Economic Crisis

Only nine percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job in a New York Times/CBS News poll, a new low since the poll has been taken. Even members of Congress are not surprised at the results.

Congressional approval has dropped from 20 percent in June, before the debt ceiling debate. Concern that a failure to raise the nation's debt ceiling would cause economic upheaval consumed most of the news from Washington in July.

In early August, Congress and the president reached a last minute agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling. Congress' job approval dropped to 14 percent in a poll taken shortly before the agreement. It was 12 percent in mid-September. more >>

In a poll of small business owners, compliance with government regulations was mentioned most often as the most important problem they face.

The Oct. 3-6 poll, conducted by Gallup/Wells Fargo, asked 604 small business owners, “What do you think is the most important problem facing small business owners today?”

The most common answer (22 percent) cited compliance with government regulations, followed by consumer confidence (15 percent), lack of consumer demand (12 percent), lack of credit availability (10 percent), and poor leadership from the government or the president (9 percent). more >>

President Obama announced plans on Wednesday to provide relief to millions of people entrenched in student debt. Obama’s plan, however, involves using his executive authority to bypass a Congress that the president says simply acts too slow.

The president’s new offensive play is titled “We Can’t Wait” and he’s urging lawmakers to act more quickly to solve the economic problem. Obama announced his plan to ease student’s repayment of federal loans in Denver, Colo. The plan comes at a time when many American families are struggling with a rising college tuition rate.

"These changes will make a difference for millions of Americans," Obama told a college crowd, according to CNN. "We should be doing everything we can to put a college education within the reach of every American." more >>

Would embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement help or hurt Democrats in the 2012 elections? As many Democratic politicians struggle with this question, one candidate, Elizabeth Warren, running to replace Republican Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts, has said she played a role in the foundation of the movement.

“I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do. I support what they do,” Warren told The Daily Beast.

Warren was a professor of commercial law at Harvard Law School before joining the Obama administration. Much of her academic work laid the foundation for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was formed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Warren joined the Obama administration after passage of the Dodd-Frank Act to oversee the implementation of the CFPB. more >>

If you plan on getting arrested, don't worry about making phone call. There's an app for that.

Jason Van Anden, a Brooklyn-based software developer, decided to build the app after a friend's girlfriend was about to be arrested and had no way of quickly notifying friends and family before the handcuffs were put on, the New York Daily News reported.

"He said it would be great if you had an app so that she could quickly broadcast her situation," said Van Anden, 43. more >>

Another credit rating's agency could downgrade U.S. credit by the end of the year, according to a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. An expected failure from the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee,” was the main reason for the potential downgrade. U.S. credit was already downgraded by Standard & Poor's in August.

“The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan,” Ethan Harris, chief economist and primary author of the report, wrote.

As part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 passed by Congress in August, the 12-member supercommittee is currently trying to craft a bill that would reduce budget deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. more >>