General Financial News

Government transportation spending is full of costly boondoggles.

California regulators are seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from Pacificare over allegations the health insurer mismanaged claims from physicians, failed to make payments in a timely matter and other violations.

Those who oppose higher taxes and are fed up with record levels of U.S. debt may pine for Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of lower taxes and smaller government.

One of the Internet's most iconic images -- Google's search screen -- is being overhauled.

Stocks ended Wednesday higher as investors shifted their focus from worries about European banks to President Obama's $350 billion jobs recovery plan.

Borrowers who are up-to-date with their payments but have seen their home's value drop way below their loan amount could get help from a new government program.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman banked a $1 billion profit in 2008 on MBIA after waging a multiyear campaign against the municipal bond insurer. No one expected him to replicate his performance anytime soon.

The economy grew at a sluggish pace through the summer months, and there are now "widespread signs" thatactivity is slowing, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its latest snapshot of regional economic conditions.

Does allowing the jobless to get nearly two years of unemployment checks give them an incentive to not work?

In May, less than a month after the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a key milestone was achieved with little notice: Total U.S. supplies of petroleum and products refined from it (including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) surpassed 1.8 billion barrels, reaching the highest level in the last 20 years. Since then the total has continued to edge upward, hitting 1.87 billion barrels in the week ended August 27, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Smartphones may be pretty uniform in price at the store, but what they cost to manufacture - and their price without a two-year contract -- varies wildly.

Oracle Corp. said Wednesday it will pay its new co-president, Mark Hurd, an annual salary of $950,000 and that he could receive a bonus of up to $10 million.

Have you looked at how big bank stocks have done in the past few months? If so, you can be forgiven if you break into a cold sweat and start worrying about a repeat of the fall of 2008.

It's never a good time for an oil rig to blow up in the Gulf of Mexico, but Mariner Energy's Vermillion 380 platform couldn't have gone off at a worse time. The government and the media were already scrutinizing offshore drill production in an unprecedented way. Thirteen unlucky workers were ejected off of Vermillion into the water last week. And Mariner inadvertently became the latest part of a national political debate about the safety of offshore drilling.

President Obama's latest round of job-bolstering proposals boasts something for everyone: corporate tax breaks for conservatives and spending on roads and railways for liberals. Yet he's having a hard time getting everyone on board.

Economists are already questioning the impact of the latest economic stimulus plan, which appears to be little more than a transparent plea for votes.

BP's stock jumped more than 3% in early trading Wednesday after Fitch upgraded the company's rating three notches.

The good news is that booster seats are getting safer. The bad news is that there are still some seats out there that may not protect your child in a crash, a report released Wednesday showed.