Anti-austerity protests erupted across Europe on Wednesday – Greek doctors and railway employees walked out, Spanish workers shut down trains and buses, and one man even blocked the Irish parliament with a cement truck to decry the country's enormous bank bailouts.

Visit http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130208334 to view the full article online.

 

The number of people who signed up for state unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to a total of 453,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, leaving the level of new claims back where they were at the start of 2010.

Visit http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobless-claims-drop-16000-to-453000-2010-09-30 to view the full article online.

 

Christmas is not coming early this year for the U.S. Postal Service, after regulators denied a request Thursday that would have raised the price of a first-class stamp by 2 cents, to 46 cents.

Visit http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/30/news/economy/postal_rate_announcement/index.htm to view the full article online.

 

President Barack Obama, meeting swing-state voters in a leafy backyard, struggled again Wednesday to answer the concerns of supporters once buoyed by the excitement of the presidential campaign, but now demoralized by economic struggle.

Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521901674416306.html to view the full article online.

 

Persistent, double-digit unemployment has spared no industry, and with millions of Americans out of work, competition for a paycheck is fierce.

Visit http://www.thestreet.com/story/10872646/1/10-mistakes-job-seekers-make.html to view the full article online.

 

Control your emotions, work out your severance and come up with a story – going out on a positive note can help you in the long run.

Visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39159710/ns/business-forbescom/ to view the full article online.

 

The Big Four accounting firms round out the top spots and Apple and GM make the list for the first time in the latest Universum ranking by business students.

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2010/bs20100928_433243.htm to view the full article online.

 

Women made little progress in climbing into management positions in this country even in the boom years before the financial crisis, according to a report to be released on Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office.

Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/business/28gender.html to view the full article online.

 

Credit rating agencies should act to lift the "cloud of suspicion" that has hung over them since the sub-prime mortgage crisis broke three years ago, the International Monetary Fund said today.

Visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/29/imf-financial-stability-report-credit-rating-agencies to view the full article online.

 

No one familiar with the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 should relish the prospect of a trade war with China – but that seems to be where we're headed and probably should be where we're headed.

Visit http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/27/the-makings-of-a-trade-war-with-china.html to view the full article online.

 

Little has been the same for Swiss bankers since Bradley Birkenfeld, a Bostonian working in Geneva for Switzerland's powerhouse bank UBS, flew to Washington in June 2007 and handed Justice Department officials a pile of confidential UBS documents that revealed that one of the world's largest financial institutions was helping thousands of American taxpayers illegally hide billions.

Visit http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021046,00.html to view the full article online.

 

Last year, Takashi Yoshizaki was halfway through his executive M.B.A. studies at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business when his employer announced it would file for bankruptcy.

Visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467440809287142.html to view the full article online.

 

Business schools do not much like being ranked by outsiders. In recent years several have boycotted the lists drawn up by pesky media organizations, such as The Economist.

Visit http://www.economist.com/node/17043164 to view the full article online.

 

For many years, diversity in higher education has been measured by how many low-income students and students of color enroll in college. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to make a dramatic change in that definition, by focusing instead on college graduation rates.

Visit http://diverseeducation.com/article/14191/ to view the full article online.

 

When Research in Motion introduced its PlayBook tablet Monday, it was diving into a market already dominated by Apple’s iPad. But there’s other competition too, either already on the market or soon to be: The 5-inch Dell Streak is available now, and Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab isn’t.

Visit http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/09/tablet-wars-comparison/ to view the full article online.

 

The Department of Justice has just settled an antitrust suit with Apple, Google, Intel and other firms over not cold-calling each other's employees. The DoJ was worried the secret no-call policy was anti-competitive, so now the firms are freer to poach staff. Is this better?

Visit http://www.fastcompany.com/1691464/doj-ruling-apple-google-intel-now-freer-to-steal-each-others-staff-and-this-is-better-how to view the full article online.

 

Social bookmarking sites can help save you time and energy, and keep you ahead of your competitors. Here's how you can take advantage of these sites.

Visit http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/09/how-to-use-social-bookmarking-for-business.html to view the full article online.

 

Good people are crucial to business success. Finding them, managing them, inspiring them and then holding onto them are among the most important challenges a good business leader faces. How you deal with these matters often determines the long- term success and growth of your business.

Visit http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217350 to view the full article online.

 

The Associated Press reports that "newly released census figures" show that income inequality got worse between 2008, when the latest recession began, and 2009, when it ended.

Visit http://www.slate.com/id/2268981/ to view the full article online.

 

The figures for August are in. Home sales rose 7.6%, pulling out of a steep decline in July. Many sectors are flat or sinking. Auto sales figures are horrible but nonstore retailers' sales are up 10.5%.

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/sep2010/ca20100928_883070.htm to view the full article online.

 

Until recently, the credit card industry had a word for customers who paid off their balance in full: "Deadbeats." They weren’t kidding. Without lucrative interest payments or penalty fees, responsible credit card users just weren’t profitable for the issuers.

Visit http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/budgeting/elite-card-status-now-less-elite/ to view the full article online.

 

As purse strings have tightened over the last couple of years, most consumers no longer think spending $200 a year on identity theft protection services makes sense. And they’re probably right.

Visit http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/09/28/consumers-are-ditching-the-2-4-billion-id-theft-protection-market/?boxes=Homepagelighttop to view the full article online.

 

Travelers who want to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with distant relatives or just get away from it all will pay more for airline tickets this year – considerably more if they don’t buy early.

Visit http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/airlines-raising-surcharges-fees.html to view the full article online.

 

Providing or subsidizing continuing education is a powerful employee recruitment and retention tool that has long been used by large corporations. Now, with the flexibility and availability of online MBA programs, it's a perk that CEOs of small and midsize companies may want to consider, for themselves or for key employees.

Visit http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2010/sb20100917_517163.htm to view the full article online.

 

BP's incoming CEO on Wednesday announced the formation of a new unit to police safety practices throughout the company.

Visit http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/09/29/bp-fires-executive.html to view the full article online.

 

Efforts to extricate American International Group Inc. from U.S. government ownership gained momentum on Wednesday. The exit plan would involve the Treasury Department converting about $49 billion in AIG preferred shares it currently holds into AIG common stock.

Visit http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aig-government-exit-plan-gains-momentum-2010-09-29?dist=countdown to view the full article online.

 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, President Obama discusses the Tea Party, the economy and what's at stake this November.

Visit http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/209395 to view the full article online.

 

State legislatures will be in a high-stakes tug-of-war with both voters and industry at the ballot box this November. More than a quarter of the 155 ballot initiatives to be decided on Nov. 2 deal with state tax hikes, debt levels and other revenue issues.

Visit http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/29/news/economy/taxes_on_ballot/index.htm to view the full article online.

 

University of Chicago psychology professor Sian Beilock has spent her career learning something the anxious among us would love to know: why do we choke under pressure and how can we prevent it?

Visit http://www.bnet.com/blog/entry-level/dont-choke-secrets-for-performing-under-pressure/3202?tag=content;feature-roto to view the full article online.

 

Like many corporations, Citigroup has refocused its philanthropy on areas that align with what it does as a business. Three years ago, the New York financial-services company streamlined its giving to focus on programs that help poor and middle-income people gain economic independence.

Visit http://philanthropy.com/article/Why-Smart-Giving-Is-Good-for/124655/ to view the full article online.

 

Every week, it’s possible to compete in a money-saving marathon. That heated race against the kitchen clock can save time, money and energy. Here’s the race course in my home: On Sunday I can shop, plan and prepare dinner meals for the rest of the week. A well-paced cooking marathon has several ingredients and challenges.

Visit http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2010/09/27/how-to-save-big-with-a-cooking-marathon to view the full article online.

 

Debt is never pleasant. But when you’re in a relationship and you share the bills, debt can have a bigger impact. It not only affects your personal budget but your household budget as well. It can put a strain on your relationship as well as your finances.

Visit http://www.blackenterprise.com/personal-finance/2010/09/29/love-money-managing-debt-as-a-couple/ to view the full article online.