No Recovery In Sight for Small Business

Obama, Boehner must promote American confidence

(NEWSER) - There’s a big economic problem that’s been keeping a low profile: American confidence, writes David Smick in the Washington Post . “Between $2.5 trillion and $4 trillion of private capital is waiting on the sidelines to ‘reliquify’ a new era of American confidence and innovation,” he notes. Now, we need a bipartisan effort to create an environment that inspires optimism. More»

Former Fed chief takes heat on Capitol Hill

(NEWSER) - Alan Greenspan is taking more heat on Capitol Hill today as a three-day series of hearings begins on the economic meltdown. “What we tried to do was the best we could with the data that we had,” the former Fed chief told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. “Did we make mistakes? Of course we made mistakes." But he defended the central bank's efforts and said it was "quite active in pursuing consumer protections for mortgage borrowers," reports Bloomberg . More»

(NEWSER) - The Great Recession is cooling off, but Americans will feel the heat for a while—because recovery is tricky this time, Daniel Gross writes in Newsweek. Another economic bubble inflated by consumption would be a mere Band-Aid. That's why President Obama is trying to create a four-sided "smart economy" based on health care, broadband, infrastructure, and green energy. But gauging short-term success is difficult. More»

Still hopes economy will grow by year's end

(NEWSER) - The US has a long way to go before the economy returns to full health, despite hopeful signs, Ben Bernanke told the House budget committee today. “Recovery will only gradually gain momentum and that economic slack will diminish slowly,” the Fed chairman said. With businesses cautious, “the unemployment rate is likely to rise for a time, even after economic growth resumes”—which he still believes could happen at year’s end, CNNMoney reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Overpaid maestros had better accept slimmer paychecks before America's great orchestras sink into silence, John von Rhein writes in the Chicago Tribune. With the Great Recession raging and musicians accepting pay cuts, big-name conductors like Lorin Maazel and James Levine still rake in millions. Welcome to "the dirty little secret in the classical music world," writes von Rhein. More»