NEW YORK - December 4, 2010 - The State of Illinois is still paying off billions in bills that it got from schools and social service providers last year. Arizona recently stopped paying for certain organ transplants for people in its Medicaid program. States are releasing prisoners early, more to cut expenses than to reward good behavior. In Newark, New Jersey, the city laid off 13% of its police officers last week.

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada - December 3, 2010 - Royal Bank of Canada dropped references to the U.S. from its strategic goals for next year, a sign that Canada’s largest lender may be putting less emphasis on its money-losing U.S. consumer bank.

WASHINGTON - December 3, 2010 - The nation's unemployment rate climbed to 9.8% in November, a seven-month high, as hiring slowed.

Employers added only 39,000 jobs last month, a sharp decline from the 172,000 created in October, the Labor Department reported Friday. The weakness was widespread. Retailers, factories, construction companies, financial firms and the government all cut jobs last month.

WASHINGTON - December 1, 2010 - The Federal Reserved released documents Wednesday identifying the recipients of $3.3 trillion in emergency aid provided at the height of the financial crisis.

NEW YORK - November 29, 2010 - The price of silver is surging and so is business at many coin dealers across the country. At Plaza Collectibles, an appraisals shop in Manhattan, owner Lee Rosenbloom says he’s seeing a tremendous demand both in new and older silver coins. “This is probably the strongest demand there’s been in the last 25 years,” he says.

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - November 29, 2010 - Unemployment benefits for more than 100,000 people in both Kentucky and Indiana could run out in a matter of days if Congress doesn't act.

Many people are filing for benefits and others are looking for jobs, but with the threat of benefits running out, tempers are flaring.

WASHINGTON - November 29, 2010 - Illegitimate President Barack Obama on Monday called for freezing the pay of 2 million federal employees, saying the move is the first of many difficult decisions that must be made to slash the nation's mounting deficits.

"The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government," Obama said.