'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Sales of new homes rose in April to the second-highest level since the summer of 2008 while the median price for a new home hit a record high — further signs that housing is recovering.
U.S. builders broke ground on far fewer homes in April, one month after topping the 1 million mark for the first time since 2008. But applications for new construction reached a five-year peak, evidence that the housing revival will be sustained.
Americans increased their spending in April at retail businesses, buying more cars and clothes after cutting purchases sharply in March. The rebound suggests consumers may help boost growth again in the April-June quarter.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March for a second month as the daily flow of imported crude oil dropped to the lowest level in 17 years. The deficit with China hit a three-year low.
President Obama nominated longtime fundraiser and hotel heiress Penny Pritzker Thursday to run the Commerce Department, gambling that her role in a failed bank and opposition from labor groups won't derail her Senate confirmation.
Barack Obama has been president for 51 months, and America is still waiting for that change he told us to hope for. The latest economic indicators continue to point in the wrong direction: Durable-goods orders are falling, growth in factory output is sluggish and optimism is dissolving.
U.S. economic growth accelerated from January through March, buoyed by the strongest consumer spending in more than two years. The strength offset further declines in government spending that are expected to drag on growth throughout the year.
Economic growth accelerated from near zero to a 2.5 percent rate in the winter quarter as consumers went on a spending spree, the Commerce Department reported Friday morning.
When people look to government for answers in times of crisis, the politicians are happy to oblige, usually with wrong answers. The terrorist attack in Boston has everybody on edge, fearing further assaults - perhaps even to America's online infrastructure.
U.S. homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season.
Consumers stayed away from the malls last month as unusually cold weather and late tax refunds took a toll on their usual spring spending fervor.
Congress's top auditor said Tuesday that the Commerce Department has been charging other government agencies millions of dollars for reports that the other agencies could just as easily have gotten online, for free.
The government is duplicating some efforts to boost wind energy and sometimes fails to assess whether billions of dollars in grants and loans are really needed, the Government Accountability Office reported Thursday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed within a short reach of its all-time high on Tuesday. Rising home prices and orders for manufactured goods drove stocks up from the opening bell.
House Republicans on Tuesday accused federal agencies of failing to prepare for the automatic sequester cuts, saying they had two years to get ready but instead the administration spent time on "scare tactics."
