WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama, facing waning confidence among Americans in his economic stewardship, plans to lay out a $300 billion job-creation package on Thursday, CNN reported, citing Democratic sources. The proposed...

The more progressive a tax system — where higher tax brackets have higher tax rates — the more likely people are to report feeling they live the “best possible life,” according to a new study comparing 54 nations....

University of California professor Robert Reich appeared Tuesday night on MSNBC’s The Last Word to discuss Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s job plan. The 59-point plan calls for tax cuts, cuts in the federal workforce...

I'm seeing this story linked all over the place, and I want to hop in and offer some skepticism about the NY Times reporting on this.  There's two things that go completely unmentioned in the original piece, and these are two...

WASHINGTON — The US Postal Service faces default by the end of September without legislative relief, and it plans to slash one in four jobs to reduce costs, the head of the public company said Tuesday. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told...

Richard Trumka, president of the largest federation of unions in the U.S., said Tuesday on MSNBC that the AFL-CIO would probably endorse President Barack Obama in 2012. “President Obama has been a friend for us,” Trumka said. He...

Wisconsin was first among 24 states in reducing state education aid since last year, according to a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank. State spending per student dropped $635 from the last fiscal...

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Tuesday denied that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had approved a plan to reduce the amount of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 3,000 by the end of the year. Fox News reported that Panetta had already signed...

During an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, former Vice President Dick Cheney defended the all decisions made during the Bush administration, refusing to say he made any mistakes at all. “I pointed out to the former vice...

WASHINGTON — Fewer American adults are smoking, and those who still do are lighting up less, suggests a nationwide survey from the US Centers for Disease Control released on Tuesday. Using data from 2005 to 2010, researchers with the US...

CHICAGO — Pakistan is the “main threat” to Afghanistan and its intelligence service is “the biggest danger” to the government in Kabul, a US senator recently returned from the region warned Tuesday. Republican Senator...

WASHINGTON — Japanese electronics giant Sony, which suffered a huge data breach this year, named a former top US Department of Homeland Security official on Tuesday to lead its cybersecurity efforts. Philip Reitinger, who worked at US software...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s poll numbers crashed to new lows ahead of his crucial speech Thursday aimed at tackling zero US job growth and reviving his own political fortunes. Opinion polls revealed a mood of deep pessimism in...

Unattractive people should be legally protected against discrimination, according to University of Texas at Austin professor Daniel Hamermesh. Studies have found that employers are more likely to hire good-looking candidates and that less...

LONDON — British lawmakers opened a stormy debate on Tuesday about a proposed overhaul of the state-run National Health Service that has divided the ruling coalition and drawn criticism from the medical profession. Critics fear the wideranging...