It’s been about 18 months since the sovereign debt crisis in Europe began attracting attention in global financial circles.

In that time, the crisis has grown into the biggest challenge the European Union has faced since the adoption of the euro as its single currency 12 years ago.

Greece, Portugal and Ireland are on life support. Italy and Spain are exhibiting worrying symptoms. Germany and France, the healthy ones, are suffering from a global economic malaise.

As the situation appears to be coming to a head, again, here are five key issues to keep an eye on.

1. Stability fund is not very stable

In July, European political leaders announced a set of proposals to address the crisis, including a second bailout for Greece, which was teetering on the verge of default.

To read the full story: CNN Money 

With 25 days to go before debt ceiling D-Day, President Obama says he’s gunning for the big deal — the comprehensive, balanced plan that would take a big knife to the country’s debt.

That so-called “grand bargain” would be worth up to $4 trillion in debt reduction over the next decade.

But getting that grand bargain will be very hard and not just because time is short.

“This is a really heavy lift,” said longtime political observer Norm Ornstein, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

So heavy, in fact, that Ornstein is not convinced lawmakers will get past their partisan furies before markets go nuts and jolt them into action if only to raise the debt ceiling.

That’s because the key issues under discussion are political rats’ nests.

Tax increases: Republicans have said repeatedly that they’re happy to put everything on the table except tax increases.

To read the full story: CNN Money

Housing prices are likely to keep falling the rest of this year, and probably won’t show much improvement next year either, according to a survey of economists.

A CNNMoney exclusive survey of 27 economists showed the battered housing market is facing myriad problems and won’t turn around anytime soon.

Of the 22 who had specific predictions for the closely watched Case-Shiller home price index, the median forecast was for a 3.9% decline in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, and a 2.9% drop in prices over the course of the full year.

Only three economists expect prices to rise this year.

The outlook for 2011 is only modestly better — a 2% increase in home values, with six of the economists forecasting another drop in prices next year.

Economists are fairly evenly split on what it will take to turn the housing market around.

To read the full story: CNN Money

It’s still raining in North Dakota, and the price of pasta, couscous and other grain-based products is going to raise significantly over the next year. And yes, these things are connected, because pasta has become as American as apple pie and the square dance (North Dakota’s state dance, don’t you know?).

North Dakota is prime territory for the cultivation of durum wheat, the basic ingredient in pasta and couscous. In March, 1.69 million acres were planted; in Montana, the next-largest durum wheat-producing state, only 500,000 acres of durum wheat were planted.

Planting generally takes place all the way through the end of June in most years, but due to flooding and extensive rainfall, North Dakotan farmers stopped planting June 19th and never took it up again. Due to the early stoppage, only 44% of its yearly crop was planted, and durum wheat futures — which last year ranged between $5 and $9 a bushel — have spiked to an average of $15 a bushel, three times the price at harvest in September 2010.

While this spike might normally be attributed to a temporary supply/demand freakout, quickly mollified by new plantings or a balance of supply in Canada, whose durum wheat production is typically two or three times that of the U.S., this year, “unrelenting rain across large areas of Western Canada” has durum wheat plantings at 3.4 million acres according to the Canadian Wheat Board. That’s twice North Dakota’s acreage, to be sure, but it’s still the least since 1971 and not enough to make up for the hole in North American demand.

To read the full story: Wallet Pop

The Obama administration is trying to make it easier for homeowners who lose
their jobs to keep their homes.

The administration today will announce that two programs
providing unemployed homeowners a few months’ forbearance on their mortgages
will be extended to 12 months, said three administration officials speaking
anonymously because the program has not been announced. Thousands of homeowners
could benefit from the additional time, although not all jobless homeowners will
be eligible.

The action is being taken as part of the administration’s
effort to help prevent foreclosures while unemployment remains above 9% and the
economy struggles to rebound. In May, 6.2 million people — 45% of the unemployed
— had been without work for at least 27 weeks. New figures are due out Friday.

President Obama said Wednesday that housing has been the most difficult problem to
solve as the nation struggles to recover from its worst recession in decades.

To read the full story: USA Today

If you want to understand why cutting the deficit is so hard, you can’t do much better than to look at the Business Roundtable.

The roundtable is one of the more moderate big-business lobbying groups. Its president is John Engler, the former Michigan governor, and its incoming chairman is James McNerney, the chief executive of Boeing. When roundtable officials talk about the deficit, they use sober, common-sense language that can make them sound more reasonable than either political party.

But the roundtable is actually part of the problem.

Rhetoric aside, it consistently lobbies for a higher deficit. The roundtable defends corporate tax loopholes and even argues for new ones. It pushes for a lower corporate tax rate. It favors the permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts. It opposes a reduction in the tax subsidy for health insurance, a reduction that was part of the 2009 health reform bill. Oh, and the roundtable also favors new spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

To read the full story: NY Times

Two new studies suggest that your mental state – specifically being distracted and experiencing stress – can have a serious, negative impact on your finances.

Northwestern Mutual recently surveyed 1,000 Americans 25 and older to analyze their financial tenacity and self-discipline. Not surprisingly, the bulk of those polled admitted they were lagging in those areas.

According to the “Stick With It” study, three out of four Americans (74%) feel that today’s fast-paced society makes it tougher for them to focus and remain on track when it came to achieving long-term goals.

If being distracted by today’s demands – whether it’s family obligations, friends on Facebook, work or even leisure activities – takes our focus off long-term objectives like saving for retirement, it’s little wonder that the vast majority of Americans haven’t saved enough for the future.

But even in a culture where everything around us is getting more immediate, the news isn’t all bad.

“The good news is, Americans appear to be adapting,” says Greg Oberland, Northwestern Mutual executive vice president. “The people who participated in this study said loud and clear – the best way to stay focused is to take baby steps, expect setbacks and never let yourself off the hook. In short: Don’t expect it to be easy, but stick with it.”

To read the full story: Wallet Pop

At a General Motors plant here, transmission assembly looks a lot like musical
chairs.

For a solid hour, Rick Rush repeatedly inserts a small
piece of metal — the parking gear of a future pickup truck — into a slot, adds a
spring and lowers hydraulic machines to bolt parts together and ensure they’re
properly placed. With 87 seconds to complete the tasks before each transmission
casing glides by on a conveyor, the wiry 61-year-old toils with a purposeful
hunch at a steady, brisk pace.

At the top of the hour, Rush and his seven co-workers
switch spots, each moving over a position. By the end of the day, Rush will have
done all eight jobs on the line, including greasing the transmission’s
electronics, adding various filters and hoisting completed units off the
line.

GM rotates the workers so they’re equipped to fill in for
cohorts who are sick or on vacation, enabling the automotive giant to keep its
workforce lean. There are other benefits, too.

To read the full story: USA Today

When my husband, Earl, left his job as a national accounts manager for book publisher John Wiley & Sons, the very last email he sent from his corporate account carried the subject line “Independence Day.”

Like many people who leave a job, Earl (shown at right, and above with me) used his parting missive to wish his colleagues well, to thank his mentors, and to relay his future contact information.

He also took the opportunity to declare – emphatically – that he was freeing himself from working for someone else, once and for all. “I’m happy,” Earl’s email said. “I’m going to start my own business and take my consulting activities to the next level.”

And just like that, he bid his colleagues farewell.

That was in July 2002. Earl will soon be coming up on his tenth year of freedom from corporate bosses, long meetings, a 9-to-5 schedule, a grinding commute, and all the other stresses that typify life in Corporate America.

Having his own business and answering to no one (except maybe God and family) has become his new reality. And that’s what Independence Day means to Earl.

Seems my husband and I are kindred spirits.

To read the full story: WalletPop

Banks received some long-awaited news last week: the Federal Reserve voted to cap fees charged to retailers on debit card transactions at roughly 24 cents per transaction, down from an average of 44 cents. Financial institutions had feared the Fed’s initial proposal of a 12 cent cap would go through, which would have been a buzz cut — a 73% revenue loss in what trade groups estimate amounts to a $20.5 billion a year income stream for banks. The Fed also delayed implementation of the new rule until October, yet another sign of the long, heavily lobbied debate.

Bank and credit card company stocks were initially up on the news, though Chris Brendler, managing director of brokerage and investment banking firm Stifel Nicolaus, cautions that American Express (AXP), which does not offer a debit card, may see its merchant fees come under increased scrutiny, as they are relatively high, especially when compared with capped debit card fees. Retailers seem less than thrilled by the outcome. David French of the National Retail Federation expressed his disappointment on CNBC, suggesting that retailers are struggling to keep the overall cost of merchandise down so they can remain competitive. Despite this, he claims, consumers are still unknowingly absorbing these fees in the form of higher prices to the tune of $427 extra per year. Somebody, somewhere along the chain is paying.

To read the full story: Daily Finance