I take a back seat to no one when it comes to loving dogs. For that matter, my dog takes a back seat to no one. Ollie rides shotgun. Thus, the story of Seamus, the Romneys’ dog who famously rode atop the family car in a crate en route to vacation (to Ontario, Canada, 12 hours away) — and suffered acute gastrointestinal inconvenience, requiring a mid-trip hose-down — has caused me considerable distress. I know Mitt and Ann Romney to be lovely people who undoubtedly adored their dog, but how does one make this event seem less awful? Read full article > >

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Presidential race has really gone to the dogs

With the general-election campaign beginning to take shape, President Obama holds clear advantages over Mitt Romney on personal attributes and a number of key issues, but remains vulnerable to discontent with the pace of the economic recovery, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll . Read full article > >

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Obama holds key leads on Romney, as economy malaise looms over reelection bid

Mitt Romney is developing a Mirlande Wilson problem. Wilson, for those not acquainted with the name, is the Maryland woman who claimed to have a winning lottery ticket worth $218 million. She had agreed to buy lottery tickets with money pooled from her co-workers at McDonald’s, but then she claimed that the winning ticket was one she bought separately. As the New York Daily News has documented, she has since claimed she’s not sure she won , she hasn’t checked the ticket, the ticket is at her home, the ticket is hidden at McDonald’s, the ticket is secreted away somewhere else, and now she can’t find it. Read full article > >

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The facts vs. Mitt Romney

ISHINOMAKI, Japan — One year later, nothing is resolved. The rubble and ocean muck of last March 11 have been scrubbed from every wall, pulled from every basement and picked from every crevasse. Now the debris is piled in terraced mountains at the edge of this town along Japan’s tsunami-devastated northeastern coastline. Read full article > >

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A year after Japan’s triple disaster, an uncertain recovery

The political brinksmanship that left the country hanging in limbo just a few months ago has significantly subsided, and that’s helped with the economic recovery, argue VoxEU’s Scott Baker and Nicholas Bloom. Read full article > >

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Uncertainty’s down, and the economy’s back up

As President Obama prepares to give his third State of the Union address next week, he faces a dispirited and polarized electorate that is sharply divided over his record, worried about the pace of the economic recovery and deeply pessimistic about the country’s trajectory. Read full article > >

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Electorate is sharply split over Obama, poll finds

The president, trying to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions, must balance choices that could harm either the economic recovery or his image as a firm leader.

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Faceoff With Iran Complicates Obama’s Re-election Campaign

The unemployment rate dipped to its lowest level in nearly three years last month, good news that on Friday rippled through rival presidential campaigns whose prospects could hinge on the pace of the economic recovery. Unemployment has declined in four consecutive months, to 8.5 percent, its lowest level since the president’s second month in office. However fragile, it is the kind of trend that President Obama is counting on to convince voters that he deserves a second term in the White House. Read full article > >

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Falling jobless rate is good news for Obama

Sign of economic recovery.

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Gift Wrap Sales Boom

Japan’s household spending falls while the unemployment rate increases raising concerns about economic recovery.

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Japan households feel the squeeze

U .S. home prices are set to fall further. There is nothing policymakers can do to forestall this, but there are things they can do to mitigate the severity of the decline. With Europe in disarray , the supercommittee struggling to reduce the federal deficit and a payroll tax increase looming next year, help for the housing industry could make the difference between a continued economic recovery and a double-dip recession. Read full article > >

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With home prices headed down, three ideas to soften the fall

IMF chief Christine Lagarde calls for countries to “act now and act together” to keep on the path to economic recovery.

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IMF: Collective action needed now

IMF chief Christine Lagarde calls for countries to “act now and act together” to keep on the path to economic recovery.

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IMF: Collective action needed now

JACKSON, Wyo. — The world economic recovery is in new peril of derailing, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Saturday as she called on leaders in the United States and Europe to take aggressive and immediate action to address new cracks appearing in the global economy. The global economy is in a “dangerous new phase,” said Christine Lagarde , the IMF managing director, speaking at a conference of top central bankers and economists. The world is endangered by “a growing sense that policymakers do not have the conviction, or simply are not willing, to take the decisions that are needed.” Read full article > >

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IMF’s Lagarde: View is growing that policymakers can’t make tough choices

BERLIN — As investors dumped stocks Friday on both sides of the Atlantic, a growing suspicion that Europe’s banks are on shaky ground offered more evidence that the struggling global economic recovery is in trouble. The increasing mistrust of Europe’s banks is threatening to drag down the continent’s already sluggish economy and prompting new worries for American financial firms that do business with their European counterparts. The concerns about the health of Europe’s financial firms are making it harder for them to raise money. In turn, they are under pressure to charge more for loans they offer to businesses and consumers on the continent. The resulting credit crunch, though not nearly as severe, has echoes of three years ago when Wall Street’s meltdown prompted fearful banks and businesses in the United States and elsewhere to stop lending each other money, choking off the economy’s lifeblood. Read full article > >

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Banks, entwined in government debt, contribute to Europe’s dimming outlook