Economy

Rushing to rescue Citigroup, the government agreed to shoulder hundreds of billions of dollars in possible losses at the stricken bank and to plow a fresh $20 billion into the company.

With no end in sight to economic bad news, President George W. Bush on Friday ensured that millions of laid-off workers will keep getting their unemployment checks as the year-end holidays approach.

From WXYZ.com: In an editorial appearing in today’s New York Times, Michigan native and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney writes Congress should not give the Big 3 a bailout.

New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.

Citigroup Inc. is cutting approximately 53,000 more jobs in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

Some of the nation’s largest banks sharing in the $700 billion government bailout of the financial industry tried to assure lawmakers Thursday they are using the money to make more loans and help financially strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The government has abandoned the original centerpiece of its $700 billion rescue effort for the financial system and will not use the money to purchase troubled bank assets.

The U.S. government and its newly linked mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have rolled out a plan to help homeowners with delinquent loans to pay them back more gradually. Of the delinquent loans weighing on the economy, the two companies own less than 20%. Of course, the plan has its detractors. James Lockhart, […]

An already disheartened Wall Street turned sharply lower Wednesday after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the government won’t buy banks’ soured mortgage assets after all, disappointing investors who hoped to see the bad debt wiped off companies’ books. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 270 points, and all the major indexes dropped more than […]

People want the tax cuts promised during the presidential campaign, but they may be willing to wait while President-elect Obama takes on the larger issue of fixing the economy.

Volatility kicked in again on Wall Street Tuesday, as the reality hit that few industries are safe from the consumer spending slump — whether they’re building homes, making cars or selling coffee. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 200 points.

In one of the economy’s darkest hours in decades, it looks as if people are taking Barack Obama up on his exhortations for hope and change. Seven in 10, or 72 percent, voice confidence the president-elect will make the changes needed to revive the stalling economy, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday.