Just a month or so ago, the stock market plunged because investors did not like Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's outline of a plan for removing toxic assets from bank balance sheets. This week, Mr. Geithner announced the details and - what do you know? - the market shot up. Obviously, the market's mood swings are not the best indicator of Mr. Geithner's merits or of his plan's. But what's new as of Monday is that we have a fuller basis for evaluating his program. And the best judgment is: It's worth a try, but hardly guaranteed to succeed. ...more

March 25, 2009

Struggling to contain the worst financial crisis in seven decades, the Obama administration wants to buy billions of dollars of toxic assets from banks to ease borrowing for consumers and businesses. ...more

March 22, 2009

free Italian ice, courtesy of Rita's Franchise Co. ...more

March 20, 2009

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States: ...more

March 14, 2009

In the first two months of 2009, the Democratic Congress and the White House have spent more money than the combined cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the response to Hurricane Katrina. After they doled out taxpayer dollars at such a blistering pace, the instinct of many inside the Beltway is to do what's most convenient: desperately try to change the subject by creating straw men - called "the party of no" - to rally against. ...more

March 7, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan has passed the Senate and is on its way to difficult House-Senate negotiations. ...more

February 10, 2009

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

Rising displeasure with the Troubled Assets Relief Program was apparent this week when the U.S. House voted 270 to 155 not to spend the second round of TARP money, even though representatives knew the vote was symbolic and wouldn't stop the $350 billion from being spent. ...more

January 24, 2009

The number of homeowners caught in the wave of foreclosures in October grew 25 percent nationally over the same month in 2007, data released Thursday showed. ...more

November 13, 2008

Urgently shifting course, the Bush administration is abandoning the centerpiece of its massive $700 billion economic rescue plan and exploring new ways to shore up not only banks but also credit-card, auto-loan and other huge nonbank businesses. "The facts changed and the situation worsened," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said at a news briefing, explaining the administration's switch from its original plan to help financial institutions by buying up troubled assets, primarily securities backed by bad home loans. ...more

November 13, 2008