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July 18, 2012 It's been reported that the CEO and his management team stand to make millions if they stall the merger long enough.

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July 17, 2012 The federal debt is at record levels and growing. States are "grappling with unprecedented fiscal crises," a new report says. And Europe's debt mess threatens the world economy. Some scholars think, like Plato, that democracy is the problem.

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July 11, 2012 The downturn and sluggish recovery of recent years had been compared to the nation's worst economic period. Now that much more data is available to measure it, how did the Great Recession stack up against the Great Depression?

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June 22, 2012 For consumers and business owners, a week of weaving around potential calamities was not exactly a confidence builder. "There's an overall sense of frustration," says Paul Root, a kennel owner in California.

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June 20, 2012 The Federal Reserve ends its two-day meeting Wednesday by offering its assessment of the economy and then declaring its latest plan for making things better. Will the Fed's monetary policy formula offer another dash of Operation Twist or a dose of QE3? Read more about these key phrases and what they mean.

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June 15, 2012 When economists talk about their fears, they constantly use three phrases: "fiscal cliff," "muddle through" and "hard landing." Each is related to a different problem in a different region of the world: the U.S., Europe and China. And there are worries that all of these crises will explode soon.

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June 12, 2012 A new study showing that Americans lost nearly 40 percent of their wealth in the Great Recession turned up another notable result: Credit card debt also fell sharply; the median family's balance tumbled 16 percent. But it's not just because people rushed to pay off their plastic.

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June 12, 2012 With signs that the economy is slowing, the Federal Reserve may take steps to help boost growth. But with the election season gearing up, the Fed's ability to act boldly may be restrained. That's because the monetary policymakers want to preserve the Fed's credibility as a nonpartisan entity.

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June 5, 2012 As this immense generation keeps aging, most will end up with dementia or other disabilities that require costly care. For individuals, families and taxpayers, this demographic shift will drain dollars and attention, and force extremely difficult decisions about living arrangements, as well as end-of-life care.

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June 1, 2012 May's higher unemployment rate and meager job creation couldn't have come at a worse time for the long-term unemployed. The unwelcome news arrives just as federal support for unemployment benefits is starting to fade.

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May 22, 2012 Depressed home prices make the decision to move an aging relative even more difficult than normal. So what should be done with the house? Try selling in a depressed market? Or rent it until prices perk up? One family weighs a tough choice as it struggles to pay for a grandmother's care.

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May 18, 2012 JPMorgan Chase says it lost billions of dollars trading "synthetic derivatives." Do these complex Wall Street transactions ever do anything to help average people? To answer that question, we consider the case of an imaginary company, Chickens LLC, that is looking to grow.

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May 15, 2012 From your late 40s through early 60s, you're supposed to squirrel away cash to cope with health care costs in your old age. But for millions of Americans, middle age also is the time when children are seeking help with higher-education bills, and elderly parents may be needing assistance with daily care.

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May 8, 2012 As the nation's roughly 78 million baby boomers move into old age, the need for long-term care will soar. But when it comes to long-term-care insurance, relatively few sign up. The policies can be expensive and some big insurance companies have stopped offering them.

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