Jun 12 House approves permanent tax break for small businesses By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to make permanent a generous tax break that makes it easier for small businesses to buy new equipment and improve their property, part of an election-year showdown over a series of expired tax breaks… Continue reading
Jun 12 A BMW engineer: the U.S. has fallen out of touch with the job market By Moritz Kippenberger At BMW's only American production plant, they've imported the German tradition of apprenticeships. Paul Solman speaks with a BMW engineer now based in South Carolina about the differences between the working cultures of the two countries, and what the U.S. Continue reading
Jun 11 What Congress can learn from the general store owner who crafted U.S. borrowing limits By Bill White Former deputy energy secretary and mayor of Houston Bill White details how America's borrowing used to be manageable and how it can be once more -- if only the federal government would divide spending bills into parts financed by taxes… Continue reading
Jun 09 Will the European Central Bank's negative interest rate be an economic positive? By Simone Pathe After the European Central Bank announced the largest ever use of a negative interest rate, Making Sen$e caught up with two central bank watchers for a closer look at how the ECB differs from the Fed and how both central… Continue reading
Jun 06 Watch At Book Expo, publishers and authors confront changing industry By PBS News Hour The online revolution has disrupted the traditional bookselling business over time. From the publishing industry’s annual trade show, Jeffrey Brown reports on how authors and publishers are adapting to new platforms, small startups are pushing their titles and independent bookstores… Continue watching
Jun 06 Watch Low-wage jobs drive gains in U.S. employment By PBS News Hour American employment now exceeds pre-recession levels, but most of the jobs created have lower wages. That's according to May’s government labor data, which shows that despite gains of 200,000 jobs, the unemployment rate hasn't budged. Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks… Continue watching
Jun 06 Digital revolution threatens American literature, says best-selling author James Patterson By Frank Carlson Despite having authored dozens of best-selling titles, James Patterson is very worried about the present and future of books in America, as the publishing world continues to grapple with the tectonic shifts brought about by the advent of ebooks and… Continue reading
Jun 06 200K more Americans and 200K more jobs, but 300K more 'want a job' By Paul Solman With 217,000 jobs added to the economy, payrolls now exceed their pre-recession level. But even if the economy is pumping out enough jobs for a workforce that also grew by roughly 200,000, there are now nearly 300,000 more Americans than… Continue reading
Jun 06 Jobs report: Nonfarm payrolls surpass pre-recession level By Simone Pathe The economy added 217,000 jobs in May and the unemployment rate stayed the same as the previous month at 6.3 percent. The payroll number exceeded consensus expectations of about 213,000 jobs, but more significantly, this is a landmark month because… Continue reading
Jun 05 Watch SEC seeks to rein in unfair practices of high-frequency trading By PBS News Hour The chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission laid out new rules to regulate high-frequency trading. Critics have argued that high-speed, computer trading gives a small group of traders an enormous advantage over the general public. Judy Woodruff talks to… Continue watching