Sep. 10, 2010 at 6:46 a.m.
Filed under:
Government
By Associated Press
President Barack Obama meets with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Austan Dean Goolsbee and Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel in 2009. (Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune)
President Barack Obama has chosen one of his longtime economic advisers, Austan Goolsbee, to be the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, a White House official said ahead of the formal announcement Friday.
Goolsbee, a University of Chicago professor of economics, is one of three economists on the council. He already has been confirmed to the council by the Senate. Get the full story >>
Sep. 9, 2010 at 1:01 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Government
By Associated Press
Elizabeth Warren, a popular but polarizing consumer advocate, met with President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, adding to speculation she could be named to head a new consumer protection agency.
Sep. 8, 2010 at 2:06 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics,
Taxes
By Los Angeles Times
The business community likes President Barack Obama’s proposal to accelerate tax writeoffs for companies buying equipment and other big-ticket items. But it is clamoring for more — extension of all of the soon-expiring Bush-era tax cuts.
Obama will tout the write-offs Wednesday when he unveils a $180-billion stimulus package. But he isn’t likely to back down on his stand on continuing the marginal tax rate cuts only for households and businesses earning less than $250,000, analysts said.
By Associated Press
Whenever companies start hiring freely again, job-seekers with specialized skills and education will have plenty of good opportunities. Others will face a choice: Take a job with low pay — or none at all. Get the full story »
Sep. 7, 2010 at 6:22 a.m.
Filed under:
Small business,
Taxes
By Associated Press
President Barack Obama will call on Congress to pass new tax breaks that would allow businesses to write off 100 percent of their new capital investments through 2011, the latest in a series of proposals the White House is rolling out in hopes of jump-starting economic growth ahead of the November elections.
Sep. 3, 2010 at 9:44 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Jobs/employment,
Taxes
By Reuters
The White House on Friday greeted a better than expected August employment report as reassuring news after a recent spate of “unsettling” economic data, and reiterated it was working with Congress to take additional steps to boost U.S. growth and hiring. Get the full story »
Aug. 31, 2010 at 9:52 a.m.
Filed under:
Banking,
Policy,
Small business
By Reuters
The U.S. loan picture improved slightly during the second quarter, with the amount of loans 90 days or more past due declining for the first time in more than four years, bank regulators said on Tuesday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp revealed some encouraging figures about the bank industry, saying the sector earned $21.6 billion during the quarter largely due to banks putting away less money to cover expected loan losses. Get the full story »
Aug. 25, 2010 at 11:52 a.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
Insurance,
Policy,
Politics,
Regulations
By Bruce Japsen
Individuals and small businesses who buy health insurance can count on their plans spending at least four in five premium dollars on medical care, a key tenet of the health care overhaul signed into law five months ago by President Barack Obama. Get the full story »
By Reuters
There is no evidence that politics played a role in the government seizure of a Chicago bank owned by the family of the Democratic nominee running for the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, a government watchdog said this week.
On April 23, bank regulators seized Broadway Bank, a community bank with $1.2 billion in assets, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp arranged for MB Financial Inc. to assume its deposits.
The move then became embroiled in this year’s campaign season because the bank was owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias, the first-term Illinois state treasurer and the Democratic nominee in this year’s U.S. Senate race. Get the full story »
Aug. 23, 2010 at 12:53 p.m.
Filed under:
Government,
Politics,
Taxes
By Reuters
The biggest U.S. companies stepped up their lobbying Monday to block Democrats’ plans to let taxes on wealthier Americans rise at year’s end, asking lawmakers not to cut short the hearing process in Congress.
The Senate is set to take up expiration of tax cuts on nearly all individuals enacted under former President George W. Bush when it reconvenes in September. The thorniest issue involves taxes for the top income classes — families earning at least $250,000 a year — which President Barack Obama and most Democrats want to let expire. Get the full story »
Aug. 11, 2010 at 1:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Bankruptcy,
Labor,
Manufacturing
By Associated Press
Workers at a Chicago-based company that made suits for President Barack Obama are marking the one-year anniversary of the day they almost lost their jobs.
Hartmarx Corp. was forced into bankruptcy protection last year after lenders cut it off. Its creditors had pushed for liquidation. But state officials and workers had threatened a sit-in. Get the full story »
Aug. 11, 2010 at 11:22 a.m.
Filed under:
Housing,
Mortgages,
Policy,
Politics,
Real estate
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Illinois will receive $166.4 million in foreclosure prevention funds to help unemployed homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.
Illinois is among 17 states and Washington, D.C., to receive part of a $2 billion Treasury Department Hardest Hit Fund. All of the areas were selected because their unemployment levels are above the national average over the past 12 months. Each of the states will use the funds to temporarily help eligible homeowners pay their mortgages while they look for jobs or take job training. Get the full story »
Aug. 5, 2010 at 5:58 a.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
International,
Trade
By Reuters
The U.S. Export-Import Bank will unveil a loan guarantee on Thursday for Ford Motor Co that will finance $3.1 billion in exports of cars and trucks to customers in Canada and Mexico, a White House official said.
The announcement comes as President Barack Obama visits his home town of Chicago to tour a Ford assembly plant in an effort to highlight the U.S. auto industry’s export potential and his administration’s role in revitalizing the sector. Get the full story »
By Becky Yerak
ShoreBank’s capital deficiency worsened in the second quarter, according to newly submitted financial results to regulators, and the Chicago-based lender now needs to raise at least $190 million just to meet targets set out in March by state and U.S. banking regulators.
The South Side bank has arranged a capital infusion of about $150 million from Wall Street investment firms, big banks, insurance companies and philanthropic groups. It’s hoping that private investment will then make it eligible for about $75 million in bailout funds from the U.S. Treasury Department. Get the full story »
July 21, 2010 at 11:38 a.m.
Filed under:
Economy,
Government,
Regulations
By Reuters
President Barack Obama talks with members of Congress and guests after signing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in Washington, D.C. (Rod Lamkey Jr./Getty)
U.S. President Barack Obama today signed into law the most comprehensive financial regulatory overhaul since the Great Depression and vowed there will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts for Wall Street.
“Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes,” Obama said at a signing ceremony for the legislation approved by the U.S. Congress last week.
The bill targets the kind of Wall Street risk-taking that helped to trigger a global financial meltdown and also aims to strengthen consumer protections. Get the full story »
