UNEMPLOYMENT

On a quiet stretch of the waterfront here, about a mile from Boston's main tourist sites, a Gillette factory hums along 24 hours a day making an unlikely commodity: top-of-the-line razors.

According to the latest poll, 49 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of Obama. Some 48 percent of the poll participants view Obama favorably. It's the first time his negative number his outweighed the positive number in the measure of popularity.

Christine O'Donnell may think a lawn gnome can beat Barack Obama next year, but a new Reuters/Ipsos poll says otherwise. If the general election were held today, the poll found, Obama would beat Newt Gingrich by 13 percentage points and Mitt Romney by 8 points.

Foreign companies in China are concerned that a new social security tax on expatriate workers will raise business and living costs and leave payers unable to claim benefits, a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce showed on Wednesday.

Starting next year, fees in English universities will be as high as £9,000 ($13,946) per year -- almost triple the current maximum charge.

Regarding the payroll tax cut extension, the scene shifts to the Democratic-controlled Senate, after the Republican-led House Tuesday passed, on a largely party-line vote, an extension that contained many pet project items that Democrats oppose, including a speed-up of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Nearly one-quarter (22 percent) of people between the ages of 16 and 24 are without work.

Thomas Cook will close 200 underperforming shops and 500 hotels and is lining up further disposals, as it battles to cut debt and restore confidence among investors and customers after a bailout by its banks.

President Barack Obama is expected to win the re-election in 2012, according to Oliver Pursche, co-portfolio manager of GMG Defensive Beta Fund.

Last month the International Energy Agency said in its World Energy Outlook that If, between 2011 and 2015, investment in the [Middle East and North Africa] region runs one-third lower than the $100 billion per year required, consumers could face a near-term rise in the oil price to $150/barrel.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday pointed to turmoil in Europe as a big risk to the U.S. economy, leaving the door open to a further easing of monetary policy even as it noted some improvement in the U.S. labor market.

In a letter sent to the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said lawmakers have a moral obligation to ensure unemployed Americans and their families are able to support themselves in an economy that has not been conductive to job growth.

Spending cuts proposed by a cash-strapped coalition government in London will likely also exacerbate the problem.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday pointed to turmoil Europe as a big risk to the economy, leaving the door open to a further easing of monetary policy even as it noted some improvement in the labor market.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday left monetary policy on hold but said financial market turbulence posed threats to economic growth, leaving the door open to further easing next year.

Since the 1960s, the United States has spent $16 trillion on the welfare state. This unfathomable price tag is more than our entire national debt, which just recently reached $15 trillion. With social welfare expenditure at about 35 percent of GDP, the obvious question is: Are the benefits outweighing the astronomical costs we pay?

House Republicans will roll out their version of the payroll tax cut extension and likely pass it Tuesday the lower chamber. The bill promises to depart wildly from past offerings by both parties in the Senate and brings up the difficult task of bridging a sizable gap between the two.

Tourism will be a key priority for Egypt if Islamists come to power, the country’s major Islamist parties announced on Sunday.

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $137 billion in November, which is smaller than the $150 billion posted in the same month last year, the Treasury Department reported Monday. However, much of the difference occurred due to shifts in the timing of payments.

Anti-Wall Street demonstrators, confronted by police in riot gear, marched on several West Coast ports on Monday seeking to disrupt cargo traffic and re-energize their protest movement.

Score one for ABC News in the ratings department.