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Bernanke Sees Risks in Further Steps to Spur Jobs

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the Fed can't take additional steps to try to ease high unemployment without escalating high inflation. If inflation were to accelerate, the Fed would have to raise rates to slow borrowing and spending and blunt price increases. Hiring might then...

GOP Budget Plan Would Revamp Medicare, Medicaid

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans set up a politically defining clash over the size and priorities of government Tuesday, unveiling a budget plan that calls for both unprecedented spending cuts and a fundamental restructuring of taxpayer-financed health care for the elderly and the poor. The plan would slash federal...

Opinion: It's the Egyptian Economy, Stupid

On Monday, Egypt's military rulers announced plans to have a constitutional referendum later this month. That's welcome news to those fretting over whether a stable, transparent democracy can emerge from the ashes of the Mubarak regime in Egypt. But in order for democracy to sprout along the Nile, transitional leaders...

Bernanke: Mideast Threat to US Economy Is Mild -- For Now

The spike in fuel prices, sparked by Mideast turmoil, currently poses only a mild threat of broader inflation because the ailing U.S. jobs market has kept a lid on wages, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress today. But a continuing rise in the prices of oil and other commodities like steel, cotton and food...

Opinion: Who Has the Courage to Lead on Spending Cuts?

Last week's release of President Barack Obama's budget left many Americans scratching their heads. They'd made clear their demands for a dramatic change in Washington's overspending ways; they'd also made clear their expectation for President Obama to lead in that charge. And certainly, the president fueled that...