At Deep-Sixed Prices, Consider the Lobster

Larry's plight stirs conscience of restaurant writer

(NEWSER) - Restaurant writer Ryan Sutton has dined on his share of lobsters, but the plight of one venerable crustacean has left him without an appetite. "Larry" is a 70-year-old lobster at New York's Oceana restaurant awaiting its fate as a $275 entree. Sutton admits he's never given much thought to the age of any of the cows or pigs he's feasted on, but 70 years? More»

Slumping profits are 'payback' from Main Street whipped by bad practices

(NEWSER) - Those concerned about the nation’s banks should forget about the “softly, softly policy” of the Obama administration that has allowed Goldman Sachs to go back to business as usual in spectacular fashion. The real problem, Paul Krugman writes, is banks like Citi and Bank of America that are still floundering despite taxpayer largess. And the calculus remains the same: “Heads they win, tails the rest of us lose.” More»

(NEWSER) - Ben Bernanke patted himself on the back today for helping to save the world from a complete economic meltdown, MarketWatch reports. Facing public outrage and the prospect of President Obama dumping him in 6 months, the Fed chair said at a retreat in Wyoming that the world’s central banks “responded with speed and force" to "a rapidly deteriorating and dangerous situation." More»

(NEWSER) - US tax revenue is set to shrink 18% from last fiscal year to the current one, ending in October—the largest falloff since 1932, the AP reports. Individual income-tax receipts are off 22%, and corporate revenues have sunk an astounding 57%. “Our tax system is already inadequate to support the promises our government has made,” one analyst says. “This just adds to the problem.” More»

(AP) - The economy is finally beginning to show signs of stabilizing in some parts of the US, bolstering hopes of a broader-based recovery this year. A Federal Reserve snapshot of economic conditions issued today finds that most of the Fed's 12 regions indicated either that "the pace of decline has moderated" or "that activity has begun to stabilize, albeit at a low level." The improved assessment raises hope that the recession, which started in December 2007, is drawing to a close. More»