There are few signs of progress in the meetings between President Obama and Republican Congressional leaders about the need to raise the federal debt limit. On Thursday, the president said the two sides were still “far apart,” although he said recent meetings were “very constructive.” For his part, the House speaker, John Boehner, said on [...]

Several readers have asked a good question about my article in todays newspaper, which reports that the government is printing less paper currency: What about coins? The simple answer: Yes, coins too. The U.S. Mint produced about 5 billion pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in 2010, less than one-third of the average annual production over [...]

AMP has put the cost of its merger with Axa at $30 million but it will talk further about integration costs at the release of its half-year results on August 18. The savings from the merger will be recognised as business unit operating earnings and group office costs in the half-year accounts. AMP raised $600 [...]

In the ongoing debate over raising the debt ceiling, one option has not had much prominence: whether the Obama administration could ignore it altogether, and just spend the money it owes anyway. Would that be legal? Matthew Zeitlin at The New Republic spoke with a few political scientists, budget wonks and constitutional scholars who argue [...]

Economists at Northeastern University have found that the current economic recovery in the United States has been unusually skewed in favor of corporate profits and against increased wages for workers. In their newly released study, the Northeastern economists found that since the recovery began in June 2009 following a deep 18-month recession, “corporate profits captured [...]