NATIONAL
February 4, 2010 | By Noam N. Levey
In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago. The almost $2.5 trillion spent in 2009 was $134 billion more than the previous year, when healthcare consumed 16.2% of the gross domestic product, according to...
NATIONAL
February 4, 2010 | By James Oliphant
Eager to portray themselves as responsible stewards of the economy, congressional Democrats on Thursday pledged to enact a package of measures to spur job growth while taking steps to tackle the burgeoning federal budget deficit. "Our No. 1 emphasis is going to be on creating jobs," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said as he unveiled a set of proposals he hopes to pass in the coming weeks. At the same time, the House on Thursday passed a bill that requires legislation to detail how any proposed spending program or tax cut would be offset by savings elsewhere.
NEWS
February 4, 2010 | By Noam N. Levey
In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago. The almost $2.5 trillion spent in 2009 was $134 billion more than the previous year, when healthcare consumed 16.2% of the gross domestic product, according to...
BUSINESS
February 1, 2010 | By Cyndia Zwahlen
In Southern California, where a once-thriving small-business economy has been hard-hit by the economic meltdown, hope and skepticism greeted President Obama's proposals last week to help small firms by jump-starting lending and rewarding firms that add jobs. "They realize small-business growth is the only way we are going to survive this," said Ruben Guerra, head of the Latin Business Assn. in Los Angeles. But so far, he says, "small business is not getting part of the action; big business is getting all the dollars."
BUSINESS
January 30, 2010 | By Don Lee
The U.S. economy grew in the fourth quarter of 2009 at the fastest pace in six years, but many economists and business owners remained unconvinced that a full-scale recovery was underway or that substantial job growth would soon follow. The nation's total production of goods and services expanded at a heady 5.7% annual rate in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department said Friday in its first estimate of the quarter's gross domestic product. That's more than double the 2.2% growth rate in the third quarter and a dramatic turnaround from the first three months of last year, when the economy was mired in deep recession and the GDP shrank at a 6.4% annual rate.
NATIONAL
January 30, 2010 | By Peter Nicholas
In his State of the Union speech, President Obama spooled out a long list of proposals to lift the economy, create jobs and carry out his broader policy agenda. Some of the ideas are new; others had been announced. The following is a summary of the initiatives cited in the speech and where they stand: The economy and jobs To ease unemployment, Obama urged Congress to pass a jobs bill. The House narrowly passed a $174-billion measure in December, but the Senate has yet to act. The bill is one of Obama's main vehicles for jump-starting employment, which is the centerpiece of his 2010 agenda.
BUSINESS
January 28, 2010 | By Don Lee
As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke appeared to gain enough backing for confirmation to a second term, the central bank offered a more upbeat assessment of the economy than it did last month but still affirmed a pledge to keep interest rates near zero for "an extended period." For the first time in a year, however, the Fed rate-setting panel's statement, issued at the end of a two-day meeting Wednesday, came with a dissenting vote, which could presage an earlier-than-expected move to raise rates.
NATIONAL
January 27, 2010 | By Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons
With his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama aims to deliver a game-changing message, one capable of convincing Americans that his policies will create jobs, curb spending and restore prosperity. But with voter discontent over his healthcare overhaul running high and the recession's effects cutting deep, the president's trademark eloquence may not be the antidote to his troubles. Economists see little hope for substantial employment gains or the return of a robust economy between now and November's midterm congressional election, despite Obama's $787-billion stimulus package.
NATIONAL
January 26, 2010 | By Christi Parsons and Peter Nicholas
Moving to address rising voter anger over federal deficits and the tattered shape of their own pocketbooks, President Obama will propose a freeze on non-defense-related federal spending as well as expanded aid to middle-class families in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, White House aides said Monday. To counter the soaring federal deficit, which polls show is a major factor in voters' discontent, Obama will announce that the budget blueprint he files next week will contain a "hard freeze" on discretionary spending that lasts through 2013, an effort his advisors liken to the fiscal discipline average families impose on themselves every day. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden unveiled the outlines of their relief package for the middle class at a White House meeting Monday.
BUSINESS
January 25, 2010 | By Don Lee and Jim Puzzanghera
With congressional support eroding, his popularity falling and his renomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke potentially in trouble, President Obama faces an even more daunting task to save his entire domestic agenda -- convincing millions of angry Americans that his economic policies will bring them a brighter future. Even as the economy has begun clawing its way out of the Great Recession and job losses have slowed dramatically, critics on the left and right -- even party loyalists -- say the president has failed to articulate a clear economic vision.