great recession

By PALLAVI GOGOI, AP Business Writer Since the credit crisis of 2008, everyone has been waiting for the banks to start lending money again. It's finally happening, but there's a catch: Businesses are afraid to spend it. Bank loans to businesses grew 10% last year after dropping 19% in 2009 and 9%...

During the heady days of the real estate bubble, many congregations took out 5-year loans to refurbish and enlarge their churches. Now, with balloon payments due, real estate values down, and refinancing not an option, church foreclosures have hit record highs.

Memo to extreme couponers: Some retailers, particularly supermarkets and drugstore chains, are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. To save their bottom lines, they're setting limits on just how much all your coupon cleverness can save you.

The American economy is in the throes of the longest, most protracted recovery since the Great Depression. But there is an industry offering a beacon of hope, and it could soon serve as the tipping point that gets America back to work: natural gas.

Balancing the budget isn't just a federal problem -- it's a state one, too. The Great Recession resulted in some of the lowest state revenues in years, and some of the biggest budget shortfalls ever -- in some cases, into the billions of dollars.

In 2011, shoppers were hot -- sometimes too hot -- for bargains, and a little too sensitive to the day's financial news. Savings gurus Jean Chatzky and JB Orecchia weigh in on the year's major spending pitfalls, and how to dodge them in 2012.

Hello, Gen Y! I've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is we've dodged a double dip recession. The bad news is that you're going to be seeing high unemployment for a long time to come. Here's some advice ...

When history tallies up the biggest losers of the Great Recession, it's not hard to guess who will top the list. Facing a brutal job market, plummeting wages, and a mountain of debt, many recent college grads have fallen behind before they've officially started their careers.

Blue State vs. Red State is so last decade: Now, the dividing lines in America are percentages: 99%, 1%, 53%, 47% ... the list goes on. And figuring out who to sympathize with -- or even who you are -- can leave a person 100% confused. We break down the numbers.

The banking world works in a lot of ways like a sports league. You can be a star, but that barely matters if your team is in last place. But if you're lucky enough to be a premiere bankers, you could always go elsewhere if your team's fortunes faded. That fluidity in finance world may, however, be fading.