President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that the nation’s recession could "linger for years" unless Congress acts to pump unprecedented sums from Washington into the U.S. economy, making his highest-profile case yet on an issue certain to define his early presidency.
Pink slips are piling higher as companies scramble to cut costs even deeper to survive the country’s economic and financial storms.
Just days into the new year, managed care provider Cigna Corp., aluminum producer Alcoa Inc., data-storage company EMC Corp. and computer products maker Logitech International were among those announcing layoffs to cope with a recession that has just entered its second year. The flurry of job cuts suggest the employment picture will remain grim this year.
The United States and its partners have shortchanged Afghanistan by focusing on short-term goals pursued without a cohesive strategy or a clear understanding of the way the poor, decentralized country works, an independent study concludes.
The incoming Obama administration should refocus the U.S. war and rebuilding effort in Afghanistan and think of the project as the work of at least a decade, according to the report compiled by the United States Institute of Peace.
Senate Democrats beat a hasty retreat Wednesday from their rejection of Roland Burris as President-elect Barack Obama’s successor, yielding to pressure from Obama himself and from senators irked that the standoff was draining attention and putting them in a bad light. Burris said with a smile he expected to join them "very shortly."
Vice President Dick Cheney has said he expects to retire completely from public life after January 20 and return to Wyoming following nearly 40 years serving four presidents in Washington.
"Well, that’s my expectation," Cheney said Wednesday on CBS radio when asked if he would make a complete exit from the stage in 13 days, when he and President George W. Bush hand over to president-elect Barack Obama and vice president-elect Joseph Biden.
After months of will-he or won’t-he speculation, MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews has opted not to run for the U.S. Senate in his native Pennsylvania.
Matthews told his producers during a meeting just before Wednesday’s "Hardball" that he isn’t seeking the Democratic nomination for the seat occupied by moderate Republican Arlen Specter, who is up for re-election in 2010.