US halts effort to collect old Social Security debts
WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration said Monday that it would stop trying to collect taxpayers’ debts that were more than 10 years old.
States cutting weeks of aid to the jobless
RIEGELWOOD, N.C. — Last July, North Carolina sharply cut its unemployment program, reducing the maximum number of weeks of benefits to 20 from 73 and reducing the maximum weekly benefit as well.
Under Obama, little progress on high-level jobs for women
WASHINGTON — Behind the roiling conversation over whether President Barack Obama might make Janet L. Yellen the first female leader of the Federal Reserve is an uncomfortable reality for the White House: the administration has named no more women to high-level executive branch posts than the Clinton administration did almost two decades ago.
Slowdown in rise of health care costs may persist
WASHINGTON — One of the economic mysteries of the last few years has been the bigger-than-expected slowdown in health spending, a trend that promises to bolster wages and help close the wide federal deficit over the long term — but only if it persists.
Debt ceiling complicates fiscal cliff for United States
WASHINGTON — Come January, the United States will not only face immense tax increases and spending cuts, should Congress fail to act. It will also run out of room to finance its large running deficits.
Lingering unemployment poses long-term risk
WASHINGTON — In the economy-focused presidential campaign, the two candidates and their teams have scarcely mentioned what economists describe as not just one of the labor market’s most pressing problems, but the entire country’s: long-term unemployment.
Fed members in accord on bond buying, minutes show
WASHINGTON — Policymakers at the Federal Reserve were nearly united last month in their belief that the economic recovery needed additional help and that the central bank had the ability to provide it, according to the official account of the meeting released Thursday.
International Monetary Fund sees economic deterioration ahead
WASHINGTON — Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, on Monday warned that the institution would probably cut its estimates of global growth yet again this year because of the tepid U.S. recovery, a slowdown in emerging economies and continued troubles in the eurozone.
World Bank sees euro crisis taking global toll
WASHINGTON — The World Bank on Tuesday warned that fears about the eurozone had reduced investors’ tolerance for risk, and it urged poorer economies to protect themselves by reducing their debts.
Changes in Paris may better fit economic conditions in the US
WASHINGTON — With the victory of the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, in the French presidential election, the White House has lost one of its closest allies on the Continent, but perhaps gained one with economic policy beliefs more closely aligned with its own.
US completes sale of $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department announced Monday that it had finished selling the $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it bought to help stabilize the markets during the worst of the financial crisis.
Obama meets with EU leaders on debt crisis
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met with top European Union leaders as the eurozone sovereign debt crisis entered a perilous new phase, with increasing worries about the sustainability of the 17-country monetary union and borrowing costs climbing to new peaks.