The Associated Press reports that a government investigator has discovered that 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 went to people who were either dead or in prison. The 89,000 payments were among nearly 52 million sent to Social Security recipients and federal retirees as part of the mammoth economic recovery (stimulus) package enacted in 2009. In making the $250 payments, the government simply failed to confirm that the recipients were not incarcerated and not deceased.

With the nation still deeply in debt and Americans struggling to make ends meet,  residents in an Ohio valley are proving to the nation that perseverance and optimism are key ingredients to overcoming economic woes.

Even as the dollar is crashing and inflation in the United States is rampant, Federal Reserve officials have announced plans to flow dollars into banks in the European Union. The European Central Bank, which is to receive the largest amount, will in turn will extend the money to other major banks in EU member states, which are finding it increasingly difficult to raise funds from investors deeply concerned by the massive regional government's unstable economic climate.

The Obama administration has  unveiled a new round of fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, which are expected to require mileage gains of nearly double the current figure. The new CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards will last through the year 2025.

Reports that the Huffington Post struck a deal with online company AOL, Inc. that involves the sale of the Huffington Post to the online company for $315 million, $300 million of which will be paid in cash and the rest of the amount in stock. The deal was signed at the Super Bowl in Dallas, where both Arianna Huffington and AOL CEO's Tim Armstrong were in attendance.

As talk of another possible extension of unemployment benefits is making its way through Washington, the New York Times recently covered a story on Dan Tolleson (left), a writer with a Ph.D. in politics who has only been able to find short-term work since July of 2009. What fascinated the Times, and likely a number of readers, was the notion that though Tolleson has been unemployed for a lengthy period of time, he stands opposed to an extension of unemployment benefits.

Politically astute viewers of the Glenn Beck program know that he is sounding more like Ron Paul and less like a neoconservative every day. Regular viewers also know that Friday’s episodes tend to be a break from the monotony of current events, with a greater focus on foundations, whether it be the founding of this nation, or the foundations of progressivism, etc. The Friday, March 25, episode of the Glenn Beck program focused on one of the foundations of America’s economic woes: the Federal Reserve.

In anticipation of a full-fledged GOP attack on Obama’s signature healthcare law, congressional Democrats are in the process of planning an “all fronts” defense of the new law as new House speaker John Boehner’s scheduled January 12 vote to repeal the measure approaches.

When Medicare was first introduced in 1965, skeptics such as Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan bemoaned the implementation of socialized medicine and the extravagant cost of the original $3 billion plan. Little did they know that $3 billion was only the beginning.

As if conservative pundit Glenn Beck was not enough of a target to the Left, Time magazine’s Joe Klein has branded him with a new and more contentious title: a “John Birch Society conspiracy theorist.” Beck, however, may not recoil at the epithet.