Charlie Herman

The back-and-forth between Wal-Mart and its opponents heated up in the days before a city council hearing to examine the retailer. But due to the pending snowstorm expected to blanket the city on Wednesday, the council postponed the hearing until Feb. 3.

Wal-Mart has over 4,000 stores across the country, but none of them are in New York City. The company has tried unsuccessfully to open stores before in the region, but is now making a...

The jobs report for December is out with some good news: The unemployment rate is down to 9.4 percent, hitting the lowest it's been since May, 2009. However, the number of jobs created, 103,000 in December, came in lower than expected. Economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, Charlie Herman explains.

Chalk up the December jobs report as another “good, but” story that has come to dominate the theme of economic stories over the past year.

The 112th Congress begins this week, and with the House under Republican control while Democrats still hold a slim majority in the Senate, many are expecting gridlock for the next two years. Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, and Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, look at what's in store for Congress in the upcoming days, weeks, and even years. They also discuss the obstacles President Obama's health care plan may face this year: Will the plan as implemented look the same in 2012 as it does today?

President Obama returns from his family holiday in Hawaii to the first major reorganization of his administration. When restructuring, does he choose a team for governing or a team for winning and campaigning for 2012? Marcus Mabry, associate editor for our partner, The New York Times, joins us to discuss. Also,major snow storms hit multiple parts of the country over the weekend; we'll find out how the weather affected post-Christmas sales, and what retailers made during the shopping craze before the big day from Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway.

The head of the office that oversees the troubled CityTime payroll system has resigned, effective December 31.

The Commerce Department has revised numbers reflecting how much the economy grew last summer, moving the GDP up from 2.5 to 2.6 percent. Economists are hailing the change as good news, but not great news. Many had hoped that the growth would reach as high as 3 percent. Is this a cause to backtrack on recent optimism, or still cautious progression on the economy? Economics editor for The Takeaway Charlie Herman joins us for more on the subject. 

The Senate voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," over the weekend. The law, enacted 17 years ago by President Bill Clinton, allowed gays to serve in the military, as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, looks at what's next for the repeal. Meanwhile, a number of economic indicators come out this week, and Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, looks at the upcoming third quarter GDP numbers due out Wednesday, along with existing home sales numbers, and new home sales numbers on Thursday.

Foreclosure activity fell to an eight month low as fewer than 300,000 homes received a foreclosure notice in November. According to the online foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac, 262,339 properties received a foreclosure filing last month, a 21 percent drop from October and a 14 percent drop from a year ago. Both of these declines were the largest percent decreases since RealtyTrac began collecting foreclosure date in January of 2005.

New York City’s economy has recovered faster than the state and the nation, but larger than expected city deficits and the slowly recovering national economy could keep unemployment high for years to come.

According to city comptroller John Liu, businesses gained 74,000 jobs in the first 10 months of this year. Restaurants, retailers and health care companies accounted for the majority of the new jobs.

Many Congressional Democrats are not happy with President Obama's compromise with Republicans on extending tax cuts. House Democrats showed that by voting not to bring up the tax bill last week. Callie Crossley, host of the Callie Crossley Show on WGBH in Boston, and Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, look at how the Senate plans to vote today on the bill.

Citing a committee room too small to accommodate growing interest in a hearing next week about the economic impact of Wal-Mart opening stories in New York, the New York City Council postponed the meeting until next year, when it will be held in a larger space.

Citigroup announced Thursday that former budget director Peter Orszag has joined the bank as a vice chairman in its global banking business. 

Will we or will we not see an extension to the Bush-era tax cuts? That is what we’re all waiting to see play out this week. Democrats want to return to Clinton-era taxes on the wealthy, and Republicans are holding out for preserving the status quo. But President Obama and Democrats may be backing off on their stance, as a compromise looks like it could be in the works. The Bush-era cuts would be temporarily extended to everyone, rich and poor, for two years...if unemployment benefits are extended as well.

 

Employers added only 39,000 jobs last month — a big decline from October's 172,000. Private companies created the fewest number since January. The anemic month for the labor sector pushes the national unemployment rate from 9.6 to 9.8 percent. That's 19 months of a rate over 9 percent, the longest stretch on record. What do the new numbers mean for the economy? 

 

Hopes that the businesses have hired more people as the economy recovers were scuttled Friday after the government reported anemic job growth in November. The government reported ...

While the nation's largest retailer Walmart considers opening a store in New York City, the city council has decided to take a closer look at the retailer.

Looking ahead to the week's agenda: Unemployment benefits for an estimated two million Americans is set to expire by tomorrow; Congress will decide whether or not to extend them. Time is running out to pass the new START agreement with Russia, as well.  Two days of debate have been scheduled for Thursday and Friday that will address the Pentagon's soldier survey on "Don't Ask Don't Tell," and whether or not the repeal, backed by the White House, will go through. Also, the highly debated Bush Tax Cuts are set to expire in January for both middle and upper-income brackets...both sides seem to be adamantly sticking to their guns with no compromise in sight.

Global prices of cotton, coffee and chocolate are on the rise. WNYC business and economics editor Charles Herman talks about the possible effects on inexpensive t-shirts, your morning latte, and candy bars.