President Barack Obama says staggering job losses mean the country must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" with a round of new incentives for hiring. ...more

December 8, 2009

Forecasters predict a relatively mild hurricane season this year. If their projections bear out, it couldn't come at a better time. Floridians face the worst recession since the 1930s, with double-digit unemployment rates, broad job losses across several industries and a disastrous real estate market clogged with foreclosures and vacant homes. In a state reliant on tourism and housing, a major hurricane could plunge the economy into an even steeper decline. Perhaps we'll be fortunate again. If not, here's a look at the grave effects of a major storm on Florida's historically vibrant economic engines: housing, tourism and jobs. ...more

June 14, 2009

Local unemployment is 12.7 percent. ...more

March 27, 2009

Second-worst in Florida; numbers are highest since 1976 ...more

March 6, 2009

The number of people out of work soared in the Bay area in January, with each county surpassing 9 percent and the area as a whole nearing double digit unemployment with 9.7 percent, according to state figures released Friday. ...more

March 6, 2009

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old cliches about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts. ...more

February 7, 2009

Vice President-elect Joseph Biden said Barack Obama would be quickly tested by a dangerous world, with the test coming from anywhere. In a possible warning not to underestimate him, Obama has filled his national security team with centrists and relative hawks. And his willingness to talk to America's adversaries will actually make their lives harder. "What Obama absolutely must prove early on in his administration is that he cannot be played for a patsy, that he has the strength ... and that he understands his No. 1 duty is as commander in chief and protector of the United States," said Robin Niblett, the director of Chatham House, the London-based think tank. Obama's foreign policy test might come from anywhere, but there are signs that some of America's most strident foes are not eager for a fight. ...more

January 4, 2009

Vote For A Grown-Up We have a chance to have a grown-up as president after 16 years of baby boomers in charge in Washington and Wall Street. Maybe it is time for a grown-up to clean up the mess. ...more

October 17, 2008