Back in 2008, a South Florida financial executive found himself firing each of the 70 employees reporting to him. Then, he, too, became a casualty of the crumbling economy. The executive asked for some anonymity in exchange for his honest account of what followed. Sweating through an unfriendly job market, he [ Read More → ]

Changes to benefits hidden in the Con-Dems’ budget will hit those suffering with serious illnesses hardest. Plans to change the way working tax credit is calculated will leave people diagnosed with cancer or any other serious illness up to £20 a week worse off – and will deny them hundreds of [ Read More → ]

Valentina Morales isn’t worried about her retirement. In fact she’s not exactly sure what that is. What Valentina, 10, does know: Whatever it is, she will be OK. “It’s going to be a long time,” she said to her grandmother, Myriam Rodgers of Kendall. But in the meantime, “I’d like to be a [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON — Prospects are bleak for fixing Social Security’s financial problems as the government retirement insurance program celebrates its 75th anniversary this week. Many Democrats adamantly oppose any cut in benefits to reduce cost and some won’t accept a gradual increase in the retirement age, something that was done in the [ Read More → ]

In this on-again, off-again economic recovery, some unemployed mid- or late-career professionals are tapping their retirement nest eggs just to survive financially in the here and now. The question is, what happens once they actually reach retirement age? Even with no savings or company pensions, Canadians do have a basic safety [ Read More → ]

As and his adversaries look for winning themes in the run-up to the November congressional election, both sides are noisily clamoring to prove their support for a critical constituency: America’s small-business owners. At the White House, the president’s advisers are urging Democrats to portray Republicans as supporters of big corporations [ Read More → ]

The number of Massachusetts residents filing for bankruptcy soared in the first half of 2010, as the continued weak economy left thousands of homeowners unable to pay their mortgages or sell their properties. Nearly 12,000 people filed for bankruptcy in the first six months of this year, 25 percent more than [ Read More → ]

LAWRENCE — Gloria Bautista doesn’t do canned. But three seasons out of four, even with the help of food stamps, buying fresh is way out of reach. When growing season began in June, for Bautista and a handful of area families who cash in their food stamps for local [ Read More → ]

WASHINGTON - From counseling for kids who struggle with their weight, to cancer screenings for their parents, preventive health care will soon be available at no out-of-pocket cost under consumer rules the Obama administration unveiled Wednesday. That means no copays, deductibles or coinsurance for people whose health insurance plans are covered [ Read More → ]

The union representing nearly 400 registered nurses at Cambridge Hospital has lodged an unfair labor practice charge against the hospital owner, Cambridge Health Alliance, alleging its management refused to engage in good-faith bargaining over a new contract. Negotiators for the Massachusetts Nurses Association rejected a “last and final’’ contract offer from [ Read More → ]