OPINION: The Forgotten Millions
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More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.

As Remodeling Rebounds, Caveats for the Homeowner
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One part of the housing market is experiencing a rebound that will probably continue even if the rest of the market remains sluggish: remodeling.

Why to Know What a Home Seller Paid
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It’s often recommended that anyone considering bidding on a house research what the seller previously paid for that house. An academic paper on the subject of negotiation helps explain why this is a good practice for home buyers and also why potential home buyers may want to seek out homes where sellers paid below market prices.

Many Banks Are Clinging to Billions in Bailout Money
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Even as the nation’s biggest banks stepped further out of the government’s shadow on Friday, hundreds of financial institutions were still clutching to billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

U.S. mortgage rates fall
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Long-term mortgage rates fell significantly this week as investors turned to safe-haven investments such as U.S. Treasuries.

Why inflation hurts more than it did in the 80s
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Inflation spooked the nation in the early 1980s. It surged and kept rising until it topped 13 percent. These days, inflation is much lower. Yet to many Americans, it feels worse now. And for a good reason: Their income has been even flatter than inflation.

Attorneys general target mortgage servicers
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State attorneys general, who soon will enter settlement talks with the nation’s largest mortgage servicers after revelations of flawed foreclosure paperwork and other shoddy practices, will accept nothing less than wholesale changes to the way those companies treat troubled homeowners, the group’s leader said Wednesday.

Welcome to Debtors' Prison, 2011 Edition
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Some lawmakers, judges and regulators are trying to rein in the U.S. debt-collection industry's use of arrest warrants to recoup money owed by borrowers.

FDIC's Tab For Failed U.S. Banks Nears $9 Billion
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U.S. banking regulators have paid out nearly $9 billion to cover losses on loans and other assets at 165 failed institutions that were sold to stronger companies during the financial crisis. Payments so far have been smaller than FDIC officials anticipated.

U.S. Libor Probe Includes BofA, Citi, UBS
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A U.S. investigation of banks' possible manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, is focused in part on three institutions: Bank of America, Citigroup, and UBS.

Courier-Journal: Jefferson unemployment rate up in January
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Jefferson County’s unemployment rate rose to 11.2 percent in January from 10 percent in December, the state reported Thursday.

F.D.I.C. Sues Ex-Chief of Big Bank That Failed
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued the former chief executive of Washington Mutual and two of his top lieutenants, accusing them of reckless lending before the 2008 collapse of what was the nation’s largest savings bank.

6 Banks Repay Bailouts; Program Nears Break-Even
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Six more banks repaid their government bailouts, bringing the bank capital program close to 99 percent recovery, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.

In Proposed Mortgage Fraud Settlement, a Gift to Big Banks
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Lurking in a proposed mortgage fraud settlement with the state attorneys general is a clause that could be worth billions for the big banks.

Gloomy homebuilder outlook improves slightly in March
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Homebuilders’ pessimistic outlook improved slightly this month, but it remains dim amid falling home prices and a weak pace of construction.