Economy

Even as President-elect Barack Obama plans an ambitious push to expand health coverage nationwide, states are slashing health services to their poorest residents amid the economic downturn. The unprecedented cuts in public assistance come as millions of Americans are losing their jobs and health insurance.

Reeling from a rash of drug-world violence and the effects of the global recession, Mexico's tourism is now taking a beating from the swine flu outbreak that is suspected in the deaths of 149 people and prompted the closing of theme parks, soccer stadiums and other public places. The country's benchmark IPC stock index plunged 3.3% on Monday, and the peso slumped as the ramifications of the outbreak filtered through the business and tourist community.

The massive federal economic stimulus package hammered out by Congress this week contains about $106 billion earmarked for education, an unprecedented expansion of federal spending into the nation's schools. District officials throughout California, bracing for another round of painful state budget cuts, were grateful for a new infusion of funds. The money would pay for, among other things, special education, school repair and retaining teachers who might otherwise be laid off.

A report due to be released today by a Republican senator contends the Obama administration's stimulus program is fraught with waste and incompetence -- evidenced by a turtle crossing in northern Florida that will cost more than $3 million and a snafu in which thousands of Social Security checks went out to people who had died. Modeled after a release from the White House describing 100 stimulus projects that were in the works, the report put out by Sen.

More California hotels are being pushed into foreclosure as tourists and businesses alike scale back their travel plans and owners are unable to pay their mortgages. Statewide, more than 300 hotels were in foreclosure or default on their loans as of Sept. 30 -- a nearly fivefold increase since the start of the year, according to an industry report released Tuesday. The list of troubled properties includes the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, the downtown Los Angeles Marriott, the Sheraton Universal and the W hotel in San Diego.

More than 236,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in California last year, topping the previous nine years combined, data released Tuesday show. And the number of borrowers who defaulted on their payments hit a record high of more than 404,000. The wave of foreclosures, which began in early 2007, was initially triggered by falling home values and resets on adjustable-rate loans.

The boozy white noise of a recent Saturday night crowd at the Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard confronts comedian Ari Shaffer as he starts his act. Sensing the lull, Shaffer tweaks the audience, "What's the matter with everyone, is it the recession?" That gets the laugh, and Shaffer moves on, but his riff on the current economic malaise isn't the last that evening.

The Georgetown apartment complex was one of this city's most coveted properties back in 2005. Now Greg Chelius and Alex Size were touring it as if examining an exotic ruin. They walked past the unmanned guardhouse and its broken windows. Size snapped photos with a digital camera. Chelius lifted the green fabric on a fence tacked with No Trespassing signs. Building after building loomed in the near distance, all of them quiet and vacant.

Frozen capital markets are putting the chill on a fast-growing California solar company, a sign that the economic downturn is being felt even in the state's thriving renewable-energy sector. Hayward-based OptiSolar Inc. confirmed Monday that it dismissed nearly half its 600-member workforce last week, cutting 185 jobs at its Hayward facility and 105 at a plant in Sacramento.

Optimism that the end of the recession is in sight may be growing, but the U.S. unemployment rate, which reached its highest level in a quarter of a century last month, is likely to keep rising for some time to come. With a net 663,000 jobs eliminated in March, the unemployment rate jumped to 8.5% from 8.1% in February. Since the economy began contracting at the end of 2007, company payrolls have shrunk by more than 5 million positions.