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BEIJING - China's premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday lectured the United States, criticizing it for pressing China to let its currency rise against the dollar to boost U.S. exports, advising it to work harder to improve its financial system and directing it to change its foreign policy to improve relat...

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Donna M. George was a grandmother living in a gated community in Fredericksburg when she sold prescription drugs out of her kitchen -- while babysitting for her three grandchildren.

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February's cross-country snowstorms couldn't freeze out consumers as retail sales rose 0.3 percent for the month, according to government data released Friday.

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A feud between the United States and Europe has cast doubt on the likelihood of a comprehensive global response to the financial crisis that nearly sparked a worldwide depression, according to regulators and analysts.

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About 90,000 distressed borrowers have lost their mortgage aid under the government's foreclosure prevention plan, and many more are at risk of losing the help, according to Treasury Department data released Friday.

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President Obama's likely selections for three top positions at the Federal Reserve signal that he wants the central bank to focus on driving down unemployment and taking a more active role in protecting consumers.

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Derrick T. Dortch, president of the Diversa Group, is a career counselor who specializes in government job searches and military transition. This is adapted from a recent chat at washingtonpost.com.

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The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

How much time and energy should you spend pursuing a particular job opportunity? Several times recently I have invested a large amount of time (filling out applications, going in for multiple interviews) or money (printing portfolios, missing hours of work, paying for travel expenses) in the process...

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Congress is ready for a nap. The financial crisis was a year-long emergency. Health-care reform has been a seemingly endless grind. No one quite knows what to do about jobs. Cap-and-trade seems doomed in the Senate, which means all the work the House did to pass its bill was for nothing. The elec...

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For the second year, the Internal Revenue Service is reaching out to folks in financial trouble.

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With just a month until the filing deadline, it's time to get serious about taxes.

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Analysts, bloggers, real estate dealmakers and managers of mutual funds are as puzzled as I am about the 90 percent rise in REIT indexes since March 2009. Commercial real estate lags the business cycle, so shares of real estate investment trusts normally do not rebound until after it's apparent the...

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Although almost everyone denounces it, the AMT is a big moneymaker for Uncle Sam, collecting more than $22 billion from four million taxpayers for 2008 alone. Congress has not found a replacement for this lucrative revenue raiser. Since 2001, however, lawmakers have approved a temporary patch each...

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A high-profile report on Lehman Brothers raises fresh questions about whether senior executives at the failed Wall Street investment bank presented a misleading picture of its financial health and whether government regulators did enough to prevent the firm's sudden collapse.

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Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey released Thursday.

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The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

President Obama unveiled plans Thursday to double U.S. exports over the next five years in hopes of spurring job growth, an ambitious goal that may rekindle the battle over free-trade policy.

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The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.

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Senate banking committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said Thursday he will move forward next week with sweeping legislation to revamp the nation's financial regulatory system, despite failing to resolve key differences with Republicans.

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Congressional Republicans named six members to President Obama's deficit-reduction commission Friday, choosing the party's most respected leaders on budget issues and hard-line conservatives who said they are determined to steer the panel toward cutting spending and away from raising taxes.

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Democratic staffers at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue scrambled Friday to write the financial reform legislation that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) has promised to unveil Monday , trying to find language that would please Democrats while preserving progress toward a compromise with...

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In the latest blow to Toyota Motor, a Southern California prosecutor filed the first consumer protection lawsuit against the automaker, claiming it had engaged in "fraud" by hiding evidence of dangerous vehicle defects.

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Murray Hill might be the perfect candidate for this political moment: young, bold, media-savvy, a Washington outsider eager to reshape the way things are done in the nation's capital. And if these are cynical times, well, then, it's safe to say Murray Hill is by far the most cynical.

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The unemployment rate last year for young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars hit 21.1 percent, the Labor Department said Friday, reflecting a tough obstacle that combat veterans face as they make the transition home from war.

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MERGERS & AQUISITIONS Shareholders voted in favor of a nearly $3.5 billion stock buyout, clearing the final hurdle for Stanley Works to acquire Black & Decker.

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Several Republican senators are questioning expenses at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a national nonprofit organization that receives millions of dollars in federal funding.

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In the final push to pass a major student aid bill pending in Congress, funding for key elements in President Obama's education agenda is dwindling.

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LONDON -- At a time of deep concern over growing government debt in Europe and the United States, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is heading to Washington as a global spokesman for fiscal restraint.

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BEIJING -- China's top Internet regulator warned Google on Friday that it must obey Chinese laws or "pay the consequences," in the bluntest official reaction yet to Google's threat to pull out of China unless the government stops censoring the Internet.

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"The Blind Side" and "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis turns his attention to the U.S. financial crisis.

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In a giant auction, the federal government has agreed to sell for pennies on the dollar most of the 120,000 formaldehyde-tainted trailers it bought nearly five years ago for Hurricane Katrina victims. But the sale of the units, perhaps the most visible symbol of the government's bungled response to...

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New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he has recused himself and appointed an independent counsel to probe whether Gov. David A. Paterson illegally took World Series tickets or had improper contact with a woman who accused an aide of domestic violence.

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American International Group has reached an agreement with the Obama administration's compensation czar to pay back the remaining money employees agreed to return last year after an uproar over bonuses at the insurance giant, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

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Investors learned this week of Wall Street's latest attraction -- a new "futures" market where anyone from casual moviegoers to Hollywood moguls would be able to wager on the success of upcoming movies.

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Americans regained more of their shrunken wealth last quarter, mainly because of gains in stock portfolios. The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that household net worth rose 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, to $54.2 trillion. Net worth rose 4.5 percent in the second quarter and 5.5...

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In recent years, Maryland has raised its sales tax, income tax, corporate tax and cigarette tax; added a surcharge called the "millionaires' tax"; and created taxes on electronic bingo, tip jars and even water and septic systems -- the "flush tax."

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SANTIAGO, CHILE -- Sebastián Piñera pledged during his presidential campaign to bring fiscal prudence to Chile, but moments before his inauguration Thursday, he received a jolting reminder of how last month's 8.8-magnitude earthquake has shredded that promise.

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Northrop Grumman said Thursday that it issued layoff notices to 180 employees at its Hagerstown, Md., maintenance and modification center.

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The chief of the nation's auto safety regulators rejected criticism on Thursday that his agency made mistakes and responded too slowly to years of complaints regarding runaway Toyotas.

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With new Treasury Department rules designed to expedite short sales set to take effect April 5, relief can't come soon enough for some area buyers, sellers and real estate agents who have waded through a long and arduous process to get short sales approved by the bank.

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With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in...

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It's getting competitive out there in the Washington area housing market, according to real estate brokers and buyers. And February market statistics just reported from Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the local multiple listing service, back up their reports.

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The Federal Housing Administration will need taxpayer money because it failed to properly project how borrowers with FHA-backed loans are affected by job losses and diminished equity in their homes, New York University professor Andrew Caplin told a House panel Thursday.

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Payday lenders, pawnbrokers, car dealers and other companies that make loans but do not hold bank charters would be shielded from the scrutiny of a proposed federal consumer protection regulator under the terms of a tentative compromise between senators who are attempting to craft a bipartisan bill.

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It's time to make it more accessible and affordable.

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A congressional auditor said Thursday that the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, "continues to struggle with increased costs and slowed progress," leading to "substantial risk" that the defense contractor will not be able to build the jet on time or deliver as many...

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NEW YORK -- A former New York state official pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony in connection with an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving the state's pension system, a move that legal experts said could bring the investigation closer to one of Wall Street's most prominent financiers, Steven...

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The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the government's budget deficit in February totaled $220.9 billion, the largest monthly figure yet and 14 percent higher than the previous record from February 2009. The deficit for the first five months of this budget year is $651.6 billion, 10.5 percent...

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I've been noticing a lot of notice fatigue lately. By now, you may have become a bit overwhelmed with correspondence from your bank or credit union about mandated changes to your credit card account.

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The Federal Housing Administration has concluded that its loan volume would have dipped by 40 percent in the next fiscal year and that 300,000 first-time home buyers would have been shut out of the housing market if it had raised its down payment requirements, as critics have pressured it to do, ...

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The federal government has spent the past half year seeking to roll back its emergency efforts at propping up the financial markets -- with the notable exception of its involvement in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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Federal regulators have faced torrents of criticism for not moving more aggressively against Toyota during years of complaints regarding runaway cars.

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Congress and the Obama administration are stepping up pressure on private companies to stop doing business with Iran, but their efforts are running into the same problems U.S. sanctions have encountered for three decades -- reluctance in Europe and a host of elusive trading companies eager to sell...

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Georgetown residents Christopher Cahill and Richard Marshall consider the $75,000 wedding that they're planning for June to be their own "personal stimulus package" for the District economy. And local businesses are already seeing the dollar signs.

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Toyota's run of troubles and terrible timing continues.

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You would have thought that after the junk-bond scandals of the 1980s, the tech bubble of the 1990s and our recent market meltdown, Wall Street would have finally acknowledged the folly of trying to motivate employees through outsize performance bonuses.

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Key members of the Senate banking committee are coalescing around legislation that would strip the Federal Reserve of much of its regulatory authority but would leave the central bank with oversight of the nation's largest banks, according to aides familiar with the ongoing negotiations.

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Unemployment rates rose in the District, Maryland and Virginia in January, a shift that economists said could be a positive sign for the economy because it suggests that discouraged job-seekers are feeling more optimistic about their prospects and have resumed looking for work.

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The Senate approved a $140 billion package of tax breaks and aid to the unemployed Wednesday, the most substantial effort by the chamber to boost the nation's economy since it passed the stimulus bill last year.

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Facing an election-year backlash over runaway spending and ethics scandals, House Democrats moved Wednesday to ban earmarks for private companies, sparking a war between the parties over which would embrace the most dramatic steps to change the way business is done in Washington.

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ST. CHARLES, MO. -- President Obama made an impassioned case Wednesday for his health-care proposal, delivering a folksy, partisan argument for reform as industry groups prepare a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to defeat it.

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As he takes the reins of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Sander M. Levin is vowing to raise the profile of a once-powerful panel that, in recent years, has been overshadowed by the ethics troubles of its previous chairman, Rep. Charles B. Rangel.

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As I look at the uproar over Wall Street's role in the Greek crisis, one of the things I find most surprising is that anyone is surprised about Wall Street's conduct. You're upset that the Street helped Greece hide some of its debt and then began making bets that the debt wouldn't be paid? Welcome...

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Millions of Americans have been forced to rely on unemployment payments for extended periods as the nation struggles through its longest period of high joblessness in a generation, and critics are taking aim, saying that the Depression-era program created as a temporary bridge for laid-off worker...

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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will seek President Obama's support at the White House on Tuesday for a European campaign to crack down on global financial speculation that critics say has exacerbated Europe's worst debt crisis in decades.

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Defense giant Northrop Grumman said Monday that it is pulling out of the $40 billion competition to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force, a move that defense analysts and procurement specialists say leaves its rival Boeing as the likely winner.

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American International Group announced Monday the sale of one of its major global insurance units to MetLife for $15.5 billion, the latest step in the insurance giant's quest to pay down its massive debt to U.S. taxpayers.

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Amid a sea of brightly colored T-shirts and wave after wave of protest signs, Regina Holliday's homemade banner still stuck out as she marched Tuesday in support of health-care reform.

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The Senate's latest jobs bill cleared a key procedural hurdle Tuesday, with the chamber voting to limit debate on a $150 billion package of tax-break extensions and aid for the unemployed.

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Seeking to reclaim the reform mantle amid a series of scandals, House Democratic leaders are advocating a move that would shake up the multibillion-dollar practice of awarding no-bid contracts known as congressional earmarks.

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The company at the heart of a growing recall of processed foods knew that its plant was contaminated with salmonella but continued to make a flavoring and sell it to foodmakers around the country, according to inspectors at the Food and Drug Administration.

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Federal regulators shot down rumors in the financial markets Tuesday afternoon that they were planning to ban short-selling of stocks in which the government has a stake.

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The Washington law firm Arent Fox said Monday that it has named longtime partner Mark M. Katz as its new chairman, a leadership change that comes as the legal sector copes with an economic downturn that has curtailed business and prompted layoffs.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

The White House is mounting a stinging, sustained broadside against health insurance rate increases as President Obama and his aides enter what they hope will be the final stretch of a year-long political war over health-care reform.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

BRAZIL

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Another video rental store might have been content to boast a "Horror" section, but Alexandria's Video Vault always catered to far more specialized tastes.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

That's part of what Greece's prime minister, George Papandreou, blames for his country's financial crisis. A credit default swap is a form of insurance on bonds that investors buy and sell. When it looks like a bond issuer might have trouble paying, its CDS prices soar because the bonds are more...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Embattled Japanese auto giant Toyota launched a broad counter-attack on Monday aimed at refuting research that suggests electronics may be at the heart of runaway acceleration problems that have led the automaker to recall more than 6 million vehicles.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Dozens of former federal officials are playing leading roles in helping carmakers handle federal investigations of auto defects, including those for Toyota's runaway-acceleration problems.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Chris Chapman owns an Anne Arundel County business that sounds deceptively simple. It brings him a comfortable six-figure income on more than $1 million in revenue, allows him to employ a handful of relatives and is built around a sport he loves.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella militant group that had been weakened in recent months, staged a forceful resurgence Monday with an attack that killed at least 12 in the heartland city of Lahore. As the workday began, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-packed truck into an unmarked...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

ABC returned to the televisions of Cablevision's 3 million New York area subscribers late Sunday, allowing viewers to catch most of the Academy Awards. But the companies didn't say whether they had ended their tense and bitter impasse over how much the cable operator should pay Walt Disney Co., t...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Ryan Fochler's life changed six years ago when he left his job in the computer industry to buy an Arlington County-based dog-walking business with $50,000 in personal savings and a home-equity line of credit. The firm grew quickly, with revenue more than doubling each year. By 2008, Fochler was r...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

LONDON -- Icelanders this weekend resoundingly rejected a plan to reimburse overseas depositors after the failure of an online Icelandic bank, a rare public referendum on the repayment of a foreign liability that could fuel further concerns over debt problems in Europe.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

A federal law that bars attorneys from telling clients who are contemplating bankruptcy to take on more debt is not an unconstitutional restriction on the free-speech rights of lawyers, the Supreme Court decided Monday.

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The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

President Obama nominated retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding on Monday to lead the Transportation Security Administration, selecting someone unknown to the aviation industry and federal unions to lead one of the government's most visible agencies.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Dana Moore sells rain. He sells a lot of it, for about a buck per reusable storm.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

The U.S. government, while pushing for tougher sanctions against Tehran, has given $107 billion in the past 10 years to U.S. and foreign companies doing business in Iran, much of it in the energy sector, the New York Times reported in its Sunday editions.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

President Obama has the chance during his first term to appoint leaders for each of the federal agencies that oversee banks, an important opportunity to reshape the government's approach to regulation even as the White House struggles to push structural reforms through the Senate.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

A-T Solutions of Vienna named Paul McQuillan , former president of Leonie Industries, executive vice president of business development.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

After a spurt of major economic data last week, most of it moderate to positive, this week will offer something of a breather.

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The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

MONDAY Job Search Support Group. A four-week workshop on practical job-search techniques also offers support and inspiration from others to help face the challenges of finding a job in the current economy. 10:30 to noon, 401 N. Washington St., Suite 100, Rockville. Sponsor: Montgomery County...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

These companies recently filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's local clerk of court offices.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Elected officials like to look toward sexy new industries such as clean energy technology as answers for job creation. But a McKinsey Global Institute study argues that the actual number of jobs created by such industries is small, and leaders may be better off looking to more conventional service...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

The first job I landed after finishing school was at a community college, where I helped students find jobs. The community in which I worked had been experiencing high unemployment. But I was determined.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Position : Group managing director at RHI Executive Search, a D.C.-based company.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

In the past few days, we've seen product recalls for more than 1.5 million General Motors and Nissan automobiles for, respectively, faulty power steering and defective brakes. Closer to home, 1,000 "climate control" footrests, made by company based in Itasca, Ill., called Fellowes, were taken out...

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

Stephanie Harris's management and sales skills helped her earn $3,000 for just six or seven hours of work on a "good" day.

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

In "I, Alex Cross," the new bestseller set in Washington by James Patterson, fictional detective Alex Cross scans the ego wall in the office of a senator he's investigating:

Wash Post Business
The Washington Post Business and Economy section provides coverage and analysis of economic policy,business policy and financial news as it relates to Washington,D.C.,the federal government and individual agencies. Washington Post Business also offers video,discussions and blogs about major economic issues.

When financial reform legislation finally lands on the Senate floor, a provision that advocates call the single most important item for Main Street investors will probably have been banished from the ponderous bill.