Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new year. What will happen to the economy, mortgage rates and the housing market? If I had my wishes, the following would happen:
This New Year's Eve, for the first time he can remember, Ted Prior won't be gyrating on a stage somewhere, warning someone not to step on his blue suede shoes.
Big cot encampments and huge lines gave way to orderly, single-file queues and thawing tensions as flights left New York-area airports on time Wednesday, but clusters of tired, resigned passengers were still camped out waiting to go home.
Some of the biggest names in social conservatism are opting out of the upcoming high-profile Conservative Political Action Conference in response to what they see as the growing marginalization of social issues, culminating in the participation of GOProud, a gay-rights Republican group.
When Rep. John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, takes the gavel from outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi next week, the California Democrat won't be the new year's biggest loser. That dubious honor falls on America's big-spending big-city mayors. The Republican resurgence sends a message that municipal partying at taxpayer expense must come to an end. Finally, after an era of indiscipline, 2011 promises to be a year of reckoning.
Dan Nainan can't trust himself to work at his computer without clicking on distractions, so he uses an Internet-blocking program to shut down his Web access twice a day.
The Palestinians will ask the U.N. Security Council in the coming days to condemn Israeli settlement construction, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday, part of a growing Palestinian campaign to rally international pressure against Israel with peace efforts deadlocked.
While the national economy shows signs of improvement, city and county governments nationwide still are feeling the strain, as 2010 was among their worst years financially in decades.
The slumping housing market struck a sour note Tuesday, somewhat dampening optimism that the economy is getting a big sugar rush from the best Christmas selling season in three years.
