NPR Audio - Business

Steve Inskeep has business news.

A provision in the federal stimulus bill waiving the closing costs of an SBA loan allowed a Colorado brewery owner to buy an additional beer fermenter, which increased the amount of beer he could brew. More beer led to more jobs and more customers, and now Kevin DeLange is looking for more space.

The newspaper said it would close bureaus in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago at the end of the year to save money and will focus news efforts on covering the nation's capital. Six correspondents are being offered jobs in Washington, while three news aides will be let go Dec. 31.

A deal for General Motors Co. to sell Saab to the specialty carmaker Koenigsegg Group has collapsed, leaving the storied Swedish brand born from jets in 1947 close to extinction.

The central bank predicted the jobless rate could hover between 8.6 and 10.2 percent next year. Most Fed policymakers said it could take "five or six years" for the economy and the labor market to get back on a path of full health.

As the economy slowly begins to recover from the financial meltdown, should the Obama administration get credit for turning things around? Or has the administration failed to do what it takes to really help the economy? A panel of experts takes on the question in the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.

The official uniforms for NBA players could soon be made in Asia, a move drawing sharp criticism from a prominent lawmaker in Congress. Sports apparel maker Adidas plans to end its contract with American suppliers and move production of NBA jerseys to a factory in Thailand.

New legislation in Congress could drastically change music-industry economics. Musicians in the U.S. are not paid when their songs are played on the radio unless they wrote the songs, too. Only songwriters get radio royalties. Broadcasters are not happy.

The Department of Transportation levies $175,000 in fines against three airlines for their role in the stranding of passengers overnight in a plane at Rochester, Minn., in August even though it was only 50 yards from a terminal.

Banks earned $2.8 billion in the third quarter, but loan balances plummeted and the fund that insures their deposits had a negative balance of $8.2 billion. Souring loans continued to hurt bank balance sheets, but they were buoyed by higher operating revenues and a revived market for securities, the FDIC said.

The economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace last quarter, as the recovery got off to a slower start than first thought. The government's new reading on gross domestic product wasn't as energetic as the 3.5 percent growth rate for the July-September period estimated a month ago. A separate report said confidence in the economy improved slightly in November.

Lots of young fans — and many of their moms and dads — are excited about the arrival of Tiana, the heroine of The Princess and the Frog, the latest animated Walt Disney film. It's more than just a new movie to many: Tiana is Disney's first African-American princess, a role model many parents have been waiting for for a long time.

As millions of Americans plan for long drives to Thanksgiving dinner, many will use GPS devices to guide the way. But analysts say GPS-enabled cell phones, now with bigger screens and better speakers, are going to cut into the sales of stand-alone devices.

The National Association of Realtors said home sales rose 10.1 percent in October. That's the highest level in two and a half years, spurred by a tax credit for first-time home buyers. Figures also released on Monday indicate an increasing number of Americans owe more on their home than it is worth.

Sales at That's My Room in Salt Lake City have slowed to less than $5,000 a month. Despite making cutbacks, the owners say, they haven't taken a paycheck since the store opened a year and a half ago — right when the recession hit.

The debate in Washington over how much the health care overhaul bills will cost has largely centered on the bottom line for the federal government. But polls repeatedly show Americans are much more concerned about how a reshaped health care system will affect their own family's financial situation.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and manufacturer Stork Craft Manufacturing of British Columbia announced a recall of 2.1 million drop-side cribs on Monday following reports of the deaths of four children who suffocated in defective cribs. It is the largest crib recall on record.

New Moon, the second movie in the popular Twilight" series, brought in more than $140-million in ticket sales in North America, starting with midnight screenings on Friday. That's the third biggest opening on record. Ben Fritz, an entertainment business reporter for The Los Angeles Times, says the audience for the movie was overwhelmingly female.

News Corp. and Microsoft are working on a deal that might take News Corp. content off of Google and put it exclusively on Bing, Microsoft's search engine. That means that if you do a Google search, content from a News Corp. outlet, such as The Wall Street Journal or Fox News, would not show up. You would have to use Bing to find it.

The economic downturn forced many companies to seek extra ways to shrink costs: Some imposed furloughs or fewer work hours; others tried a straight wage reduction. Many of those companies are now concerned, however, about hanging on to their employees.

Many parents and teachers view college as the natural path to success. But diplomas are getting more expensive, and many people succeed without a bachelor's degree. Guests address the value of a college degree, and whether the fields projected to grow require them.

Each holiday season, thousands of people find temporary jobs helping retail companies meet the demands of the busiest shopping period of the year. This year, many companies are being cautious about additional hiring because consumers are expected to spend only slightly more than last year.

The agency says preliminary data show more reports of serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks and strokes, in high-risk patients taking Meridia compared with those on a placebo.

The federal government said it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.

News Corp. and Microsoft are said to be in talks about a "Web pact" aimed at Google. The media company would be paid to "de-index" its news sites from Google, The Financial Times reports.

Home resales far exceeded expectations last month, surging 10.1 percent to the highest level in 2 1/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit. Sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million in October.

Many small towns across rural America continue to see population declines. But the tiny town of Preston, Kan., is getting help from an unlikely source: An Arizona mortician who has set up shop there and hopes to draw business from a 50-mile radius.

The abysmal job market is making it hard for some to start making student loan payments, which come due this month for May graduates. A new law could ease the pain for some: It limits monthly payments to 15 percent of a graduate's income.

Gold prices have soared this year — largely because the U.S. dollar has gotten weaker. Investors have been looking at gold as a better bet than the dollar. And the expectation is that the dollar will stay weak because of low U.S. interest rates. That means investors — including governments — will likely continue pouring their money into the gold market.

Economists expect the joblessness that has weighed down the nation's economic recovery will start to slowly abate in 2010, but they predict consumers will continue to keep a tight rein on spending, according to a new survey.

The University of Akron said it could ask new workers for a DNA sample to run background checks. But an anti-discrimination law that went into full effect Nov. 21 prevents employers from requiring workers to share genetic information.

The international economy is still fragile and vulnerable to shocks despite recent improvements in financial markets, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said. Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the worst of the economic crisis has passed but problems remain.

One of the busiest passenger rail trains in the nation is getting a new engine — a greener engine. In California, Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, which runs between San Jose and Sacramento, is starting to use a cleaner-burning diesel engine. The new technology cuts harmful emissions in half.

Internet sensation Susan Boyle's debut album is out in the United Kingdom. It will be available in the U.S. Tuesday. It's called "I Dreamed a Dream." It's her signature song, which is from the musical Les Miserable. A British newspaper critic has panned it. Amazon.com says the album is its biggest ever pre-ordered CD.

Barnes & Noble says shoppers who have pre-ordered its new digital reader may not receive it until January. Sony says one of its new e-readers also is in short supply. Analysts say the companies underestimated the demand. Amazon is in a good position. The online retailer had shortages of its reader last year, but this year it says it has plenty in stock.

In recent years, budgets for permanent foreign staffs have been slashed in all but a handful of newsrooms. GlobalPost, an upstart online news outlet that relies on a network of more than 70 part-time contributors in 50 countries, is making the case for a new for-profit model for covering the world.

A Charlotte, N.C., construction firm is among an increasing number of small companies trying a strategy that makes the firing process a bit gentler. It's called "attached unemployment," a kind of temporary layoff aimed at softening the blow of job cuts.

The tax deduction for mortgage interest is a cherished benefit for millions of Americans, but most economists think it's a bad idea. One of those economists, Dennis Ventry of the University of California-Davis, talks to host Guy Raz about the history of the deduction, and why the odds of changing it are so long.

We're headed into the year's biggest travel week, and there's not much bigger than what's sitting in the port of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., right now. It's called the Oasis of the Seas, and it's the largest cruise ship ever built — five times the size of the Titanic, with a price tag of $1.5 billion.