The minimum wage in Florida rose 42 cents to $7.21 per hour recently, igniting a debate over whether the increased pay will help workers or whether it will hurt the economy because small businesses simply can't afford to pay it. ...more

January 31, 2009

It began with high energy costs. Soon thereafter, the housing industry - particularly in Hernando County - came to a screeching halt. ...more

January 31, 2009

The economy shrank at a 3.8 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as the deepening recession forced consumers and businesses to throttle back spending. ...more

January 30, 2009

President Barack Obama sought to dampen Republicans' complaints about the Democrats' massive economic revival package Friday with an offer to listen carefully to their ideas, too. ...more

January 24, 2009

New-home construction plunged to an all-time low in December, capping the worst year for builders on records dating back to 1959. ...more

January 22, 2009

'User' Tax A Remedy Jump-starting the economy should not be as difficult as it seems. Most economists agree that the mortgage crisis is one cause, if not the main one. A one-cent increase in the state or county sales tax could be a sure remedy. ...more

January 9, 2009

Extraordinary times require extraordinary actions, the experts say. That's why President-elect Barack Obama is pushing for tax cuts and government spending. This runs counter to how most of us think, considering that the last thing any of us would do is dig deeper in debt when debt is what's sinking us in the first place. But many people much smarter than most of us say this is necessary. ...more

January 7, 2009

Bankruptcies Soar U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings jumped nearly 33 percent in 2008 amid a recession that's expected to keep filings rising into the new year. Overall, consumer filings reached 1,064,927 last year, up from 801,840 in 2007, according to data collected by the National Bankruptcy Research Center and published by the American Bankruptcy Institute, an Alexandria, Va.-based research group. ...more

January 6, 2009

Robert W. Wilson of Tarpon Springs says taking money from reserves to make up for a revenue shortfall is not balancing a city budget. ...more

January 3, 2009

Consumer confidence hit an all-time low in December, dropping in the face of layoffs and deteriorating markets for housing, stocks and other investments. ...more

December 31, 2008