The documents the White House includes with President Obama's $3.7 trillion proposed budget for 2012 project that government spending will top $4 trillion in the next two to three years, but most voters aren't aware of that increase amidst all the talk of spending cuts.
As frequent readers of this column know, I am not the biggest fan of e-mail.
Half of all Americans own stocks, bonds or mutual funds, but most are also unaware of that fact.
Economists still argue about what caused the Great Depression of the 1930s and what got the nation out of it.
"I have been running a successful online company -- a limited liability company -- for several years, with a number of different lines of business. Another company has made an offer to buy one of my lines of business for a very attractive price, and I'm inclined to accept.
"I have a successful retail business that I want to take online with a killer website and a social media marketing campaign on Facebook and Twitter. The problem, of course, is money. I need to raise $100,000 to build the website and launch the campaign, but am having trouble finding the money.
States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have argued that bankruptcy might be the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren't thrilled with the idea, but they like it better than higher taxes, and they're even more supportive if told government employees might have their pensions reduced in the process.
"For the past couple of years, I have run a brick-and-mortar retail store specializing in customized merchandise. I really want to take this business to the next level by building a website that will enable customers nationwide, and maybe even internationally, to customize our merchandise online. We have a proprietary technology for customizing our clients' orders that our attorneys tell us can be patented. We also have one of the best software developers in America wanting to work with us to develop the website.
It's been more than 30 years now since the first personal computers, and more than 15 years since the Internet, gave us all a digital life. Who today can remember what it was like to do business in the days before e-mail, PowerPoint, laptops, BlackBerries, iPhones, iPods, iPads, mobile apps, Facebook and Twitter?
Americans feel more strongly than ever that the government is more concerned with making Wall Street firms profitable than making the financial system work for the rest of us.
Now that we've tackled the economy, here are a few creative solutions to some of the foreign policy problems you will be facing as the 112th Congress gets under way.
The number of adults nationwide who expect a rise in interest rates has reached its highest level in nearly two years.
Most Americans continue to say they are paying more for groceries now compared to a year ago, and the number who expect to spend more a year from now is at its highest level in nearly two years.
Most Americans continue to lack confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system, but they also remain unworried that they will lose their money due to a bank failure.
As you take your seats in the new Congress, ladies and gentlemen, you will be under pressure to act very quickly to solve a large and growing number of problems.
American Adults shared one of the chief concerns of Likely Voters in 2010, the Gulf oil leak’s impact on the economy.
The feedback from last week's column on the need for more "slapstick comedy" from our entertainment media was really amazing. Thanks to all readers who wrote in to support my view that we need more Lucille Balls and fewer Jon Stewarts making us laugh.
President Obama in a meeting last week with top U.S. business leaders urged them to use some of their ample cash reserves to create new jobs, and most voters think that’s a good idea. But they draw the line at the government making the businesses spend their money that way.
As the year draws to a close, it's time to get a little philosophical and take a longer-range view of some things that are happening in the world.
The federal government recently reported than 14% of the U.S. population or a record 42.9 million people received food stamps in September, with up to 20% getting them in some states.
