The year 2012 saw the triumph of cold reality over pie-in-the-sky dreams.
Ding, dong, the Ding Dong is dead. Well, maybe. But Twinkie, the Ho Ho and Sno Ball will surely live again, likely in a right-to-work state. It's hard to imagine a plate of barbecue without the embrace of two slices of Wonder Bread to soak up the sauce.
Wall Street ratings agencies are skeptical of the resolve of political leaders to tame the nation's debts, and are raising the likelihood that at least one of the three top agencies will add to the turmoil in financial markets at the end of the year by further downgrading the U.S. credit rating.
Ford's third-quarter profit eased 1 percent to $1.63 billion as European losses swamped record North American profits.
Wall Street rating agencies are starting to sound warnings again about the possibility of further downgrades of the once-perfect U.S. credit rating as a critical year-end deadline for addressing the nation's mounting debt nears.
Wall Street cash bonuses for 2011 are expected to drop 14 percent and profits are expected to drop by half for the second year in a row, according to a forecast Wednesday by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Shoppers spent more money online this holiday season than ever before, and yet, Amazon _the world's largest Internet retailer_ failed to meet Wall Street's sales expectations with its latest financial results.
Despite much fanfare at a summit last week, European leaders failed to convince global investors that they are on their way to solving their massive problems with debt and recession.
House Republicans have a not-so-secret weapon that could bring the National Labor Relations Board to a halt and block Democrats' Wall Street watchdog agency from getting started — and all it requires is just sitting around.
