The shaky economy has caused gold prices to shoot up to over $900 per ounce - even though 85 percent of gold mined these days goes to jewelry, and there's no "gold standard" backing currencies, gold is considered a valued commodity in economic downturns.

A directory of top contributors and their beneficiaries. Not one of the Multi-Billion dollar Walton Clan is among them!

Pushed past their breaking points, people are robbing banks to pay the rent, setting homes on fire -- even taking their own lives.

Yet some institutions that begged for taxpayer aid to stave off bankruptcy -- simply to stay alive -- made 2008 compensation packages their first order of business after receiving their bailouts. This speaks to how completely foolhardy behavior has....

The world's first daily newspaper composed entirely of blogs and other user generated content....it reads and functions like a web feed-yet can still be enjoyed on the train or spread across the breakfast table.

After several days of rioting, Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde agreed to effectively end his government's power over Iceland by calling for a new general election. This is the result after days of rioting by many of Iceland's 320,000 residents

Some good news 'mongst all these ongoing recession woes: progress continues to be made on the alternative energy front. For the first time, renewable energy sources accounted for the biggest share in the increase of US's electrical capacity.

The Obama administration could be forced early on to come up with a systemic solution, getting bad loans off balance sheets as a way to encourage banks to begin lending, which most economists say is essential to get businesses and consumers spending again

Video map showing the growth of Wal-mart year by year across the US.

Akkuyu, the picturesque town on the Aegean Sea where Turkey plans to build its first nuclear plant, is only a few kilometers from a seismic zone. In 1970...we were afraid of the Soviet Union...Today we are afraid of earthquakes"