The U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office of Thrift Supervision issued an unusual joint statement this week assuring the public that the government ''stands firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain.'' The nation's top financial overlords also went out of their way to declare forthrightl ...

Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday outlined his proposed $66.5 billion budget, which includes $4.7 billion in federal stimulus dollars. His recommendations include investments in education, workforce development and career training, transportation and energy conservation. The governor said his proposed 2009-10 budget will create or retain 314,590 jobs. Florida is slated to receive $12.2 billion of the $787 billio ...

Western Community Energy (WCE), a community-based wind energy developer, is already expanding its headquarters in Bend, Ore., after choosing to relocate to the state just six months ago. "Over the course of the last several years, Oregon's sustainable industries have truly begun to thrive," says Tim McCabe, director of the Oregon Economic & Community Development Department (OECDD). "WCE is just one of m ...

Highlands County, FL, soon will be home to the world’s largest facility to make biofuels from inedible plants, including grasses, according to an announcement from BP PLC and Verenium Corp. The British energy giant is investing $112.5 million in Verenium and received a 50% stake in licensing the company’s technology as part of the project. The new facility, which will cost an estimated $300 million, will be ...

As many as 150 jobs are expected to be created in Maryland in the next few years by foreign companies that set up operations in the state within the past year, state officials said recently. Thirteen companies from Israel, Russia and countries in Europe and Asia have opened Maryland offices in the past 10 months, compared with just two new foreign companies that the state helped to attract in 2007, official ...

Thanks to Uncle Sam, a 90-year-old in the hills of West Virginia soon will be able to use a new broadband connection to apply for a new job cleaning up one of the government's decaying nuclear weapons production sites. This person will be able to use a special one-time $250 cash payment from Social Security to purchase a ticket on a new high-speed rail link, which will magically transport the elderly applic ...

We knew it was a bad sign when Robert Rubin was standing behind Barack Obama when Obama introduced his team of economic wise men a few days after the presidential election. Rubin, the champion of deregulation who served as Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, spent the past few years as the eminence grise of Citigroup. Under his stewardship, what was once the largest banking conglomerate gorged itself on ...

A few weeks ago, they packed up the famous monuments at old Yankee Stadium, loaded them into a large truck, and moved them to the new Yankee Stadium across the street. We're not sure why it was necessary to use a truck to carry the monuments a few yards to their new resting place in the outfield of the new $1-billion ballpark. Perhaps the Steinbrenner dynasty was concerned that some evildoers might attempt ...

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm announced on Tuesday Michigan’s aggressive film production attraction efforts will create 5,993 new jobs in Michigan, including 4,066 new film, animation and programming jobs. Three companies, Wonderstruck Studios, Motown Motion Pictures and Stardock Systems, plan to invest more than $156 million in Detroit, Pontiac and Plymouth locations. “We are working hard to build a divers ...

Even under difficult economic conditions, Munich Airport remains a reliable engine for growth and employment. The three biggest companies at the airport - the Lufthansa Group, the Munich Airport operating company and its subsidiaries (FMG), and the airport security company (SGM) - alone have increased their total workforce by 2,800 to more than 18,300 since the summer of 2006. At the FMG annual press confer ...