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The U.S. economy is recovering and the Fed needs to raise interest rates, lest it leave in place a policy that will only fuel future financial imbalances, Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig said. View the entire post here: Fed’s Hoenig: Rates Need to Rise

By JOHN D. MCKINNON Democrats are aiming to push legislation extending Bush-era middle-class tax cuts ahead of midterm elections. But with Republicans and several Democrats advocating a similar extension for high-earners, too, prospects for passage before November balloting appear uncertain. Given the uncertainty of the Senate outcome, the ...Read More

Getty Images The scene in a crowded “board room” at a brokerage office on one bad day in 1962. On May 28, there was a “flash crash.” If you didn’t notice it, that is because it occurred not in 2010, but in 1962. Its aftermath offers some clues ...Read More

The Senate has begun debating proposals for the most significant reforms to financial regulations since the 1930s. After days of deadlock, Republicans and Democrats began arguing over a bill aimed at bringing accountability to Wall Street and avoid another financial meltdown. Republicans had blocked debate on the bill ...Read More

By JAMES ALTUCHER It seems every week there is a new world-ending threat making its way through the media and investors’ stock portfolios. In February, it was the fear that every nation was going to go bankrupt, starting with Greece. Before that, it was the latest pandemic making ...Read More

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Greece does not need financial aid after talks with Prime Minister George Papandreou in Berlin. She said Greece has not asked for financial support and that the stability of the eurozone is ‘assured’. Athens saw its most serious unrest since the financial ...Read More

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has met key union leaders to discuss controversial plans to reform the country’s pensions system. The government wants to cut the pension burden on the state, with one option being raising the retirement age. However, unions have already voiced their opposition to any such ...Read More

The UK should be seen in the same category of countries as Greece and Spain, who are facing severe debt problems, a leading economist has said. Ex-IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, also described the G7 group of leading economies as “fundamentally useless”. His comments to the BBC came ...Read More

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN A year ago, investors were dealing with heavy losses from the most brutal stock-market selloffs in years. The last thing they expected was a ferocious bull market. And yet, shares soon began to soar — climbing more than 50%. Last year’s unexpected stock rebound — ...Read More

Contrary to the expectations (and hopes) of most estate planning attorneys and tax advisors, the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes were allowed to expire at the end of 2009 due to Congressional inaction. Democratic leaders’ attempts to extend 2009 estate and GST tax law were stymied ...Read More