The massive farm bill cleared the Senate on Thursday, setting up negotiations with the House over changes in a number of programs, including crop insurance and food stamps.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has purchased almost the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai. Melissa Block talks with Mike Wilson, author of a book on Ellison, about the purchase and other eccentric moves by the software magnate.
California is known as the land of fruits and nuts, but it also happens to be the country's largest milk-producing state. So it's no surprise that its dairy farmers are front and center in the debate over reforming the milk marketing system, which hasn't really changed much in 30 years.
Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. She was previously the director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department and dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
For two years, Princeton professor Anne-Marie Slaughter was the director of policy planning at the State Department. It was her "dream job" — the job she imagined herself doing in college.
"I loved the work," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "It was work I was so passionate about."
Slaughter commuted to the State Department in Washington, D.C., every week from Princeton, N.J., where her husband and two teenage sons lived.
A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that the gap between states' assets and how much they'll owe retirees in pensions and health care is growing. According to the most recent numbers, for fiscal year 2010 that gap grew 9 percent from the previous year to almost $1.4 trillion dollars.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison reached a deal to buy nearly the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai. The land is currently owned by billionaire David Murdock who is the CEO of Castle and Cooke and the majority stock holder in Dole Food Company.
Spain is in line to get a European bailout of up to $125 billion for its banks. Audits due Thursday will show just how indebted Spanish banks are. But economic uncertainty has already sparked violence.
As Americans watched their nest eggs sink during the Great Recession, many wondered whether they would ever be able to retire. Come this fall, millions of workers who invest in 401(k)s will learn their plans are probably worth even less than they thought.
"Fees take away from the accumulated savings of your lifetime," says Mary Beth Franklin, a contributing editor at InvestmentNews.
Daily auctions are held on foreclosed properties in front of the county courthouse in Corona, Calif. About 80 bidders, representing investors, show up to bid on properties.
Credit Yuki Noguchi / NPR
Mike Strugatz is an investor who's bought and renovated about two dozen distressed homes in the Riverside and Lake Elsinore area. He says with less inventory on the market recently, it's getting harder to find properties, and banks are demanding higher prices even for destroyed homes.
Credit Yuki Noguchi / NPR
Jennifer Bryant has made more than 30 offers on houses, mostly from her cellphone, in many cases without viewing the property. She has lost every bid, and says she often loses to all-cash buyers.
For-sale homes in California are sparse, even in areas with high foreclosure rates. It has led to buyers like Jennifer Bryant, who is willing to throw money at just about anyone willing to sell her a house.
Since February, Bryant has made 35 offers on homes in Riverside, only to be elbowed out by other bids. With few houses available and many bidders chasing these properties, she feels she has, at most, an hour to consider each house.
The Federal Reserve is ready to take further action — including the purchase of Treasury bonds — "to provide support for the economy," the Chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke said during a press conference.
Bernanke also said that the members of the Federal Open Market Committee had "marked down" their outlooks on the economy.
Most expect there to be little change in the unemployment rate through the end of the year. The consensus, said Bernanke, is that the Fed expects "slow progress" on unemployment and most opinions are "weighted toward slower growth" on the GDP.
