As President Obama’s approval numbers slip under 50 percent for the first time in Ohio, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Cincinnati yesterday to defend the administration’s economic recovery package and to ask for patience.

A second stimulus package is already being considered and Republicans are calling the first one passed in February, a “failure,” according to MSNBC. Here’s some more information from Reuters:

Almost five months after Democrats used their majorities in the U.S. Congress to push through the stimulus, the two-year package has had little impact as anxious Americans watch the country’s unemployment rate surge to 9.5 percent.

The White House had…

Ten states struggled to pass budgets before the Tuesday deadline, including Illinois. According to the Wall Street Journal, state governments could face partial shutdowns if budgets aren’t created soon.

In Illinois, the new fiscal year has already started with no budget, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

The state will ultimately be more than $9 billion in the red for the fiscal year that starts today, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration says, unless the Legislature provides new revenue. He has warned of potential deep cuts in human services such as day care subsidies and elder care, as well as interruptions in other state…

The worldwide recession isn’t hurting McDonald’s.

The fast-food giant reported a big jump in its same-store sales for last month,

Between its dollar menu and its value meals, you can feed a family for pretty small money. It might not always be the best choice if you’re looking for healthy food, but…

In our family, we have cut back on eating out for a while now — in part because we like to cook at home and in part because we’re trying to cut back on expenses. But sometimes it’s darn convenient to drive through McDonald’s for a quick dinner.

Have you been dining…

The Labor Department reported a drop in job cuts today, making May the fourth straight month that the number of job cuts have decreased. Despite a drop in job cuts at 345,000, the unemployment rate is still at 9.4 percent, the highest in 25 years.

A scene from the Great Depression. Los Angeles Times

While the Great Depression had a more significant unemployment peak of 25 percent in 1933, which rose from 5.5 percent in 1929,  if the United States calculated unemployment the same way during the Great Depression, “our unemployment rate would be much higher,” said Henry Blodget on Yahoo Finance.

Here…

Let the onslaught begin. The media almost universally refers to Memorial Day weekend the ‘unofficial’ start of summer, and if that’s the case, summer starts Friday.

Gas prices have gone up in the past few weeks, but they’re still a lot lower than a year ago. The lower prices don’t seem to be translating into more people planning to hit the road, though.  Unemployment is the highest it’s been in decades, but the last few reports indicate job losses are slowing. Still, I’m not hearing about people quitting their jobs to find something better.

My family won’t be hitting the road this weekend; there’s a high school…