Economy

Canada, which will eventually spend more than $6 billion for the recent Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, was the victim of a global golden fleece job.

What do people do at Goldman Sachs all day? They prepare to work at the White House and at the U.S. Treasury Department, that’s what. Even a short list might stun the uninitiated.

The grasping AIG Financial Division execs who brought the firm to its knees and helped send the global economy spiraling only to receive federal rescue handouts to the tune of $180 billion in loans, stock investments and other commitments from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, complained and whined and felt persecuted when they [...]

WASHINGTON– Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) recent one-man stand against legislation extending unemployment benefits offered a high-profile airing of a popular GOP message: Deficit spending, in almost any form, will cause more harm than good to a fragile economy. Standing in the way of the Republicans’ reasoning, however, has been another formidable group: budget experts.

WASHINGTON– Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-Ky.) blockade on extending temporarily unemployment benefits put the Tea Party movement in an unfamiliar position. Instead of nudging the Republican Party to take a stand, activists watched a politician pick an anti-government fight they didn’t even know existed.

Of all the interesting tidbits in Brett Arends’ article in The Wall Street Journal about how to decide whether to walk away from your mortgage, his admission that the middle class is the only part of America adhering to standards of personal financial responsibility might be the most shocking.

WASHINGTON– One year after the Obama administration launched its $75 billion anti-foreclosure program, the housing market remains volatile, loan modifications have been scant, foreclosures are still sky-high — and more and more lawmakers are wondering why the White House hasn’t been more aggressive in tackling the crisis.

WASHINGTON– To hear Republicans in Congress tell it, the Grand Old Party is pretty much united against the deficit-spending approach to economic recovery. Don’t tell that to local GOP officials.

Faced with the most severe budget crises in decades, state and local policymakers from across the country — including a growing list of prominent Republicans — have been only too happy to accept the additional federal funding that accompanied last year’s $787 billion stimulus bill. Not only did that money prop up job markets, many say, but it kept social-service programs running strong during a period of greatest need. They don’t see stimulus spending as indebting the future. They see it as an investment in the future.

A trio of groups that has been rallying support for the public option health insurance plan is puzzled over the fact the Colorado Democratic Senator Mark Udall has not come out as a supporter of the plan. Udall’s silence on the matter is particularly notable given that Colorado’s other Democratic U.S. Senator, Michael Bennet, has [...]

Long silent on the subject of three Colorado tax-slashing ballot initiatives, Republican candidate for governor Scott McInnis reportedly told attendees at the state’s Contractors Association convention at the beginning of the month that in fact he did not support the initiatives, which have been popular with Tea Party activists in the state. McInnis agreed with Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper and other lawmakers, including GOP legislative leaders, that the initiatives would destroy the state government’s ability to function.