Recession ended 4 years ago: How far have we come?

• CNNMoney reader visits the White House for Obamacare event

  When Suzanne Eva Lain praised Obamacare in a recent CNNMoney article, she never thought it would earn her a ticket to the White House.

  But after a member of the Obama administration read that she can't wait for Obamacare to start, officials invited her to attend an event at the White House on Friday at which the president expounded on how the Affordable Care Act has helped women and their families. MORE

  Tami Luhby - May 14, 2013 10:42 AM ET
  Posted in: affordable care act, economy, health care, health insurance, luhby, obamacare, state exchanges, suzanne lain

• April jobs report preview: More slow hiring ahead

  The Labor Department will release its latest update on the U.S. job market Friday morning, and the outlook is neither rosy nor gloom and doom. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney are expecting 140,000 jobs were created in April.

  While that would be an improvement compared to the meager 88,000 jobs added in March, it's really not much to write home about either. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. economy added an MORE

  Annalyn Kurtz - May 2, 2013 2:58 PM ET
  Posted in: april jobs report, economy, jobs report, unemployment rate

• Is China cooking its books?

  Are China's economic statistics accurate?

  Pose this question to a group a China watchers and you're likely to receive a variety of responses. Some observers are convinced that China is cooking its books. Others believe state statistics are largely reliable and useful for drawing conclusions about the world's second largest economy. Still others will debate the accuracy of certain data classes, pointing to more meaningful alternatives.

  Now we have an opinion from researchers MORE

  Charles Riley - Mar 26, 2013 6:57 AM ET
  Posted in: China, economy, statistics

• Men spend twice as much as women on Valentine's Day

  Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is a big business -- and no, not everything is fair in love and war.

  Guys plan to spend an average of $108 on their sweethearts this Valentine's Day, twice what women plan to spend on their significant others. Ladies plan to spend only $53, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

  Flowers and jewelry tend to push up the average costs MORE

  Annalyn Kurtz - Feb 14, 2013 9:28 AM ET
  Posted in: economy, Spending, Valentine's Day

• How Americans want their tax dollars spent

  As lawmakers bicker over how to spend federal tax dollars, Americans have a few suggestions for them.

  According to a recent online survey of 1,000 consumers by TD Ameritrade (AMTD), people clearly want the government to focus even more on health care. Jobs are important as well. And there are some interesting differences between what men would like the government to spend more on and what women view as a priority MORE

  Tami Luhby - Feb 12, 2013 9:29 AM ET
  Posted in: cnnmoney, economy, education, healthcare, job creation, taxes, TD Ameritrade

• Black workers' unemployment gap

  Though blacks' job prospects have improved from the depths of the Great Recession, they still suffer from disproportionately high unemployment.

  Pegged to Black History Month, the U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee put out a stats sheet highlighting the gap. It takes longer, on average, for black workers for find a job, and even having a college degree doesn't help as much as it does for other job-seeking populations. The black unemployment rate MORE

  Tami Luhby - Feb 6, 2013 11:14 AM ET
  Posted in: african-americans, blacks, cnnmoney, economy, employment, jobs, unemployment

• Your taxes under the fiscal cliff deal

  The fiscal cliff deal contains a wide array of tax provisions that will affect taxpayers. Here's the list of what is -- and isn't -- in the agreement:

  Payroll taxes: Wage earners will now pay a 6.2% payroll tax on the first $113,700 in wages since the deal did not extend the 4.2% rate that had been in place for two years. That means workers earning the national average salary of MORE

  Tami Luhby - Jan 2, 2013 1:00 PM ET
  Posted in: Bush Tax Cuts, cnnmoney, congress, economy, fiscal cliff, payroll tax, tax, taxes

• Fiscal cliff confusion on Form 1040

  There are some new lines on the Form 1040 thanks to the fiscal cliff. The IRS has had to set aside space for provisions that Congress hasn't approved yet, leaving those lines as "reserved."

  Are you a teacher who spent up to $250 on pencils, books or other classroom supplies? Well, you'll find Line 23 now says "reserved" instead of "educator expenses deduction."

  Are you a student looking to deduct up to MORE

  Tami Luhby - Dec 28, 2012 1:52 PM ET
  Posted in: congress, economy, fiscal cliff, form 1040, internal revenue service, IRS, refunds, tax filing, taxes

• Intel report: China's economy to surpass U.S. by 2030

  The National Intelligence Council -- the same thinkers who produce National Intelligence Estimates -- has released an 140-page report that offers a series of prognostications about how the world might change in coming decades.

  The report is full of all kinds of fun concepts, like powered exoskeletons designed to help the elderly, bio-based energy and 3-D printing. You can read the full report here.

  But one of the biggest economics themes of the report is the MORE

  Charles Riley - Dec 10, 2012 10:46 PM ET
  Posted in: asia, China, economy