Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The Senate is scheduled to give final approval to a new debt ceiling Tuesday to save the U.S. economy from its first default in history within hours of running out of money. The House approved the measure Monday evening. Bickering between Republicans [...]

Linda Young – AHN News Writer St. Paul, MN, United States (AHN) – State budget talks between Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders broke down just before the midnight deadline Thursday and the government has shut down. Minnesota has about a $5 billion shortfall in the budget. Dayton repeated his request for lawmakers [...]

The Media Line Staff Cairo, Egypt (TML) – Egypt’s decision to reject loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank may save the government unwelcome political controversy at home, but it risks undermining the country’s already severely strained economy, economists warned. The terms of the IMF financing as well as the government’s plan [...]

The opposition People’s party hopes to turn local and regional poll momentum into a victory at a national level Spain’s ruling Socialists have suffered a stinging losses in local elections and now face a balancing act between voter anger over high unemployment and investor demands for strict austerity measures. A week of protests by Spaniards [...]

Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Public transportation advocates said at a Senate Banking Committee Thursday that if transit agencies lose federal funding, the entire nation would suffer. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) chairman of the Banking Committee, said, “It is sometimes forgotten but reliable and accessible public transit [...]

In case you missed, Paul Krugman’s latest NYT column hurls itself against the notion that the U.S. budget and the economy are in the mess they’re in because, as Krugman phrased the straw man: “because voters wanted something for nothing, and weak-minded politicians catered to the electorate’s foolishness.” The blame-the-public meme doesn’t fit the facts, [...]

Tejinder Singh – AHN News Correspondent Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama is scheduled to undertake domestic travel in the coming week according to a White House communique. Obama is planning to hold town hall meetings in “Northern Virginia, Palo Alto, California and Reno, Nevada to speak directly to the American people [...]

Matthew Borghese – AHN News Contributor Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – House Republicans have lost ground to Democrats after a bruising fight over the budget. In the latest nationwide poll, 62 percent of Americans think GOP lawmakers have either been “no improvement” or have “made things worse” in Congress. That’s bad news for the [...]

Ayinde O. Chase – AHN News Editor Washington, D.C.U.S. Government shutdown averted in 11th hour, United States (AHN) – Government lawmakers were able to reach a last minute budget deal saving the federal government from shutting down. Billions of dollars were cut through bluster, bargaining and posturing in the media but it doesn’t completely solve [...]

By Tony Marrero, Times Staff Writer Saturday, March 19, 2011 BROOKSVILLE — To an electorate battered by recession, beleaguered by high unemployment and uptight about the nation’s budget deficit, the news that members of Congress are still giving bonuses to staffers might cause jaws to clench. But that’s what happened, and former U.S. Rep. Ginny [...]

ORLANDO, Fla. – During his 25 years as a boat builder, Tim Parker had done everything right financially: contributing to his 401(k) retirement plan, paying off his mortgage and credit-card debt, living on a tight budget and saving money for a rainy day. View full post on All Stories