Charlie Herman

With Thanksgiving approaching, how many notches you'll have to relax that belt buckle won't be the only question people will be asking. Much of the focus will be on air safety and retail sales. Many travelers are not happy about the latest security measures the TSA is using for secondary screening, including full-body scans and thorough pat-downs. Many see both as extremely invasive, but the TSA says that both measures will stay. Callie Crossley, host of "The Callie Crossley Show" at WGBH in Boston, will see if any changes will come as Thanksgiving quickly approaches.

Your morning cup of coffee could start costing a bit more as prices for green-coffee, or unroasted beans, are now more than 50 percent higher than they were a year ago. The increase has already led to price hikes for many coffee brands and even higher prices are expected in the months ahead.

The 110th Congress begins its lame duck session today, and the question remains: how much can lawmakers get done before the new members step in? Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC looks at how this session of Congress handles the Bush tax cuts, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and the new START treaty.

Government spending, according to some conventional wisdom, is out of control. That battle cry rallied many politicians during the mid-term elections, helped elect Tea Party and conservative Republican candidates, while putting Democrats on the defensive over the deficit. But now that elections are over, do politicians have the stomach for real change? Yesterday, the co-chairs of President Obama's non-binding fiscal commission on deficit reduction released a draft plan to curb spending ... but the plan met with general dismay in Washington. Why? 

After the beating Democrats took in last week's mid-term elections, all eyes, including those of our managing producer, Noel King, will be looking at what the GOP's initial moves will be this week. She'll also look at President Obama's continued trip through Asia, along with Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC Radio.

The U.S. economy added jobs in October for the first time since last spring due to hiring in the private sector.

The private sector hired 159,000 employees last month. That is the tenth consecutive month of job gains for the nation’s businesses.  Since the start of the year, private sector employers have hired 1.1 million employees.

Despite the recession, New York City balanced its budget and even eked out a $5 million surplus. It helped that the City put aside nearly $3 billion last year to offset expected budget gaps for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.

Higher sales taxes this year are not deterring shoppers in New York City. State comptroller Tom DiNapoli says sales tax collections increased 20.6 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same time a year ago. During the first nine months of 2009, sales tax collections fell 11.4 percent.

Sales of existing homes shot up in September, but are still below levels economists consider indicative of a healthy economy.

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing homes sold at an annual rate of 4.53 million in September.  That’s an increase of 10 percent from August but down more than 19 percent from a year ago. August sales were revised downward slightly.

New Jersey's unemployment rate fell below the national average in last month. The state's Department of Labor reports that 9.4 percent of New Jersey residents were unemployed last month, two-tenths of a percent lower than the national unemployment rate. 

A small slice of the disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's prized possessions will be sold at auction in New York this November.

Josh Zinner, co-director of NEDAP, the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, and WNYC business and economics editor Charlie Herman reflect on the foreclosure freeze of many large banks nationwide and what that freeze is doing to the New York housing market.

On the heels of the announcement of a nationwide investigation by state Attorneys General of foreclosure proceedings, foreclosure filings in September increased by nearly 3 percent compared to August. Compared to a year ago, foreclosure filings were up 1 percent. And for the first time, a record 102,134 homes were seized by banks in September. 

The Attorneys General of New York and New Jersey have joined a coordinated investigation of improper foreclosures procedings that could have violated state laws.

Every Monday, we take a look at the big stories in the week ahead. This week's Agenda, covers foreclosures, midterm elections, calls for UN peace keepers in  Sudan and the Nobel Prize in Economics.

The U.S. economy continues to lose jobs as the government reports Friday morning that 95,000 positions were cut from the nation’s payrolls.

The U.S. economy continues to lose jobs as the government reports Friday morning that 95,000 positions were cut from the nation’s payrolls.

While private sector employers hired 64,000 jobs last month, the positive number was offset by the loss of 159,000 government jobs

Wells Fargo announced it will pay $24 million to eight states including New Jersey to end investigations into whether the company deceived homeowners when it offered them risky mortgages.

A copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln and owned by Robert Kennedy will be auctioned in New York. The copy Kennedy purchased is one of 48 signed by Linco...

A copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln and owned by Robert Kennedy will be auctioned in New York.