Economic crisis

Surging above $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt has surpassed credit card and auto-loan debt. This debt explosion jeopardizes the fragile recovery, increases the burden on taxpayers and possibly sets the stage for a new economic crisis.

Online retailer Overstock.com ended its last fiscal year on a strong note, and now it's gearing up for an international expansion. Outspoken CEO Patrick Byrne discusses the company, as well as his views on sales tax, short selling and the economy.

The U.S. services sector is growing strong, providing additional evidence that the U.S. economy is recovering and might not need more stimulus funding. But that's contingent upon oil staying below $120 per barrel.

Recent market sell-offs may have been more about paranoia than about real risk. JPMorgan calculations indicate that the potential impact of rising oil prices on the economy may be less than most investors think. But the fear factor itself also can't be overlooked.

The economy may be rebounding, but the benefits have yet to filter down to the hundreds of thousands of homeless Americans. Here's the story of one homeless mother: how she wound up in a shelter in a tough town and how the world looks from her perspective.

Oil prices fell Friday in Asia after the U.S. Labor Department reported that more unemployed workers applied for aid last week. Fears that the U.S. economic recovery could be slow is keeping oil investors wary.

Economists generally expect employers to steadily add more workers in 2011, perhaps as many as 250,000 a month by year-end. However, with so many long-term unemployed returning to the market, the jobless rate could still outpace those new positions.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed a civil lawsuit against Ernst & Young, alleging that the accounting giant helped now-defunct investment bank Lehman Brothers hide billions of dollars in debt from its investors via loans disguised as sales.

Just as the euro has begun recovering from Ireland's meltdown, another financial crisis is brewing in Spain. The country could be headed for a bailout or reorganization, experts say. How low could the euro go?

The deficit grew to a higher-than-expected $150.4 billion in November as government spending increased for the month. But November brought some bright spots as well: Federal revenue also grew at a higher rate in November, which confirms that the economy is expanding.