The overall unemployment rate ticked down last month. But the real good news is the past upward revisions showing the economy added more than 350,000 private sector jobs over the past three months. Other positive economic reports also came out for the U.S. this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has once again topped 12,000 -- a level not seen since the summer of 2008, and the consumer confidence level shot up this month to its highest level in 8 months.
A British scientist and author of the book, The Rational Optimist, makes the case that mankind's progress has been vigorous, widely spread, and not just benefiting the privileged few. Matt Ridley says average citizens are becoming healthier, cleaner, smarter, kinder, happier, and more peaceful. And he has the facts to back it up:
He is living proof that chronic heart disease can be reversed in weeks. 56 year-old Mark had a history of heart problems and eventually had to have stents implanted and tubing in his legs. Until recently, he was on ten different medications.
Poverty rates in Latin America have dropped to their lowest levels in 20 years, according to a new United Nations report which points to higher wages as a key factor in the continent's development despite the global economic crisis. Between 1990 and 2010, the poverty rate decreased 17 percent.
Gloom is giving way to a glow of optimism in two northern Maine towns as a pair of paper mills, once the lifeblood of industry there, is back, and a closely related new industry knocks on the door.
You don't often find the words health care and good news in the same sentence, but in a new Public Television documentary, we learn that while groups on all sides argue the merits and limitations of reform initiatives, a few American communities are already getting the job done. Correspondent T.R. Reid reports they are accomplishing what few have been able to do – deliver quality care for reasonable cost, and in some cases cover just about everybody in town.
The White House and the attorneys general of 49 states announced an agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage providers to provide at least $25 billion to address mortgage and foreclosure abuses. It will not only help thousands of working families right now, it will establish new protections for homeowners going forward.
A few years ago, a mom in a small Mississippi town was chastised by neighbors and the press for teaching her 10-year-old son to walk to soccer practice by himself. A cop picked him up, scolded him about safety, and warned the mother that she could be prosecuted for "child endangerment." It was the turning point that led to the transformation of attitudes and laws in their town.
The stock market just had its best first quarter in 14 years and analysts are scrambling to raise their estimates for the year. In the measurements of seemingly every other indicator of US economic health, optimism bubbled up with each new report released in March.
Kids with one type of leukemia are living longer than they used to, most likely thanks to new drug combinations that mean fewer patients are relapsing after a first round of treatment.
The Nasdaq composite index broke through 3,000 on Wednesday for the first time since the collapse in dot-com stocks more than a decade ago marking the best February on Wall Street in 14 years.
Canada booked its best two-month employment gain in three decades with news Friday that the economy churned out 58,200 new jobs in April -- a report that was far stronger than anyone anticipated.
A recent Harvard review of dozens of studies concludes that being upbeat and optimistic seems to help to protect against heart disease. Optimism, in particular, seems to be key. It may cut the risk of a first heart attack in half.
Anthony DeVergillo is living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a disease that is causing his muscles to slowly deteriorate. But he has not allowed that to slow him down. This rosy-eyed optimist started a blog to celebrate his 'abilities' -- moving beyond what others describe as 'disability'. My mission is to show people that life is a beautiful thing and should not be wasted.
A list of famous celebrities who failed before they succeeded appeared in the Wall Street Journal some 20 years ago. From their stories comes the moral, 'Don't worry about failure.'
Manufacturing grew in February at the fastest pace in 20 months. Busier factories and growing optimism among consumers could help the U.S. economy withstand the drag from government spending cuts and tax increases this year.
The Dow closed at an all-time high Tuesday, beating the previous record it set in October 2007, before the financial crisis and Great Recession. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped from the opening bell, climbing as much as 158 points early and closing at 14,253.77.
Optimism has been good for Bert Jacobs, who along with his brother John, co-founded Life is good in 1989. The lifestyle and clothing brand has grown from two brothers sleeping in a van while they sold T-shirts door-to-door on college campuses to a $100 million business built around the idea of spreading optimism.
The world's tropical forests are less likely to lose biomass, or plant material, this century due to the effects of global warming than previously thought, scientists said in a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Sunday.
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