With bankers under fire, the chief executive of the Florida Bankers Association came out swinging Monday against regulators who he said are tying bankers' hands. ...more

March 6, 2009

With bankers under fire, the chief executive of the Florida Bankers Association came out swinging Monday against regulators who he said are tying bankers' hands. ...more

March 3, 2009

Some of the world's biggest banking institutions and hedge funds reported potential huge losses on Monday as the impact of alleged fraud by arrested Wall Street investment manager Bernard Madoff spread far beyond U.S. borders. ...more

December 15, 2008

Republican Sarah Palin criticized a version of a Barack Obama health care plan that doesn't exist and Democrat Joe Biden clung to a misleading charge about Republicans and big oil when the two clashed in the vice presidential debate Thursday. ...more

October 4, 2008

Consider this when deciding on the next president of our country: After seven years of a Republican presidency, our economy is crumbling as is our infrastructure. We have no comprehensive energy policy. Health care is in trouble; education is slipping; oil companies have sucked billions from us in subsidies and at the gas pumps. Corporate boards, CEOs, CFOs and Wall Street investment bankers have robbed us. We have killed thousands and spent billions on an unnecessary war in Iraq. Our national debt is now over $10 trillion and the Republicans think they should stay in the White House. What's wrong with this picture? ...more

September 22, 2008

When Bill Crews, the chairman of Wauchula State Bank, and Tom Trevino, a broker with Merrill Lynch's brokerage in Sebring, spoke to the Kiwanis in Hardee County on Tuesday, they faced a deluge of questions. ...more

September 18, 2008

Guess who holds your mortgage now? It's your friendly neighborhood hedge fund. Dozens of hedge funds, private equity groups and other investors have plunged into the beaten-down mortgage market in recent months, buying tens of thousands of distressed loans and foreclosed properties around the country. ...more

July 31, 2008

SEBRING — There are lots of interesting things to know about Hal Valeche. He was a carrier pilot in the Vietnam War who trained at Mirimar Naval Station. He was a Wall Street investment banker. He got into Yale at 16. But even more interesting is how well versed he is on "American Idol." After being interviewed at Inn on the Lakes, he stood out front and asked which contestant had the greatest chance of winning. ...more

May 29, 2008

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized for taking corporate special interest contributions, proposed restrictions on a wide array of industries Thursday and stepped up her assault on rival Barack Obama, casting him as the candidate more beholden to corporations. ...more

February 15, 2008

Merrill Lynch & Co. on Thursday recorded its biggest quarterly loss since being founded 94 years ago after the world's largest brokerage took almost $15 billion worth of write-downs from bad subprime mortgage bets. ...more

January 18, 2008