American Morning

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March 12th, 2009
08:00 AM ET

Minding Your Business

You know the Sesame Street song: "Can you tell me how to get... how to get to the UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICE?"

First Wall Street, then Main Street, now Sesame Street. The children's tv icon will lay off 20 percent of its workers - 67 people - and the pain will be shared across all departments. The week has brought job cuts not only for children's television, but also United Technologies, McClatchy newspapers, 616 lawyers at two major law firms (yes, inviting all sorts of tasteless lawyer jokes) and Dell confirms it is cutting positions worldwide but won't say how many or where. (Why the mystery, Dell?)

Government data show four states now have unemployment rates topping 10 percent. Long-suffering Michigan tops the list with an incredible 11.6 percent. Many economists expect these numbers to keep rising. Here's the bright spot for the morning: A little more than a dozen states have jobless rates 6 percent or less (WY, ND, IA,UT, OK to name a few) and Texas' jobless rate is 6.4 percent, much better than the 8.1 percent average for the rest of the country. If you are living in any of these places, we can only hope that you're feeling a little better about things than the national statistics suggest.

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Filed under: Economy • Minding Your Business
March 11th, 2009
12:00 PM ET

Minding Your Business

What a rally! From a 12-year low to the best surge of the year for stocks Tuesday. But what happens next? We looked at the charts and found five rallies this year before Tuesday of 200 points or more. Each time, the Dow fell the next day. Two of those times, falling by triple digits. What that tells us, is this market has had a hard time holding onto those gains.

But some chart-watchers say the selling has been so relentless over the past three weeks, the market is ready for a true “bear-market rally.” But make no mistake: any true recovery in stocks doesn’t happen until the banking system gets fixed, confidence returns and lending frees up. We are not there yet.


Filed under: Economy • Minding Your Business
March 11th, 2009
08:00 AM ET

Madoff To Plead Guilty

Madoff to plead guilty
Madoff to plead guilty

CNN's Allan Chernoff reports

Bernard Madoff intends to plead guilty at a hearing tomorrow. But, he's not cutting a deal with prosecutors and not agreeing to cooperate with government investigators. The government is investigating to determine who else may face charges.

Madoff won't be sentenced right away. Judge Denny Chin says it could be several months before a sentencing hearing is held that will likely sent Madoff to prison for the rest of his life. Until then, he remains under house-arrest in his luxurious New York apartment.

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Filed under: Crime • Economy
March 9th, 2009
11:47 AM ET

Second Life After Being Laid-Off

 Jennifer Jackson opened her own salon after being laid-off from a corporate job.
Jennifer Jackson opened her own salon after being laid-off from a corporate job.

Some laid-off workers are finding a second life by following new careers that they find more rewarding.


Filed under: Economy
March 9th, 2009
08:00 AM ET

What's Old Is New Again

 Hasbro is launching new toys for this summer’s G.I. Joe movie.
Hasbro is launching new toys for this summer’s G.I. Joe movie.

Musicians have been known to re-make old songs. Hollywood loves to re-make classic movies. So it should be no surprise that toy company executives are joining the game by reviving toys that were hits one and two generations ago.

As the economy falters, profits are tumbling faster than "Little People.". Mattel Brands President Neil Friedman says in this tough economy consumers tend to go to what they feel good about, and that includes buying familiar toys for their kids. This helps the bottom line.

"It certainly saves having to advertise what the property is."

Watch

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Filed under: Economy
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