A group of area business leaders is seeking to help the community make sense of how federal funds are gong to shore up the nation's financial market. It should be a useful exercise. ...more

February 6, 2009

Many banks have made it harder for borrowers to obtain all kinds of loans over the past three months despite a $700 billion federal bailout program and a flurry of other bold moves to stem the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s. ...more

February 3, 2009

President Obama obviously relished slamming the present-day robber barons of Wall Street last week for paying out billions in bonuses even as taxpayers are bailing out their failed businesses. He demanded that they begin to show some sense of discipline and responsibility in the management of their companies. ...more

February 3, 2009

Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said it will allow some borrowers to rent their homes after losing them to foreclosure. ...more

January 31, 2009

As the global economic recession persists, many Europeans are talking about the end of capitalism. They forget that capitalism in Europe had already once given way - often violently - to statism and corporatism in the 1930s, to be revived in only a handful of countries in the 1980s. ...more

January 25, 2009

One of the state's most progressive initiatives is the Florida Resident Access Grant. The appropriately named program helps Floridians attend the state's 28 nonprofit independent universities and colleges, which are traditionally more expensive than public schools of higher learning. ...more

January 23, 2009

Until the 2008 stock market crash, David and Priscilla Williams were planning on not spending many more cold winters in Philadelphia. ...more

January 18, 2009

They say when you are in a hole so deep you can barely see a pinhole of light at the top, the first thing to do is to stop digging. ...more

January 17, 2009

If given a choice, would Hillsborough County school employees choose layoffs and salary cuts to help close a multimillion-dollar deficit, or would they take a few days off without pay? As the head of the teachers union put it, it's like asking, "Would you rather cut off your right arm or your left leg?" But the district wants their input. School officials circulated a survey to 25,000 employees this week, asking for their thoughts on the grim options they're considering to save as much as $55 million. ...more

January 16, 2009

If given a choice, would Hillsborough County school employees choose layoffs and salary cuts to help close a multimillion-dollar deficit, or would they take a few days off without pay? As the head of the teachers union put it, it's like asking, "Would you rather cut off your right arm or your left leg?" But the district wants their input. School officials circulated a survey to 25,000 employees this week, asking for their thoughts on the grim options they're considering to save as much as $55 million. ...more

January 15, 2009