Economic Crisis

The U.S. Federal Reserve, in a coordinated effort with five other central banks, flooded the European market with U.S. dollars on Wednesday in an attempt to stave off a collapse of the euro. The news comes a day after Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of major banks across the globe.

The central banks, which also included those from Canada, England, Japan, Europe and Switzerland, are attempting to prevent the collapse of the euro. European banks are having difficulty finding borrowers due to news of a potential collapse. The central banks are swapping dollars for euros with these banks so they will have the resources to continue lending.

“The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity,” the central banks said in a joint statement. The move is not a fix to Europe's debt problems, but is meant to provide temporary relief, a few weeks at most, so that European nations will have time to devise a solution to their debt woes. more >>

There is a direct correlation between the Occupy Wall Street movement and the feminist movement of the 1960s, says a Christian family and modern culture expert.

Author and speaker Rebecca Hagelin, who also serves on the board of directors for Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk radio show, said during her recent interview on the show that the worldview of today’s protesters is very similar to what women demanded 50 years ago.

Hagelin was asked by Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, about the “linkage between what was going on then, where there was just chaos and it was also godless,” and the Occupy movement. more >>

The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) secretly committed to over $7 trillion in loans to some of the nation's largest banks. Those banks made $13 billion off those loans. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has requested a hearing with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to explain the matter.

After the financial crisis that began in October 2008, the Fed committed to $7.77 trillion in loans for banks, according to Bloomberg News. Neither the Fed nor the banks’ shareholders were informed of the program. The Fed and banks kept the program secret even as banks were reassuring their investors that their companies were not in danger, and lobbying Congress to limit regulations on them.

The information was revealed after Bloomberg LP won a Freedom of Information Act request. The Fed and a coalition of banks fought the request, but he Supreme Court of the United States sided with Bloomberg LP when it declined to hear an appeal in March 2011. more >>

Faith-based and religious universities are making cuts - in tuition as well as from their names - to retain students and prevent further declines in enrollments.

For example, Point University was formerly known as Atlanta Christian College and Johnson Bible College recently dropped "Bible" from its name. Some schools are making the name change in an effort to appear more secular, as CP has reported.

In addition to changing their names, universities have been targeting prospective students by offering sales, with some even cutting annual tuition costs by 50 percent or more. more >>

American Airlines' parent company AMR Corporation, in an attempt to drop its enormous debt load and decrease labor costs, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday, making AA the last major U.S. airline to do so.

AMR Corp. and AMR Eagle Holding Corp. filed voluntary petitions to reorganize, in what was deemed in the companies' and shareholders' best interest, The Associated Press reported.

"American took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure that is competitive in the airline industry so that it can continue delivering a world-class travel experience for its customers," read the statement released by the company Tuesday morning. more >>

The Republican members of the supercommittee are fighting back against charges that the supercommittee failed because they opposed tax increases.

In a Friday op-ed in The Washington Post, all six Republican members of the supercommittee – Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Reps. Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Fred Upton (Mich.) and Dave Camp (Mich.) – said they supported a plan that would have provided $250 billion in new revenue from tax reform.

They wrote, “one Democratic talking point needs debunking: that the talks failed because of Republicans’ attachment to the Bush tax cuts.” more >>