary British economist's idea of spending big to pull out of a recession.
Despite modest January job losses the good news for job seekers is that after a brutal recession that swallowed stimulus packages whole with barely a burp, the business cycle is finally your friend in 2010.
As Haiti continues to dig out from the earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, local microlenders are gearing up to begin rebuilding the country's shattered economy.
As bad as the government's jobs readings numbers have been during the Great Recession, we'll soon find out the real situation likely was worse.
Bill and Melinda Gates on Friday made the largest donation ever to a single cause: $10 billion to develop vaccines for the world's poorest nations.
The U.S. economy grew at the fastest pace in more than six years during the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a government report Friday.
Americans cashed in 3.3 billion coupons in 2009, a 27 percent jump from the previous year when news of the financial crisis tipped the country into recession, according to a new report.
The top-grossing movie in the world, Avatar, is on screens now, and it clearly identifies the most evil force in the universe. It's business.
Boosting employment tops the to-do list in Washington this year.
Being out of work is taking a toll on job seekers. But even those with a job are getting fed up. Layoffs, diminished benefits, pay cuts and extra workload burdens are finally pushing many disgruntled workers right out the door.
Stocks climbed Wednesday, ending a choppy session higher after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and hinted it would continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Apple introduced its new iPad tablet computer.
Economist Nouriel Roubini said Wednesday that asset bubbles are beginning to form in markets around the world, and he called for more regulation of the global financial system.
One of the most important questions surrounding the stimulus program is also one of the most controversial: How many jobs has it created?
Oil prices fell below $75 Tuesday as concerns about global economic growth overshadowed a rebound in U.S. stock markets.
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's raised the prospect of a downgrade in Japan's sovereign debt rating Tuesday. That's reigniting fears that the U.S. could be next.
Two very different views on where oil prices are going by the year's end are emerging - one says $60 or lower, the other $100 or higher, and there's little consensus as to which is right.
Congress will soon spar over how to spur jobs.
A year after a nearly $800 billion stimulus package was passed, the U.S. economy still finds itself mired in mediocrity.
In honor of the latest banking overhaul proposed by President Obama (with inflation fighter Paul Volcker to boot) I give you the following ditty.
American consumers are unlikely to ride to the economy's rescue the way they did following the 2001 recession.
As Haiti struggles to cope with the aftermath of last week's devastating earthquake, there was a call Wednesday for a modern-day Marshall Plan to build a new nation out of the country's ruins.
Think recessions spur laid-off workers to launch new ventures? Think again.
The Federal Reserve banks made a $52 billion profit in 2009, reaping extra income on the government securities they bought in an effort to stabilize the financial system.
Employers once again slashed a substantial number jobs off their payrolls in December, according to a disappointing report from the government Friday. But there was a small glimmer of hope as well.
Every eight seconds, somewhere in the world a child dies from waterborne diseases because the parents cannot afford clean water, according to Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project.
How much should the Federal Reserve support the bond markets? The question, which has animated investors lately, was the subject of a debate at December's Fed meeting, according to minutes from that meeting released Wednesday.
Since cratering at 12-year lows in March, the S&P 500 has staged a powerful rebound as investors turned what could have been an abysmal 2009 into the second best year of the decade for stock returns.
Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared Monday after the Treasury Department announced what essentially amounts to a blank check for their bailouts.
The largest stimulus program in the nation's history is starting to move into a new phase: Out with the rescue, in with new spending to create jobs.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged both industrialized and developing countries to do more during this week's Copenhagen summit toward reaching an agreement on limiting carbon emissions.
There's been a lot of gloom surrounding the climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, and let's face it, some of it is well-founded. Trying to get 192 countries to agree on a new treaty would be tough even in the best of economic times, and these aren't the best of economic times.
The rift over a leaked draft climate agreement widened Wednesday with an astonishing attack on the West by one of the poor nations' leading climate negotiators.
A leaked document known as the "Danish text" has driven an even deeper wedge between rich and poor countries embroiled in U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen.
Economists are in broad agreement that the Great Recession is over. The American public strongly disagrees.
Dubai's not the only onetime highflier that risks drowning in debt.
Economic growth was weaker in the third quarter than originally reported, according to government data released Tuesday.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
Big promises, no international climate deal and consensus that pulling the plug too quickly on stimulus spending could undermine the global economic recovery -- those are the key results (or lack thereof) from the APEC summit, which wraps up Sunday in Singapore.
Kidney disease is becoming a growing problem in developing countries, caused by an explosion in cases of diabetes and high blood pressure, experts say.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to Washington, D.C., Monday to address a conference of the American Jewish Federations at a time of concern in Israel that the U.S.-Israel relationship is adrift.
Gold prices surged to a record high Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund said it had sold 200 metric tons of the precious metal to India's central bank.
Now that we're officially (if barely) out of the Great Recession, it's time for our nation's elected officials to get down to serious business -- that of taking credit, assigning blame, and calling each other liars.
The economy is growing again. So when are the jobs that go with growth going to get here?
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, ending a string of declines over four quarters that resulted in the most severe slide since the Great Depression. But some economists raised doubts about how long such strong growth can last.
Profits are down at Hillenbrand, America's largest maker of caskets. Admittedly, this fact sounds like the setup for a punch line, but the cause of the shortage in stiffs contains lessons for politicians and business leaders alike.
As an American of African descent, I swelled with pride when I heard that the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected President Obama to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The award further validates what the 2008 presidential election demonstrated: The United States is the most mature and fully functioning multi-ethnic democracy in the world.
The Federal Reserve threw a lot of money at the crisis to get the gears of the economy turning again -- but it may soon be time to collect on the bill.
With its ever-increasing pockets of barren land and abandoned housing, Detroit may be the most financially devastated city in the country. Who would take on the task of trying to revive neighborhoods mired in economic blight? Try an institution built on faith and hope: Detroit's churches.
Police clashed with protesters for a second day outside a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, CNN's sister network, CNN Turk, reported Wednesday.
Australia's raising interest rates! The global recession is over! The only question now is how strong and fast the economic rebound will be. Hip hip hooray!
I recently accompanied Margaret Chan, Director General of the WHO, and Ray Chambers, U.N. Special Envoy for Malaria, on a trip to Africa to see firsthand the region's fight against malaria.
In the financial crisis, Europe's banking sector has been the shoe that wouldn't drop.
A protester threw a shoe at the IMF director at the end of a question-and-answer session Thursday at a university in Istanbul.
Americans appear to actually thrive on adversity, according to a study published this week that reached the conclusion after researching the nation's biggest economic downturn.
The last 50 years have borne witness to a spate of climate-related disasters across the world causing over 800,000 fatalities and $1 trillion in economic losses.
Are you finally ready for some good news about the recession? As it turns out, a shaky economy might actually be good for your health.
The odds are against Brenda T. Buck, and she knows it. So she counts on what she calls the Sandwich Philosophy: "Take it one bite at a time."
This week the international community is converging on my chosen hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as heads of state gather for the G20 summit.
While the recession has affected the entire nation, members of minority groups have suffered more pain than their white counterparts, according to a report released Wednesday by a liberal think tank.
The world's tropical forests are disappearing, and one reason is simple economics: People, companies and governments earn more by logging, mining or farming places such as the Amazon jungle than by conserving them.
Anderson Cooper, Ali Velshi and the CNN Money Team hosted a special "CNN Money Summit: Money & Main St." Thursday night, September 17. Here's a transcript of the show:
In the developing world millions of people struggle to operate machinery, read from a blackboard, or just see the world around them, because they don't have access to the eyeglasses they need.
With apologies to the Beatles, the list of the best-performing Fortune 500 stocks in the year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers reads like a stroll down Penny Lane.
Americans are not nearly as optimistic about the economy as the chairman of the Federal Reserve seems to be, a national poll released Thursday shows.
For an academic from Dillon, S.C., Ben Bernanke is an unlikely gunslinger.
The mood regarding the U.S. economy may be inching, ever so slowly, toward optimism. But don't expect to see much improvement on the jobs front anytime soon. The economy's following a script for a jobless recovery, and unemployment is likely to stay high, if not get slightly worse.
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it appears that the U.S. economy has halted the longest period of decline since the Great Depression, although it cautioned that economic activity is likely to remain weak in the near term.
There is a growing belief that the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is over.
Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage insurer, said Thursday that it needs another $10.7 billion from the Treasury Department to stay afloat.
When economist Dennis Gartman told subscribers of his newsletter in the fall of 2007 that the U.S. was entering a recession, the Dow was at 13,500, and the official government call wouldn't come for another full year.
The U.S. Postal Service is losing money so quickly you'd think it somehow got mixed up in the subprime mortgage business. It's on track this year for an operating loss of between $6 billion and $12 billion, debt surpassing $10 billion, and a $1 billion cash shortfall. For any business, those are some ugly numbers.
Brad Baugh lives in Savannah, Georgia, where he buys and renovates houses. He told me two things the other day that exposed a great opportunity in this treacherous recession -- and that may even shine a light on our way out of it.
The pace of economic decline slowed substantially in the second quarter, as the U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 1% -- far less than it did in the first quarter, according to a government report released Friday.
The pace of economic decline slowed substantially in the second quarter, as the U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent, far less than it did in the first quarter, according to a government report released Friday.
Cleaning up after bank failures is one chore you won't hear bankers complaining about.
The government's economic recovery efforts have brought many new and unfamiliar financial terms into the conversation. Here's a list of some we think are vital to understanding the recession and the government's attempts to fix it:
The first big government bailout of the financial crisis -- the takeover of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- is poised to be the most expensive and complicated to complete.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Sunday that lessons learned from the recession and the financial crisis will help make the economy stronger than it was before the crisis.
Pay raises are expected to rebound next year after being severely stunted by the recession, a new survey showed Wednesday.
The independent overseer of the $700 billion bailout has caused a ruckus over an important question: How much do taxpayers have on the line?
Amid ominous economic forecasts and repeated bleak reports about America's financial future, messages of hope can be hard to come by.
Leaders of both industrialized powers and emerging economies have agreed to work together on setting a goal to limit global warming to levels recommended by scientists, U.S. President Barack Obama said at the G-8 summit.
It's noon in New Haven, and Yale economist Robert Shiller and I are leaving his office to walk down the block for pizza. It was a damp morning, but now the sun is breaking through the clouds. "Do we need an umbrella?" he asks. I say I don't think so. But a few steps outside his office, he turns around to get one. "It's better to be safe," he says.
Researchers in the U.S. have proposed a new way of allocating responsibility for carbon emissions they say could solve the impasse between developed and developing countries.
Shweta Gupta knows exactly what kind of groom she wants: he should be educated, well settled and live in a good location --- one that must be in India.
Should the Federal Reserve be more worried about the threat of inflation on the long-term horizon, or deflation in the short-term?
Worldwide trade will plummet by nearly 10% this year, and output will fall by 2.9%, the World Bank predicted in a report released Monday.
The recession began in December 2007. Did it end sometime this spring?
China can expect 7.2% growth in 2009, according to the World Bank, which says the country's fiscal policies in the face of a global financial slowdown have kept the Chinese economy "growing respectably."
For the first time, Brazil, Russia, India, and China -- dubbed the BRIC nations -- held a summit this week to discuss the global economy and their role in it.
Cell phone technology is helping developing nations prepare for disease threats such as a new strain of swine flu, an outbreak of measles or the increased spread of HIV.
The stock market's rally serves as "broad validation" of the Obama administration's financial rescue efforts, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Monday.
Billionaire Bill Gates has urged industrialized nations to honor aid pledges to developing nations despite the recession.
The first comprehensive report into the human cost of climate change warns the world is in the throes of a "silent crisis" that is killing 300,000 people each year.
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed | Top Searches |
© 2010 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
