Having grounded their luxury jets and agreed to work for $1 a year, the heads of the "Big Three" U.S. automakers dropped arrogance for humility on Thursday in a new plea for federal help to survive.

Life insurance companies, nervous over massive investment losses that could ultimately threaten their viability, are hoping they are next in line to get a piece of the U.S. financial bailout.

20th anniversary of MultinationalMonitor's annual list of yr's Worst Corps is a winner: financial meltdown/economic crisis showed corps left to own devices will destroy themselves & system that nurtures them. Saving life still not good business, either..

691,000 children went hungry even before this year's sharp economic downturn, the USDA reported. How many USA kids are starving right now? Noted by Sunstroke author David Kagan in Doomwatch Legacy.

The tally of failed banks in 2008 has risen to 19, as the government announced that a Texas and a California bank had been shuttered closed Friday night.

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens says he doesn't know 'where the bottom is' regarding the U.S. economic crisis, but believes weaning America off of foreign oil is crucial to creating jobs and improving national security!

Breaking News: The crucial jobs market is deteriorating at an alarming pace! The nation's unemployment rate jumped to a 14-year high of 6.5%, according to a U.S. Labor Department snapshot just released.

Robust demand for crude and a weak dollar have fuelled the rally from a dip below $50 at the start of 2007. - U.S. crude oil hit an all-time high of $130.47 a barrel

Local authorities say the number of families seeking help has risen in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Washington.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said it closed a unionized Quebec tire and lubrication shop because of costs tied to the first labor agreement imposed at any of its North American locations.