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President Joe Biden pretends his policies have got the US economy bouncing back. But it’s obvious that credit for the recovery goes to former President Donald Trump. Friday, Biden told NBC News that his $1.9 trillion “relief bill” is why the nation’s gross domestic product grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter, declaring, “The reason why [the economy’s] recovering” is “because we’re investing” — without the $4 billion-plus he wants to spend in another pair of bills, America will “fall even further behind.” Bull: The economy’s recovering because the virus is retreating and lockdowns are ending. And chief credit for...

BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela – The hunt for food started at 4 a.m., when Alexis Camascaro woke up to get in line outside the supermarket. By the time he arrived, there were already 100 people ahead of him. Camascaro never made it inside. Truckloads of Venezuelan troops arrived in the darkness, arresting him and nearly 30 others seemingly pulled from the queue at random, according to his lawyer. Camascaro, 50, was charged with violating laws against interfering "directly or indirectly" with the production, transportation or sale of food. He has been in jail for three months, awaiting a hearing. “I went to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. authorities believe that Iranian-based hackers were responsible for cyberattacks that devastated Persian Gulf oil and gas companies, a former U.S. government official said. Just hours later, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the cyberthreat from Iran has grown, and he declared that the Pentagon is prepared to take action if American is threatened by a computer-based assault. The former official, who is familiar with the investigation, said U.S. authorities believe the cyberattacks were likely supported by the Tehran government and came in retaliation for the latest round of American sanctions against Iran.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday he wants to reward companies that invest in America and eliminate tax breaks for companies that don't, and he's planning new tax proposals to do it. A day after his Republican foes competed in the New Hampshire primary, Obama sought to grab back the spotlight and underscore his focus on the economy by convening a White House forum on how to increase employment and bring back jobs that have fled overseas.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits ticked up slightly last week after two months of steady declines. But the increase isn't enough to reverse the downward trend. The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, fell to its lowest level since April. The decline in the average signals that companies are laying off fewer workers. Weekly applications for unemployment aid rose 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 393,000, the Labor Department said Wednesday. It's the second increase in six weeks. The four-week average fell to 394,250. That's the eighth drop in the past nine weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as the U.S. economy is making progress despite Europe's turmoil, here come two new threats. A congressional panel is supposed to agree by Thanksgiving on a deficit-reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion. If it fails, federal spending would automatically be cut by that amount starting in 2013. Congress may also let emergency unemployment aid and a Social Security tax cut expire at year's end. Either outcome could slow growth and spook markets.

BEIJING (AP) — China stepped up its criticism Tuesday of a proposed U.S. law to punish countries with artificially low currencies, saying there would be serious repercussions for the world's two biggest economies if it is passed. The criticism comes after U.S. senators voted Monday to open a week of debate on the bill that would allow the government to impose additional duties on products from countries that subsidize exports by undervaluing their currencies.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama makes it sound like there are millionaires all over America paying taxes at lower rates than their secretaries. "Middle-class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires," Obama said Monday. "That's pretty straightforward. It's hard to argue against that."

NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini has seized the headlines again this morning, warning that a "perfect storm" of economic disasters may smash the global economy in 2013. Roubini's perfect storm consists of four factors: -The U.S.'s basket-case of an economy and budget deficit, -A potential slowdown in China, -European debt restructuring and -Stagnation in Japan. Roubini says there's a one-in-three chance that these factors will clobber growth in 2013.

Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office. But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president. The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former...

This is the list of every bank that has taken $100 million or more TARP funds. There are 8,000 banks that have not taken TARP funds. Let's reward these banks with our deposits. They did not make systematic risk bets. They were prudent in their lending. They should be rewarded for these actions. The list of banks below should be punished for their actions. If you have money in one of these banks, consider a withdrawal to put in a non-TARP bank.

WASHINGTON - The economy’s growth slowed sharply in the second quarter, logging just a 2.5 percent pace as consumers tightened their belts and spending on home building dived. Inflation, however, shot up. The latest snapshot of gross domestic product released by the Commerce Department on Friday showed that the overall pace of economic activity in the April-to-June quarter was less than half that of the January-to-March quarter, when the economy zipped along at a 5.6 percent annual rate, the fastest in 2 1/2 years. Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States...

A crime against Americans BY REY DAVID Special to The Examiner I HAVE BEEN a software engineer for the past 15 years, and a good one at that. Seven months ago, my company decided to give my job to offshore software outsourcers from India, and I got laid off. Unemployment has caused me tremendous hardship. Like so many others in the Bay Area, landing a paying job has become a Herculean full-time job, fraught with tedious daily tasks and crushing frustration. I have come to accept that there would be difficult periods like this during any business cycle. But I...