The U.S. trade deficit narrowed much more than expected in October, as exports rose a robust 3.2 percent and imports declined slightly in the face of slackening demand for industrial and petroleum products, a Commerce Department report showed on Friday. Get the full story »
Filed under: Government
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Dec. 10, 2010 at 10:25 a.m.
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Filed under: Economy, Government, International, Trade, Updated U.S. trade gap narrows in October
FAA loses track of a third of U.S. planes
The Federal Aviation Administration is missing key information on who owns one-third of the 357,000 private and commercial aircraft in the U.S. — a gap the agency fears could be exploited by terrorists and drug traffickers.
The records are in such disarray that the FAA says it is worried that criminals could buy planes without the government’s knowledge, or use the registration numbers of other aircraft to evade new computer systems designed to track suspicious flights. It has ordered all aircraft owners to re-register their planes in an effort to clean up its files. Get the full story »
Country lowers retirement age to 58
Bucking a global trend, leftist-led Bolivia is lowering its retirement age and nationalizing its pension funds. Bolivia’s Congress approved legislation early Friday to make Bolivians eligible for full pensions at age 58. The country’s 70,000 miners will get to retire two years earlier. Get the full story »
U.S. unemployment climbs to 9.8%
Job candidates at a World Women in Technology career fair at Chicago's Navy Pier in October. (Tim Boyle/Getty)
In a major setback for the economy, the nation’s jobless rate jumped to 9.8 percent in November as employers added surprisingly few new jobs over the month, the government said Friday.
The unemployment rate had been at 9.6 percent in the prior three months. The increase last month came as employers added just 39,000 jobs in November — a sharp drop-off from a revised 172,000 job gains in October and an average monthly gain of 86,000 this year. Get the full story »
Congress acts to shush loud TV ads
Here’s a message TV viewers may not want to mute: The days of getting blasted out of the easy chair by blaring TV commercials may soon be over.
The House on Thursday gave final congressional approval to a bill that would prevent advertisers from abruptly raising the volume to catch the attention of viewers wandering off when regular programming is interrupted. Get the full story »
Deficit reduction plan gets 2nd ‘no’ vote
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan said Thursday he will vote against a presidential commission plan to reduce the U.S. deficit, saying it does too little to tackle health care costs and relies too much on tax increases. Get the full story »
Deficit panel recalibrates, seeks more support
Debt Commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles, right, and former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A presidential commission trying to balance the budget on Wednesday softened a proposed tax overhaul to win broader support for its bold plan to slash the $1.3 trillion federal deficit.
The plan faced an uphill struggle to win sufficient backing to trigger a congressional vote. Even if that happens, analysts predict Congress won’t take substantive steps to reduce the deficit this year.
Changes made to the plan included dropping a proposal to kill the popular mortgage interest tax deduction, as had been recommended on November 10. The revised version proposed a limited, 12 percent mortgage interest tax credit. Get the full story »
Illinois tobacco bonds to fly with ’sweet’ yield
From Bloomberg News | Illinois began taking orders from individuals on $1.46 billion in municipal bonds backed by tobacco settlement payments to help meet $2 billion in outstanding bills. The so-called Railsplitter Tobacco bonds are the week’s largest issue and the state’s biggest tax-exempt borrowing since a $1.5 billion refinancing deal in February. Get the full story>>
Jobless benefits expire for 800K at midnight
A Democrat-sponsored bill to extend unemployment benefits by one year was introduced in the Senate Monday, but it is likely to face stiff opposition from Republicans. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., said in a statement that the proposed legislation would reauthorize benefits for nearly 800,000 out-of-work Americans who are about to exhaust their benefits next week.
It would also extend benefits for 2 million more Americans facing the same fate at the end of the year, he said. Get the full story »
Bottled water firm closing namesake Fiji business
Fiji Water on Monday closed its operations in the South Pacific country that gives the popular bottled drink its name, saying it was being singled out by the military appointed government for a massive tax increase.
A company statement announcing the decision did not say whether the company was shutting down permanently in Fiji, where an acquifer deep underground has been the source of one of the world’s most popular bottled water brands.
The company, owned by California entrepreneurs Lynda and Stewart Resnick, said it was closing its facility in Fiji, canceling orders from suppliers and putting on hold several construction contracts in the country. Get the full story »
Congress puts off cuts to doctor Medicare payments
Congress has agreed to a one-month delay in Medicare payment cuts to doctors, giving a short-term reprieve to a looming crisis over treatment of the nation’s elderly.
Get the full story »
Debt commission to change draft to broaden support
The chairmen of the White House’s debt-reduction commission are making last-minute changes to their provocative early draft in an effort to broaden support before a crucial Wednesday vote, people familiar with the matter said.
The co-chairmen, Democrat Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, need 14 of the 18 members to support their proposal in order to issue a formal recommendation, which could then be voted on by Congress before the end of the year. Get the full story »
Nov. 26, 2010 at 1:31 p.m.
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Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Entertainment, Government, Internet, Video PR firm settles FTC suit over iTunes game reviews
The Federal Trade Commission said Friday that it has settled charges that a California public-relations firm posted fake video game reviews on Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store.
According to an FTC complaint, employees of California-based Reverb Communications Inc. allegedly engaged in deceptive online advertising by having paid employees and company managers pose as consumers and write glowing video game reviews of clients’ games. Get the full story »
