Charlie Herman

While moderate Republican and independent women express their frustration with the GOP's stance on social issues like contraception, President Obama's reelection team is trying to seize the moment and court female voters for November. Meanwhile, the Republican candidates head south, where primary voters will vote in Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday. And while the jobs numbers looked promising last week, a number of new economic indicators will tell us much more about the economy this week, with figures on consumer spending, retail sales, and inflation. Finally, Eurozone finance ministers will decide whether Greece deserves a second bailout this week.

More and more college graduates cannot find a job in the field marked on their degree. But student loans won't wait, so many resort to working in the service industry at places like Walmart and Starbucks just to stay financially afloat. How long will this generation of college-education blue collar workers wait for the jobs they want?

The nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent as the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February. Revised data also found that 60,000 more jobs were created in December and January.

Lehman Brothers emerged from bankruptcy Tuesday and announced the failed bank widely credited with tipping the U.S. into recession in 2008 will start repaying creditors in April.

See what business and economics editor Charlie Herman has on his morning reading list.

Every Monday, The Takeaway looks at the big news stories from the week ahead. The Agenda includes a preview of tomorrow's Super Tuesday vote, an upcoming jobs report, and other things to look for in the headlines this week.

See what business and economics editor Charlie Herman has on his morning reading list.

The Republican presidential candidates prepare for primary battles in Michigan and Arizona, two states hit particularly hard by the economic crisis. Mitt Romney won the support of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, but will his popularity in Arizona help him rise in the Michigan polls? In economic news, the German parliament prepares for a vote on the Greek bailout package, and while gasoline prices rise, consumers may not be too concerned.

Gas prices are going up and it's turning into a campaign issue. Gas prices have already risen 25 cents since the start of the year, putting them at $3.25 a gallon, a record high for this time of year. Occupy organizers turn their attention towards the more than 2 million people in prisons with what they're calling National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners. Arizona Republican Senator John McCain is in Egypt trying to resolve a diplomatic dispute over American NGO workers in Egypt charged with using illegal funding to incite revolution. 

Citigroup’s mortgage unit has agreed to pay $158.3 million to settle charges that it defrauded a U.S. government home loan insurance program.

Every Monday, The Takeaway looks at the big news stories from the week ahead. Republican presidential candidates head to Colorado, Minnesota and Maine this week; Colorado and Minnesota's caucuses are tomorrow. In Washington, President Obama holds talks on the European debt crisis with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti while Congress takes up the STOCK Act.

This week, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich battle for votes in the Florida Primary. Republican candidates then move on to Nevada, where the state will caucus on Saturday. Both Florida and Nevada have a significant Latino population, and the candidates will likely use their campaigns to attract Latino voters across the United States. As the Republican candidates duke it out in Florida, the Senate will introduce the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK Act), to prevent lawmakers from trading stocks based on information from Congressional briefings.

UPDATE: Mr. Mayor! It turns out you can say New York beat Boston when it comes to companies raising venture capital funds.

This week Congress returns from recess and Republican presidential hopefuls step up campaigning in South Carolina. Google, Microsoft, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, along with other major companies, will announce earning reports. Myrtle Beach's visitors bureau welcomes the six GOP candidates for a debate with a 525-ton sand sculpture of their likenesses; meanwhile, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert mulls throwing his hat into the ring.

Big banks announced around 60,000 job cuts in 2011. With businesses and consumers still focused on reducing debt, there isn't the same need for financial services as there was before...

Verizon said it will not institute a fee for online or telephone payments, one day after announcing it would start charging customers $2 to do so. 

The “Goya” label can regularly be found on the shelves in supermarkets and bodegas. With more than 2,000 different products — from beans and olive oil to canned sardines and tropical fruit nectars — the company has grown in size lockstep with the increase in the nation’s Latino population.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced it will cut nearly 1,600 people after seeing business fall in its investment banking and trading divisions.

New York City is facing a dual threat to its budget this fiscal year: the euro and school contracts.

After an eventful weekend, GOP presidential candidates are gearing up for the influential Iowa caucuses. Democrats on Capital Hill hope to pass a payroll tax cut in the face of Republican opposition. Abroad, the euro debt crisis continue to loom over the world economy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are meeting ahead of the Brussels summit on Friday to discuss greater fiscal coordination between European countries, and Italy's new government looks to pass austerity measures to ease their debt.