The Wrong Worries  —  In case you had any doubts, Thursday's more than 500-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average and the drop in interest rates to near-record lows confirmed it: The economy isn't recovering, and Washington has been worrying about the wrong things.

Obama's 50th Birthday bash: Stevie Wonder, Chris Rock, Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, Herbie Hancock, Jay Z  —  li> (Screen grab of Chris Rock's Twitter feed)  —  WASHINGTON—President Obama celebrated his 50th birthday Thursday night with a celebrity-filled bash, as entertainer Chris Rock reported …

FAA Shutdown: Senate to Pass House Bill, End Shutdown  —  With a deal in place to end the Federal Aviation Administration's nearly two-week shutdown, relief is on the way for the more than 75,000 construction workers, engineers and safety inspectors who lost their paychecks when FAA funding expired July 23.

Behind a GOP Contender's Iowa Surge  —  MARION, Iowa—To understand why presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has surged in Iowa, watch when she is handed a baby.  On a recent stop here, she took off her bracelet, dangled it before the infant and cradled him while he teethed on the pearls.

$30 Million Pouring In to Influence Wisconsin Recall Elections  —  A voter in Glendale, Wis., casts a ballot in a Democratic primary on Thursday, July 12, 2011, as part of recall efforts against Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling.  Darling is one of six Republican state senators being targeted …

Disapproval Rate for Congress at Record 82% After Debt Talks  —  The debate over raising the debt ceiling, which brought the nation to the brink of default, has sent disapproval of Congress to its highest level on record and left most Americans saying that creating jobs should now take priority …

Markets Fall as Global Worries Multiply  —  HONG KONG — Stock markets plunged in the Asia-Pacific region on Friday, following the sharp sell-off that had battered U.S. and European markets the previous day as investors' fears about European debt levels and U.S. growth prospects intensified.

Here's The Problem With This Market Crash...  Well, it's deja vu all over again.  —  For anyone who followed the market crashes of 2000-2002 and 2007-2009—especially the crash of 2007-2009—the 512-point drop in the Dow feels awfully familiar.  —  And as those market crashes reminded us …

FNC analyst: 'I've pulled my punches' on Palin  —  A pair of Fox News employees offered a brief but telling glimpse of what it is like to be a coworker with a woman who may or may not run for president in 2012: Sarah Palin.  —  On Wednesday after showing a Tuesday clip of Palin's angry rebuke …

What Caused The Deficit?  A Reply To Megan McArdle  —  One of the most effective Republican themes of the last two years has been blaming President Obama for the explosive growth in the budget deficit since 2009.  The accusation that “Obama's spending binge” has blown up the deficit …

July payrolls rise soothes recession fears  —  (Reuters) - U.S. job growth accelerated more than expected in July as private employers stepped up hiring, a development that eased fears the economy was sliding into a fresh recession.  —  Nonfarm payrolls increased 117,000 …

U.S. Posts Stronger Job Gains Amid Fear  —  As the United States economy continued to wobble, employers added 117,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported on Friday, a number that was above analysts' expectations.  —  The figure, far more than the 18,000 net new jobs originally reported in June …

New York Attorney General Accuses Bank Of New York Mellon Of Fraud, Moves To Block Bank Of America's Mortgage Deal … Bank Of America , Foreclosures , Bank Of New York Mellon , Countrywide Financial , Eric Schneiderman , New York Attorney General , Mortgage-Backed Securities , Business News

Dow Down 500: Should Obama Resign?  —  The worldwide market plunge since the signing of the U.S. debt agreement tells us one thing above all: Almost no one on the planet has confidence in the leadership of Barack Obama.  —  A CEO with such a disastrous first three years as our president …

Rick Perry Recommits To Religious Right At Saturday Prayer-Fest  —  The wait is over!  Rick Perry will host his much-buzzed about Christian prayer-fest “The Response” in Houston on Saturday, where participants will ask for divine help to overcome America's myriad problems.

Kucinich gets hero's welcome at union confab  —  Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich says he still hasn't made up his mind on whether he'll run for a congressional seat here in 2012.  —  But he's back in the state today, and got a terrific platform to endear himself to a key Democratic constituency.

IRS: 235,413 million-dollar earners  —  President Barack Obama and many Democrats are talking about raising taxes on the wealthy, but few Americans actually fit that bill, data released this week by the Internal Revenue Service suggests.  —  People and households earning more than $1 million annually …

The reason the markets are diving  —  (Scott Olson - GETTY IMAGES) Washington likes to talk about the economy in terms of things it can control.  Spending and deficits.  Stimulus.  Policy uncertainty.  —  But the Dow Jones isn't diving because spending has risen, deficits have grown or stimulus policy has changed.

Food stamp use rises to record 45.8 million  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.  —  The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program …

RNC takes wait-and-see approach to punishing primary states  —  Tampa, Florida (CNN) - Anxieties about the fate of the presidential nominating process broke out into the open Thursday during a meeting of the Republican National Committee, but party officials declined to take formal action …

The ECB throws Italy and Spain to the wolves  —  The European Central Bank has abandoned Italy and Spain to their tortured fate.  —  Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB's president, said the bank had purchased eurozone bonds for the first time since March.

TSA Transgender Training At LAX … Ashley Yang Firing , Ashley Yang Transgender , Transgender Lax , Tsa Transgender Policy , Tsa Transgender Training , Los Angeles News  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that its managers at Los Angeles International Airport …

Time for QE3, and Then Some  —  The global beating shares just took had many causes, no doubt.  Still disgusted by the US debt-ceiling fiasco, I am apt to give that masterclass in malice and incompetence more of the blame than it really deserves: the talk in markets today was more about signs …

Washington's appetite for self-destruction  —  It is difficult to remember a more dismal moment in American politics.  The debt ceiling crisis and the agreement that ended it point to deep dysfunction in our system.  In a variety of ways, the episode portends continued short-term economic misery and long-term national decline.

Matt Damon's got a lot to learn  —  Matt Damon is not a genius.  He just plays one in the movies.  —  At last week's “Save Our Teachers” rally in Washington ("save them" from what — the private sector?)  Damon announced that incentives — like bonuses for good performance or ending tenure for bad ones — don't work for teachers.