The Federal Reserve Bank announced Wednesday that it will once again make a large purchase of Treasury Bonds — $600 billlion worth — as part of a Quantitative Easing to help the struggling economy. The response of many to this news: "Quantitative what?" Louise Story, Wall Street and Finance Reporter for our partner The New York Times, joins the show to break it down.

Insurance giant AIG has reached an agreement and a plan with the federal government to pay back some $70 billion given to the company in 2008 as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, just before their two-year deadline on October 3. Under the agreement, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will remove it's ties to American International Group, and the Treasury will increase it's stake to 92 percent, gradually bringing the shares it owns from preferred to public to transfer the control back out of government hands. But is the public buying? Louise Story gives us the latest.

Media powerhouse Arianna Huffington thinks we're looking at the death of the American middle class.  She argues that point in her new book "Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream."

A small group of economists are trying to study whether income inequality may have contributed to the economic collapse. The income gap in the years leading up to the recent recession, which is often compared to the Great Depression, has a striking resemblance to the income equality in 1928, when the top 10 percent of earners received nearly half of the total income. Finance reporter Louise Story wrote about this theory for The New York Times earlier in August, and we spoke with her about the income gap on The Takeaway last week.

With Wall Street indexes down for a third straight day yesterday and poor economic reports in recent weeks, the outlook for global economies does not look bright.

President Obama made it official yesterday: the financial overhaul bill has been signed into law. So who are the winners as this new law takes effect? Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner believes the consumer is the real winner in financial reform, with new rules about mortgages, credit cards and student loans. However, she reminds us that car dealers are not included in the law, so it's important to stay vigilant.

They’re back: Massive homes, heavy on square footage and sometimes light on architectural style, are seeing a resurgence in certain Boston-area communities.

A handful of countries are emerging from the recent economic crisis with what looks like the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" in their sights. Canada, Germany and Australia are three countries that appear to be rebounding quickly from the recession. Why did these three countries recover so rapidly, and is there anything the United States can take away from their strategies to help us recover?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had troubling words when he testified before the House Budget Committee on Wednesday. In describing the state of the economy, Bernanke said that the nation’s budget “appears to be on an unsustainable path.”  The New York Times’ Wall Street and finance reporter Louise Story, explains that the chairman’s critique is a serious matter, and discusses the possible further economic pitfalls that lie ahead.