April 17, 2013  |   FBI photo of a pressure cooker lid found near Boston bomb site. Three days after the Boston Marathon bombing, investigators are still trying to unravel how a pair of blasts killed three and injured at least 170. On Tuesday,...

March 15, 2013  |   A foam art shamrock atop a Guinness. Photo courtesy of flickr user puamelia. With this weekend's St. Patrick's Day celebrations just hours away, bars and pubs are likely stocking up on extra supplies for one of the largest drinking...

February 22, 2013  |   Gun rights supporter Doug Hathaway holds a sign in support of a pro gun rally rally at the Colorado State Capitol. Photo By Andy Cross / The Denver Post via Getty Images. As we wrap up coverage for PBS's...

January 4, 2013  |   Now that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its final unemployment numbers for the year, let's take one last look at 2012's unemployment indicators, month-by-month. We've compiled a year's worth of our own, more-inclusive U-7 figures -- our all-inclusive...

November 1, 2012  |   Mary Brassard, 86, Dorrace Delaney, 74, and Roger Huff, 68, work at Vita Needle in Needham, a manufacturing company whose average age of worker is 74. Photo by Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe via Getty Images. The American workforce is...

October 18, 2012  |   Photo by Dorann Weber via Getty Images. The latest numbers on college debt are out this morning, and the picture -- already rattled from reports earlier in the year that Americans owed a cool trillion for their higher education...

September 14, 2012  |   Yemeni protesters gather around fire during a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa over a film mocking Islam. Yemeni forces managed to drive out angry protesters who stormed the embassy with police firing warning shots. Photo by Mohammed...

September 5, 2012  |   Rain fell during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Photo by Jared Soares for PBS NewsHour. With Thursday's threat of thunderstorms holding at 40 percent, organizers for the Democratic...

September 4, 2012  |   Umbrellas were a common sight as rain marked the beginning of the Democratic National Convention. Photo by Tom Kennedy / PBS NewsHour. With overcast skies and rainy weather this week in Charlotte, N.C., organizers for the Democratic National Convention...

August 30, 2012  |   Rescue workers transport residents trapped by rising water in LaPlace, La., on Wednesday. Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images. Updated Aug. 30 at 10:10 a.m. ET: Tropical storm Isaac lost more steam as it lingered over land Thursday but was...

June 13, 2012  |   A New York City Police officer stands at the entrance to the JP Morgan Chase World Headquarters in New York. The U.S. Justice Department, FBI and others have opened an investigation into JPMorgan Chase's more than $2 billion trading...

June 11, 2012  |   Here's a running debt clock tracking total student loans in America . If you're like one of the debt-saddled folks we've profiled,...

April 23, 2012  |   The campus of University of California, Merced, was one of the top 10 green buildings in 2012, according to the American Institute of Architects. Photo by Tim Griffith. A classroom in the back woods of the University of Minnesota...

April 13, 2012  |   The Obama administration released the president's tax return Friday morning, four days ahead of the Tuesday filing date deadline. We've spent the day poring over the numbers and highlighted some of the interesting bits in our second-annual infographic of the...

April 9, 2012  |   After three months of 200,000-plus jobs gains, the employment situation for March was worse than expected: a mere 120,000 new jobs added. While the government estimated an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent -- down from 8.3 percent the month...

April 2, 2012  |   Illustration by Alberto Ruggieri via Getty Images. Paul Solman has been covering economic inequality for nearly 25 years as part of his business and economics reporting for the PBS NewsHour. His recent series has looked at the shrinking middle...

March 16, 2012  |   Image by Marceltheshell via Wikimedia Commons. Watch the full discussion: Author Charles Murray on Bubbles, Marriage and 'Coming Apart' We saw a lot of responses in comments, on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit to the quiz "Do You Live in...

March 15, 2012  |   Photo by Getty Images. In the scathing "I quit" letter heard round the world, Greg Smith wrote in the New York Times that after 12 years he was fed up with Goldman Sachs' practices. "I attend derivatives sales meetings...

March 15, 2012  |   Photo by Getty Images. Returning to the nest with mom and dad after college and even into the thirties is becoming increasingly more common, but also less stigmatized. Young adults who live with their folks are cheerful, upbeat even,...

March 1, 2012  |   "It's not that easy, bein' green," Kermit the Frog first lamented in 1970. "It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things." We became interested in greenness during research for a story on B...

February 28, 2012  |   A sign in a neighborhood outside of Greensboro, N.C. Photo by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Tuesday's house price numbers are bad -- real bad. Not only have overall indicators dropped to their lowest levels since the housing...

February 14, 2012  |   A new college grad's guide for what to do after earning that higher education degree: Buy a suit Find a job Start saving for retirement Move back home with mom and dad Wait, move back home?...

January 16, 2012  |   Investments, trading, retirement planning, high-level finance and dealings: complicated, mathematically intense stuff best left to the pros, right? Not necessarily, according to financial planner-turned-New York Times blogger Carl Richards, who is taking personal finance questions from the NewsHour audience....

January 13, 2012  |   "I don't want to jeopardize my family because I tried to make the country a better place." Arthur Laffer, economist to Ronald Reagan and famous for the Laffer Curve theory, which we explored on Wednesday's NewsHour in 'Taxes: How High...

December 23, 2011  |   Photo by flickr user Ian Britton. "We're all peacocks. We all like to show off." That's what Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute, told us recently in a conversation about changes in spending trends amid an "hourglass" economy....

December 12, 2011  |   This blog has been updated to clarify that the top table refers to single household incomes in 2012, and the interactive tax calculator below reflects 2010 data for most countries. The amount taxpayers owe Uncle Sam every year depends on...

November 30, 2011  |   Photo by Elizabeth Shell. Recently, Puppet Underground and Occupy DC hosted a 'Roving Kabaret' of various theatrical troupes that support the...

November 23, 2011  |   Paul Solman: Today's Making Sen$e post comes courtesy of the page's web chief, Elizabeth Shell. A majority of first-time working mothers are now receiving paid maternity leave -- a first since the government started tracking the data in the...

November 11, 2011  |   A homeless U.S. military veteran stands in line for free winter clothing at a 'Stand Down' event hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Organizers say the homeless veteran population has surged in recent years along with the high...

November 1, 2011  |   Each week, Paul Solman gets dozens of questions from the audience, ranging from whether one should refinance a mortgage, if Stephen Colbert is coming after Paul's job to where he buys his signature hats. Generally, we post a few of...

October 28, 2011  |   Scott Beason, one of Alabama's Republican state senators, is no newcomer to controversy. Earlier this year, he helped author what many consider to be the nation's strictest immigration law, which we examine in detail on Friday's...

September 11, 2011  |   Hari Sreenivasan talked with Jer Thorp and Jake Barton about the data and design involved in arranging the 2,982 victims names on the Sept. 11 memorial at Ground Zero. John Katsimatides, a 31-year-old corporate bonds broker...

August 11, 2011  |   Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Photo by Jin Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images Editor's Note: Given the rollercoaster behavior of the stock market over the past few weeks, we checked in with...

August 9, 2011  |   Federal Reserve officials announced they would keep interest rates unchanged after a faltering economic recovery and a U.S. credit-rating cut provoked a rout in global stocks. Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Editor's note: Following a 634-point fall...

May 20, 2011  |   We recently visited the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for our story on George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen's ebook, "The Great Stagnation." Cowen argues that our economy is slowing down because the pace of innovation...

May 19, 2011  |   When economist Tyler Cowen finishes his day job at George Mason University and dinner time rolls around, he sinks his teeth into his hobby: blogging about -- and eating -- ethnic food in and around Washington, D.C. The aptly...

April 8, 2011  |   Just hours away from a potential government shutdown, Paul Solman speaks via Skype with two economists on the financial implications of the budget impasse in this week's edition of "Weekonomics: Our Friday Roundup."...

April 5, 2011  |   Video shot and produced by Elizabeth Shell. Returning from tours in Iraq or Afghanistan (and sometimes both), American veterans struggle to adjust to civilian life: many are still grappling with what they experienced in combat and,...

March 22, 2011  |   Just in time for tax season: a tax receipt calculator that shows you how the federal government spends your taxes. It's easy to use: just enter your federal tax amount for 2010 and press 'calculate receipt.' The tool then shows...

March 15, 2011  |   Business correspondent Paul Solman and Dante Chinni of Patchwork Nation recently traveled to two counties in Ohio: Crawford and Delaware. Thirty years ago the counties had similar average incomes but they've grown apart. The town of Galion in Crawford...

March 11, 2011  |   Editor's Note: Paul Solman is traveling today but we here at Making Sen$e wanted to share a list of reports we've been following on the financial impact of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Though it's too soon to...

January 3, 2011  |   Not surprisingly, a poor economy does not bode well for college grads trying to enter the job market. "The last couple of years have been a very, very tough time to be coming out of college," said Richard White in...

December 6, 2010  |   Headline unemployment was up to 9.8 percent in November, and the government's broadest indicator, U-6, which includes all who worked at all last month, even if just for an hour -- is holding steady at 17 percent. Add in...

December 3, 2010  |   Unemployment rose little in November, with the official rate edging up slightly from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent. The government's broadest measure of unemployment stayed steady at 17 percent. This figure includes the unemployed plus all who are only marginally...

November 25, 2010  |   Is it just to bail out homeowners? Mortgage modifications help homeowners stay put. But is that fair to those of us who bought when the market was high, and yet continue to meet our contractual obligations? Paul Solman asks just...

November 18, 2010  |   Over a year ago, General Motors told investors its stock was worthless and to stop trading it. To say the company has experienced a turnaround is a bit of an understatement. After a month of speculation and a last-minute bump...

November 12, 2010  |   A bit more about the interplay between China's holding of currency and U.S. debt. First, a simple graphical explainer as to how the Chinese government gets so many dollars in the first place, using Ford Motor Company and China Steel...

November 11, 2010  |   The United States is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion. But for what, and to whom? At its core, the debt is the result of more spending than saving at every level, from individual households to businesses to...

November 3, 2010  |   The Fed wants you to stop saving and start spending. That's the takeaway from today's Federal Reserve announcement, in which Chairman Ben Bernanke, as expected, announced that the Fed will be investing hundreds of billions of dollars to energize the...

November 3, 2010  |   Just a few hours ago, polls across the country closed, election races were called, and the most expensive mid-term election cycle in U.S. history came to an end. And the television and radio airwaves will no longer be deluged with...

October 29, 2010  |   Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Friday's query: A trio of related emails to answer today. First: Name: James Tracy Question: Having watched...

October 26, 2010  |   The idea that bank paperwork can weigh you down is nothing new. But the foreclosure cases we've come across lately sound downright Kafka-esque. A homeowner trying to modify her mortgage is told to fax documents to a certain department....

October 21, 2010  |   UPDATE | Oct. 22, 2010 from Paul Solman: Apologies to all who know biology: this story identified A,C,G and T as AMINO acids. They're NUCLEIC. ................................................................................................................................................ Paul Solman's Making Sen$e segment on Thursday's NewsHour looks at a new way to...

October 19, 2010  |   Editor's note: Here on Making Sen$e, we like to highlight great and interesting work, tools and multimedia that are circulating the Web. While those usually involve the bylines of economists or business experts, that's not always the case. While filming...

October 18, 2010  |   One of the controversial pieces of the foreclosure fallout is the possibly illegal procedure known as "robo-signing" that has gained media attention in the last two weeks. We highlighted it in Thursday night's broadcast, which is the first in a...

October 18, 2010  |   Last week, Paul Solman talked to Harvard policy professor Robert Putnam about religion in America and his new book, "American Grace." Professor Putnam agreed to answer some of your questions -- here are his replies. Name: Corlando Question: How does...

October 12, 2010  |   DetectFlashDecision_Blog; On Monday's broadcast, correspondent Paul Solman interviewed Robert Putnam, a Harvard public policy professor and one of the co-authors of "American Grace," on religion in America. The full interview delved into many more topics than there...

September 28, 2010  |   We asked Paul Solman to weigh in on whether to rent or buy: Since the 70s, it's been a no-brainer. Buy or rent? Buy, of course. You'll be making an investment instead of just paying off some landlord. And besides,...

September 21, 2010  |   Hari Sreenivasan recently spoke with business and economics correspondent Paul Solman about the emotional responses people have had when interviewed about losing their homes, their jobs or both in the economic downturn. Also, "The Hat" makes a special appearance. <!-...