Economy

With two-thirds of the year now over, nothing is resolved about the economy, the housing market, the credit markets or the stock market. What a way to get back to work on Tuesday after summer vacation. As the curtain comes up on the final four months of 2008, here's a look at some of the key issues that will preoccupy investors: The U.S. economy.. Recession? Depression? Recovery? None of the above? The script that many analysts wrote for the domestic economy at the start of this year was for a first-half slowdown or even contraction (recession)

Airbnb is all the talk on Wall Street. Its thirtysomething founders were nearly broke six years ago. Now it seems likely they will soon become billionaires. Their company, which connects 600,000 apartment dwellers and homeowners in 160 countries with millions of people seeking cheap lodging online, is closing a new round of private funding, and it is expected to be valued at $10 billion or more by the end of April. In one night alone during 2013, Airbnb boasted 250,000 guests staying in its members' apartments and houses.

Expanding your business in a down economy can be difficult. In many cases it requires you to think differently and more creatively, as well as to re-evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, experts say. In the end, this can be a great time to reconnect with customers and find new opportunities that you may not have explored during better times. "In a robust economy it's easy to become complacent," said small-business expert Rhonda Abrams, president of the Planning Shop, a Palo Alto-based publisher of books for entrepreneurs.

A field of candidates - many political heavyweights and city insiders - are locked in an expensive battle to become Long Beach's newest mayor, a job that comes with expectations of reviving both the port city's economy and reputation. The April 8 election has candidates vying for city attorney and a majority of Long Beach's nine council seats, setting the stage for one of the most significant shake-ups in city politics in more than a decade. But all eyes are on the mayor's race, and with the crowded field a June runoff is likely.

Imagine a world where prices of all sorts of goods and services just keep moving down. Your weekly grocery bill shrinks. Your hairstylist gladly accepts 15% less, just to get the business. At long last, movie theaters even stop gouging you on popcorn. Good times? Sure — until your employer cuts your salary or fires you to cope with the need to reduce prices. Suddenly, the economy is in the grip of a vicious spiral, as falling consumption forces prices lower, driving unemployment up, which in turn drives consumption and prices down further.

Under fire for his assertion that the American economy is fundamentally sound, John McCain moved Tuesday to assure voters of his empathy and accused Barack Obama of attempting to take political advantage of the roiling Wall Street crisis. Obama on Tuesday castigated McCain as having been "scornful" of the very Wall Street regulations he was now espousing, and he launched television ads mocking McCain's Monday statement. The Arizona senator spent seven national TV interviews and two campaign events seeking to make it clear that he understood the depth of concern about the rocky economy.

The country's prime minister said Canadians don't need a Parliament that acts like the U.S. Congress and panics like the U.S. Treasury Department. Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticized the way the U.S. has managed the credit crisis a day after political rivals said during a debate that the Canadian leader was out of touch with the seriousness of Canada's slowing economy. The Conservative Party leader said he needs a strong mandate from voters in the Oct. 14 national elections so he can deal with the economy.

The federal deficit will dip below $1 trillion for the first time in five years, a substantial improvement in the fiscal outlook, but one that masks a persistent budget gap that will probably worsen later this decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The last two years of budget battles between the White House and congressional Republicans, coupled with the recovering economy, have slowed the government's gush of red ink. But steps to reduce the deficit have acted as a drag on the economy, slowing the recovery, the budget office said.

The Fourth of July weekend seems like a good time to examine some of the heat and rhetoric lately surrounding one of the basic building blocks of our society: immigration. There is widespread concern that too many immigrants are coming in and, worse, that waves of unskilled workers will form a permanent underclass and change the historic dynamic of American society. These are serious matters. Immigration is part of the DNA of America, and it's as necessary today as ever.

Worried by the worsening economy, Kristen Olson decided she'd better start saving money. She tallied her expenses and was walloped by sticker shock: She and her roommates were spending $900 a year for cable TV. "I'm not watching $900 worth of cable," said the 25-year-old advertising account coordinator, who lives in North Hollywood. She's trying to persuade her roommates to drop the service.

Diesel-powered cars save on fuel, but many of them won't save you any money. That's because they cost thousands more to buy in the first place, compared with similar gas-powered models. And many automakers usually offer diesel engines only in combination with a pricey set of standard features. So it can take years - if ever - to make up for those upfront costs through savings at the pump. That's what makes the latest addition to Volkswagen's growing diesel fleet, the Jetta TDI Value Edition, so intriguing.

TAIPEI, Taiwan - For decades, relations between Taiwan and its giant neighbor China have been one of the great success stories of the ending of the Cold War. Slowly but surely, the two nations have pulled back from half a century of bellicose confrontation and in recent years embraced a level of political and economic cooperation that seemed to promise new riches for both. But today, for many Taiwanese, the bloom is off the rose. This disenchantment lay behind the outbreak of angry protests from Taiwanese students that are in their third week.

The season-opening Daytona 500 was less than an hour old when Barney Visser saw his latest $1-million NASCAR investment literally go up in smoke. Visser owns Furniture Row Racing, which fields one car - the black No. 78 Chevrolet - driven by Martin Truex Jr. in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. After weeks of preparation for the Daytona 500 and then being forced to use a backup car because of a crash in qualifying, the team saw the engine on Truex's car blow up only 31 laps into NASCAR's crown-jewel event last month.

Los Angeles' top budget official Monday advised city leaders to resist the temptation to expand services, saying they should work instead toward eliminating a recurring deficit by 2018. In a 37-page report, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said a rebounding economy and greater stability in the city's finances have created new pressure to add or expand local government. He recommended that council members focus on initiatives to stabilize the budget, such as reducing entry-level city salaries and securing new healthcare concessions from the workforce.

WASHINGTON - Supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin expect to savor victory as residents of Crimea vote Sunday on splitting from Ukraine. But Western officials and analysts increasingly feel that in the long run, Russians will come to see their nation's military and political move into Crimea as a mistake. Two weeks after Russian forces entered the peninsula en masse, Russia's stock market and economic data have started to signal trouble - the start of what could become a lasting pullback by foreign investors.

How's the U.S. economy doing? If you're rich, the answer is "fabulously. " Here are some data points from Diane Swonk, chief economist for Mesirow Financial in Chicago. " Spending at luxury retailers has come back," she told the Senate Finance Committee last week. High-end merchants routinely "sell out of purses with price tags in the thousands of dollars, before they even hit the shelves in New York. Spending at high-end restaurants is picking up.... Demand is on the rise for boutique hotels catering to the demands of the wealthiest clientele.

Inside his mini-mart in the desert town of Indio, store manager John Stafford is busy stockpiling caffeinated drinks. Monster and Red Bulls mostly. He knows from experience that he'll need plenty this weekend. Tens of thousands of visitors will descend upon the desert region beginning Friday for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. "Cigarettes and energy drinks," Stafford said. "They need to stay awake out there. " Fans and bands may need an extra stamina boost this year.

The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. At the county coroner's office -- which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths -- 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.

WASHINGTON - The economy may be growing at a frustratingly slow pace, but one piece of it is booming: American homeowners' equity holdings - the market value of their houses minus their mortgage debts - soared by nearly $2.1 trillion last year to $10 trillion. Big numbers, you say, and hard to grasp. But look at it this way: Thanks to rising prices and equity levels, about 4 million owners around the country last year were able to climb out of the financial tar pit of the housing bust - negative equity.

The stock market closed out its worst week since January, weighed down early by doubts about China's economic growth, uninspiring economic data in the U.S. and finally geopolitical tension in Russia. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 2.4% for the week, saddling it with a 3.1% loss so far this year. The index was off 43.22 points Friday, at 16,065.67, after skidding 231.19 points Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2% for the week, leaving it down 0.4% for the year.