With the state confronting at least a $2.3 billion budget shortfall, little is being spared lawmakers' ax. In the ongoing special session in Tallahassee, legislators have targeted programs serving the elderly, schoolchildren, the disabled and hospital patients. Environmental protections, higher education and many other efforts are on the chopping block. ...more

January 10, 2009

In the first year of his presidency George W. Bush was forced to confront the crisis of global terrorism. He responded by aggrandizing his power as president under the theory of a "unitary executive." The controversial and thoroughly repudiated policies that resulted, including warrantless surveillance of Americans' phone conversations, torture, and disregard for the basic constitutional rights of detainees, represented the most sweeping assertion of unchecked executive power in generations. ...more

January 3, 2009

As federal and state governments deal with the current economic crisis, there has been a lot of talk about the next federal "stimulus" package. ...more

January 2, 2009

Despite unprecedented pessimism about personal finances, consumer confidence among Floridians rose in December, reflecting optimism about new presidential leadership, a University of Florida study found. ...more

December 30, 2008

Despite unprecedented pessimism about personal finances, consumer confidence among Floridians rose in December, reflecting optimism about new presidential leadership, a University of Florida study found. ...more

December 29, 2008

I have heard a lot of chatter about an auto bailout now being addressed by our government. ...more

December 28, 2008

When New York Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a commencement address at Oglethorpe University in May 1932, the economic crisis that had befallen the United States three years earlier had already morphed into the Great Depression: One in four Americans was out of work, banks were failing at a rate of 10 per week and the gross national product was at half its pre-crash level. ...more

December 27, 2008

Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals. ...more

December 22, 2008

Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals. ...more

December 21, 2008

Joan Atkins of Palm Harbor has concerns about the economic game plan President-elect Barack Obama has been putting together during the transition. ...more

December 20, 2008