With Americans still stewing over the immense misallocation of TARP funds to banking officials, President Obama unveiled a plan to Congress that introduced new legislation that would institute the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). Authored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, the proposition is currently pending approval in the House. See Full Story

Looking for a new car? Beginning July 24, President Obama’s plan, the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009, a.k.a. "Cash for Clunkers" is set to ignite spending within the depleted auto industry as consumers can receive a cash stipend to use towards the purchase of a new vehicle. ... See Full Story

In a day and age where companies are forced to be more adamant and resourceful in their business practices, the world’s current economic recession has taken its toll on these enterprises and has even managed to debunk the health of a few companies along the way. See Full Story

Will you be able to collect social security benefits when you retire? For most working American, the funds will have dried up by then. With millions of baby boomers either retiring or set to retire, the government is paying out billion of dollars to those that were promised funds when they retire... See Full Story

Not since the savings and loan crisis of 1992 has the number of bank failures reached so high. As of August 24, the total number of failed lending institutions now sits at 81. Although some of the recent failures are related to smaller, regional banks, there are a handful of banks that possessed substantial amounts of assets when they folded. See Full Story

With unemployment skyrocketing amidst a debilitating recession, monthly participation within the program averaged 38% of eligible workers during the March-to-June period. That is compared to the average of 19% from September 2008 thru February 2009.

As many consumers continue to watch the price of energy fluctuate from their record highs in July 2008, natural gas prices have now declined to their lowest levels in more than seven years. The reason behind the decrease, a constant flow of amounts into storage, which has increased inventories year-over-year.

In what is known as Flash Trading, this controversial practice consists of a particular number of brokers that are allowed by several financial exchanges prior information pertaining to incoming orders to either buy or sell securities before the general public is provided that information.

Dark Pools of Liquidity, or simply Dark Pools, is a system that matches buy and sell orders electronically for execution without having to first route the order to an exchange or other publicly displayed market. The order is thus places anonymously, typically in large blocks of hundreds of thousands of shares, without influencing the public quote and without being revealed to the open market.

As more and more blue collar jobs are lost during the country’s recession, an emphasis on higher education resurfaces. Families that are strapped for cash may find it difficult to send their offspring to public and private colleges in the coming years, as tuition continues to outpace inflation, according to the College Board’s findings released October 20.

As the economy struggles to right itself, one of the biggest lagging concerns for recovery remains to be the housing market. Introduced back in February, and launched in March, the Obama administration initiated the $75B “Making Home Affordable” (MHA) program, which allowed homeowners who were in trouble with mortgage payments to reduce their monthly bill by modifying their mortgage loan.

According to TransUnion.com, a global leader in delivering credit and information management revealed that more people during the 3rd quarter were delinquent on their auto loans than in the previous year’s 3rd quarter. The delinquency rate is based on any payment not received within a 60-day period.

In an age when the national unemployment rate is pushing 10% and most likely reach beyond that sometime next year, there are still a small handful of companies that do not contribute to those economic readings. These companies, which appear to have outstanding management people and skills, have never added anyone to the unemployment line.