With his term as chairman of the Federal Reserve expiring a year from now, Bernanke is expected to slow down the financial stimulus that's helping fuel the still-weak economy.

Second presidential terms are never easy even for George Washington. More often, they're fraught with peril, frequently marred by scandal, failure, hubris, and burnout, and souring relations with Congress.

Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said Friday.

Speakers at the Democratic National Convention portrayed President Barack Obama's presidency in glowing terms Tuesday evening, but sometimes left out important details or embellished his record.

Heading into next week's GOP convention, Republicans are finding themselves confronting controversies over Medicare and abortion far from the issues they've been trying to highlight for months: jobs and the slack economy.

The weak economy and high unemployment concern Americans the most, polls show. Yet much of the political heat generated lately has been over Medicare and Mitt Romney's tax returns.

Average student loan debt recently topped $25,000, up 25 percent in 10 years. Some of the borrowers are Baby Boomers, near or at retirement age.

Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, reflecting a growing income gap between the nation's rich and poor, the government reported Thursday.