From the perspective of the corporate profit and loss statement, a trading loss is one expense item in the context of all revenues and expenses. So $2 billion should be compared to the bank's $26.7 billion in pretax profits for 2011, suggesting a reduction of something less than 10 percent in annual profit.

SymphonyIRI reports that “57 percent of consumers are feeling increased financial strain when gas prices increase, and more than four in ten say high gas prices make it difficult to meet monthly expenses,” based on polls conducted in the second quarter of 2011. Furthermore, 49 percent of consumers plan to reduce grocery spending if gas prices climb another 50 cents. What can be done?

Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed by Gallup, CNN and USA Today in mid-September said they had voted for an Independent or third-party candidate for president in the past.

Knowing where all our ingredients come from is the first step toward improving drug quality.

Is it panic time at Obama headquarters in Chicago? You might get that impression from watching events -- and the polls -- over the past few weeks.

While devout Keynesians such as Paul Krugman have argued that the slow recovery is due to the insufficient sizeof Obama’s plan, a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research provides the strongest evidence yetthat the Obama stimulus was doomed to failure.

Losing money is embarrassing. And an embarrassed Jamie Dimon publicly admitted that J.P. Morgan Chase goofed. Three senior executives lost their jobs as a result. But politicians and regulators in Washington are rushing to leverage the bank's misfortune for their own gain.

A majority of Americans polledfelt Senators and Congressmen have average honesty and ethical standards, and advertising practitioners and car salesmen were at the bottom of the list.