Most stories about the newly unemployed are all about doom and gloom. But some people are riding out unemployment on severance packages and savings. Reporter Julie Rose finds that this new-found freedom can't last forever.
In 2009 state governments took on a lot of debt. More than $410 billion in new municipal bonds were issued last year, and the borrowing's likely to continue. Adriene Hill reports.
Compared to 10 years ago the average American is earning about $5 an hour more, but unemployment has tripled, single-family home sales are 34% lower, and stocks are down 8%. Yet, some see signs we're doing better economically. Bob Moon reports.
The Treasury Department has decided to give auto-financing company GMAC another $3.8 billion bailout on top of the $12 billion it's already received. But the reason GMAC's in so much trouble doesn't have much to do with weak car sales. Jeremy Hobson reports.
Friends of Money — Liz Pulliam Weston, Jason Zweig, Knight Kiplinger — join Tess Vigeland in recapping the biggest financial news of 2009, as well as the money lessons learned and ignored throughout the year.
Many small businesses' growth is on hold because banks aren't lending to them. Banks aren't lending because so many small business owners now have bad credit scores. How to end the stand-off? One lender may have found a way. Rob Schmitz reports.
First Federal Bank of California joined the list of failed banks this past weekend. One of its customers was Marketplace Senior Editor Paddy Hirsch. He tells host Bob Moon how he's gotten a bitter taste of what that failure means.
President Obama has told the heads of some of the nation's smaller banks that he wants the same thing from them that he wants from large banks — more lending. The smaller banks claim that's easier said than done. Jeremy Hobson reports.
Despite the Obama administration's push to keep people in their homes through mortgage modifications and lenders cutting payments for millions of borrowers, a government report suggests the effort may be falling short. Amy Scott reports.
A lot of people have suffered reversals of fortune this year — some have lost jobs and homes. Kai Ryssdal visits the Union Station Homeless Services center to see how people are coping.
