Open a newspaper, go on the internet, or turn on the TV, and you're likely to hear a diagnosis of what will cure the ailing economy. Revising the tax code, reducing the deficit, super committees — all distractions, according to New York Times op-ed columnist Joe Nocera. He calls the political back-and-forth in Washington "meaningless noise." The real problem, Nocera says, is a lack of available credit.

In uncertain financial times, it seems every economist has their own opinion on how to revive the economy. But the idea that we could study the marketplace and deduce how to control and improve it was once radical. Decades before the Great Recession, students studied economics in order to become masters of their own fate. A new book examines the development of economic theory, from the Age of Industrial Revolution to World War II.

President Obama will announce a deficit reduction plan that will reduce government spending by $3 trillion through cutting entitlements, tax increases, and war savings. The plan is the White House's opening offer to the Congressional "super committee," which has until Dec. 23 to reach a deal on deficit reduction. GOP lawmakers have already labeled the proposed tax hikes "class warfare," particularly the so-called "Buffet Rule" — a minimum tax rate on those earning more than $1 million per year named for billionaire Warren Buffett.

The European Central Bank announced yesterday it will work with the Federal Reserve to open new lines of credit to banks in the 17 nations that use the euro. The Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank are also pitching in to help. The ECB says it will allow banks in the euro zone to borrow money for three months — rather than the previous rule of a week — which injects dollar liquidity into European banks. The news comes as European banks are suffering from chronic financial squeezes.

Over the past twenty-four hours, we’ve learned more about the rogue trader that lost the Swiss bank UBS $2 billion. It turns out that the trader, Kweku Adoboli, had the same job at UBS as Societe Generale's Jérôme Kerviel, whose fraudulent trading cost the bank €4.9 billion in 2008. How does this happen, and what is it that drives these traders to commit fraud?

As we've watched the economic crisis unfold in Greece this year, and Greek citizens taking to the streets to protest the financial situation there, we've wondered why the same thing hasn't happened in America. Why haven’t we heard more outrage from the increasingly squeezed American people?

House speaker John Boehner made his own speech about jobs yesterday, to the Economic Club of Washington. In his speech, Boehner said, "The president’s proposals are a poor substitute for the pro-growth policies that are needed to remove barriers to job creation in America ... the policies that are needed to put America back to work," and stressed the importance of the private sector in generating jobs.

A report by RealtyTrac on Thursday revealed default notices filed by banks — which represent the first step in the foreclosure process —were up 33 percent in August from July. Many analysts believe this is due to banks beginning to clear backlogged filings caused by the robo-signing controversy of 2010, which created a de facto moratorium on foreclosures around the country. In California, filings were up even more than the average at 55 percent, and in New Jersey levels of default notices reached 42 percent.

A House subcommittee is accusing the Obama administration of aggressively pushing a loan for a now bankrupt solar company, Solyndra. Republicans say the White House rushed the bad loan in spite of repeated warnings about the company's viability. Solyndra  collapsed two weeks ago and is now under federal investigation, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $500 billion.

Yesterday, we talked about the two-tier wage system implemented by three Detroit automakers. In the two-tier system, new employees make half the salary of workers already on the job. We talked with a few tier-two workers yesterday, and we asked our listeners if they would be willing to do their job for half the salary.

President Obama has been on a tour to push his $447-billion jobs package, and he's been meeting with small business owners in places like North Carolina and Ohio, making it clear that they are at the heart of his plan for economic recovery. Meanwhile, some Congressional Democrats are already saying that the jobs bill will need some major changes in order to pass. Can small businesses really save our ailing economy?

New Census numbers show that the U.S. has reached its worst level of poverty since 1983. About 15 percent of Americans live beneath the poverty line. That means that almost 46 million Americans do not earn $11,100 dollars a year as a single person; or, that they live in a family of four that makes under $22,314. The numbers beg the question: are the poor being forgotten in this country?

Bank of America confirmed on Monday that it plans to cut at least 30,000 jobs from the company, and eliminate $5 billion in costs annually by 2014. The banking behemoth currently employs 288,000 people. The first group of employees to be eliminated will be those working in consumer banking operations, and home loans, technology and support operations. 

Economists are predicting yet another week of drama in the Global financial markets. European leaders continue to disagree on the best way to handle the sovereign debt crisis and bail out Greece and other countries needing financial assistance. Meanwhile in the U.S., President Obama hopes his new jobs act will set the economy on a path to recovery — if Congress passes it. All this uncertainty in the political arena does nothing to help steady the markets, which continue to be extremely erratic. The month of August saw stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index lurching hundreds of points within individual days and making huge swings in the course of a week.

Six weeks after the Congressional showdown over raising the debt ceiling came to resolution, the 12 member Congressional deficit reduction committee, sometimes referred to as the "super committee" or "super Congress," will have its first meeting today. Federal spending, taxes, and deficit reduction are all on the super committee's agenda as it tries to cut nearly $1.2 trillion from the nation's debt over the next decade. 

Most Americans are aware that the U.S. economy is in trouble and job numbers are stagnant, but could things be even worse than they seem? Some key economists are now saying the chances the economy will slip into a double dip recession are as high as 50 percent. Are Wall Street and the White House facing facts?

Later this evening, President Obama will deliver a speech detailing a jobs program that could cost as much as $300 billion. Obama will give the speech before a joint sessions of Congress, and it will also be broadcast to millions of Americans who are facing record unemployment rates. For their insight, we're speaking with three Takeaway listeners who are uniquely affected by the president’s plan.

As politicians in Washington debate ways to revamp of sagging economy, a look at the life of a man who made tremendous contributions to the global economy back in the 1950s. Keith Tantlinger, inventor of the first viable shipping container (antiquated versions had been in use since the 19th century), died at age 92 last week. Tantlinger was an inventor who was hired by a man named Malcolm McLean to envision a more streamlined and standardized system for shipping goods overseas. His modern version of the shipping container, with twist locks, revolutionized global trade.

As the financial crisis in the euro zone has continued to spiral in recent months, Europe may be moving closer centralizing coordination of debt and spending policies. Some global financial officials are endorsing a central European financial authority, with powers to tax, issue bonds, and approve budgets, as a way to combat inefficiencies in dealing with economic strife. Such a change could make Europe's 17-nation economic union into a sort of United States of Europe.

The economy has yet to recover from the great recession as nation’s unemployment numbers remain bleak at 9.1 percent. That number is worse in Michigan, where the unemployment rate is 10.9 percent. One solution to this problem may be for more people to start businesses. The costs of starting up a business may be lower now than in pre-recession times.