US President Barack Obama proposed small business tax cuts and energy efficiency rebates to boost jobs, and he also called for an extension of unemployment and health insurance benefits for more than 15 million jobless Americans.
He also stressed that reducing the jobless rate was the best way to tackle the country’s record deficit, Reuters reports. However, he didn’t offer any specific details nor the cost of his proposals.
“There are those who claim we have to …

The unemployment rate in the United States dipped to 10 per cent in November as US employers cut 11,000 jobs, the lowest monthly job loss in nearly two years, Fox News reports.
The new government data marked an improvement over October’s 111,000 jobs lost, but the respite may be temporary, as many economists expect the jobless rate to keep climbing into next year as the economy struggles to generate enough jobs for the 15.4 million people …

Ending the computer industry’s most bitter legal war, the chipmaker Intel agreed today to pay a rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) $1.25 billion (£755 million) to settle all antitrust and patent disputes, the New York Times reports.
The settlement will resolve a private antitrust case pending in Federal District Court in Delaware and two in Japan. In addition, AMD will withdraw all regulatory complaints worldwide. AMD have been the driving force behind charges that Intel used …

The US economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter, ending a string of declines over four quarters that resulted in the most severe slide since the Great Depression, CNN reports.
The growth was slightly stronger than expectations – economists had forecast 3.2% growth in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity. The economy shrank at a 0.7% rate in the second quarter.
The positive GDP report is one more …

The unemployment rate in the United States rose to 9.8 per cent in September as employers cut far more jobs than expected, evidence that the longest recession since the 1930s is still inflicting widespread pain, FoxNews reports.
The US Labour Department said today that the economy lost a net total of 263,000 jobs last month, up from a downwardly revised 201,000 in August. That’s above Wall Street economists’ expectations of 180,000 job losses.
If laid-off workers who …

The US unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.7% in August as nonfarm payrolls fell by 216,000, the 20th consecutive monthly decline, MarketWatch reports.
US payrolls have dropped by 6.9 million to 131.2 million since the recession began in December 2007, the government data showed. Unemployment has increased by 7.4 million during the recession to 14.9 million.
The unemployment rate was 9.4% in July.

A middle-income family can expect to spend $291,570 (£172,210) including inflation to raise a child born in 2008 to adulthood, Reuters reports.
The estimate covers food, shelter and other necessities for a child to age 18, said the annual report by the Agriculture Department. The figure does not include the cost of childbirth or college.
Housing accounts for one-third of expenditures on children. Food accounts for 16 percent, the same as child care and education, said the …

In America, the top one percent of taxpayers pay more income tax than the bottom 95%, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data reveals.
The IRS data shows that in 2007 — the most recent data available — the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 40.4 percent of the total income taxes collected by the federal government, the Tax Foundation report.
By contrast, the top 1 percent paid 24.8 percent of the income tax burden in 1987, the …

British Airways are cutting free meals on thousands of short-haul flights as it battles to cut losses of £400m a year, the Daily Telegraph reports.
No meals, rolls or sandwiches will be served after 10am on flights from London Heathrow lasting less than two-and-a-half hours, including destinations such as Madrid.
Passengers will be offered a biscuit or “snack bites” instead. Similar cutbacks have already been implemented on flights from Gatwick.
Long-haul passengers in economy will have their free …

Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and California’s legislative leaders agreed yesterday on a plan to close the state’s $26 billion budget shortfall, potentially getting the state back on firm financial ground so it can stop issuing IOUs, the AP reports.
The governor and leaders from both parties announced the compromise after more than five hours of closed-door talks. If the agreement survives its run through both houses of the Legislature, it would provide temporary relief to …

Former US President George W. Bush criticized the policies of his successor Barack Obama, saying that the private sector is going to mend the economy and that Government do not create wealth, but an environment for people taking business risks.
“I know it’s going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we’re in,” Bush said, according to Washington Times. “You can spend your money better than the government …