'Total fear' rocks stocks - U.S. stocks plunged, with the Dow losing more than 500 points in the final minutes of trading today, as investors remain on edge about the global economy. All three indexes have now erased their gains for the year and are in 'correction' territory – defined as a 10% from their cyclical highs.

Meantime, GM is reporting big profits, and analysts are impressed by a year-and-a-half of increasing profitability. The company's big strength has been overseas. FULL POST

Obama, LaHood call on Congress to solve FAA funding dispute - Thousands of federal aviation employees are off the job after Washington lawmakers went on a month-long break without approving a funding extension for the FAA. President Barack Obama say a procedure called unanimous consent could get the money flowing again. The government is also losing $30 million per day in tax revenues.  FULL POST

DEBT CEILING DEBATE OVER – It's Tuesday- the deadline to avoid a U.S. default on payments to investors in Treasury bonds, recipients of Social Security pension checks, those relying on military veterans' benefits and businesses that do work for the government. A bipartisan deal would keep the country from defaulting on its loan obligations and possibly prevent a downgrade of its triple-A credit rating. Now that both the House and Senate has passed the legislation - Pres. Obama will sign the bill into law.  FULL POST

DEBT CEILING DEBATE...OVER? – The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are expected to vote Monday on a deal to raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit, a compromise that President Barack Obama and leaders in Congress reached on Sunday night.

The votes come one day before the United States faced the prospect of an unprecedented default on the nation's debt. It follows several weeks of stop-and-start, high-stakes negotiations, nail-biting votes in Congress and stern warnings from all sides about the calamitous effect of inaction. FULL POST

DEBT CEILING LATEST – Infighting among Republicans prompted House Speaker John Boehner to delay a vote on his debt plan last night. However, it could come up again today. The measure is expected to die in the Senate even if it does make it through the House.

DEBT CEILING: THE EVERYDAY CONSUMER  – From that four dollar latte to purchasing a home, the country's possible credit default will hit anyone who uses a credit card or needs to borrow money. California has been hard hit by the recession, with one of the worst housing markets in the nation. The debt ceiling stalemate could make the real estate industry suffer even more with higher mortgage rates. Everyday consumers will face higher credit card interest rates as well and digging out of a sagging economy may prove to be even tougher.

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DEBT CLOCK TO DEFAULT – Competing Democratic and Republican plans to reduce federal deficits and raise the debt ceiling were subjected to a fresh round of criticism Wednesday, as signs of disarray emerged in a House Republican caucus split between unhappy conservatives and a leadership struggling to maintain party unity.

The House scheduled a vote on the plan for Thursday in what will be a major test for whether the GOP caucus can push through the Boehner measure in the face of an expected unified Democratic opposition. Republicans hold 240 of the 433 votes to be cast and need 217 of their members to support the plan for it to pass. Two House seats are currently vacant.

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DEBT CEILING CLOCK TICKS ON – With the clock ticking down, House Speaker John Boehner will rewrite his debt ceiling legislation to ensure that it meets his oft-stated pledge to cut spending more than Congress increases the federal borrowing limit. That was the word from Boehner's office after the Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday evening estimated that the Budget Control Act of 2011 would reduce deficits by only $851 billion over 10 years. A House vote planned for Wednesday was pushed back a day following the CBO report. FULL POST

DEBT TALKS AT A STALEMATE – Congress is at a stalemate over raising the federal debt ceiling, and Americans need to pressure their elected representatives to work out a compromise that will avoid a potentially devastating default, President Barack Obama told the nation Monday night. In his seventh prime time televised address, Obama sought to increase pressure for congressional leaders to reach a deal that would allow the government to continue borrowing money to pay its debts after August 2.

The president singled out House Republicans for intransigence and said the political showdown is "no way to run the greatest country on Earth." It was a political speech that intended to convince an increasingly frustrated and concerned public that Obama's approach to dealing with mounting deficits is better for working class Americans and the nation as a whole. In response, House Speaker John Boehner argued the opposite, saying in televised remarks that excessive government spending caused the problems the nation faces and cutting that spending is the only way to solve the problem. FULL POST

NEW DEBT PLANS UNVEILED AS DEADLINE NEARS - The debt deadline is just 8 days away. Congressional leaders are ready to unveil new plans aimed at avoiding a possible government default. The International Monetary Fund says a downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating could be extremely damaging for the world economy.

NORWAY TERROR SUSPECT CLAIMS TO HAVE WORKED WITH 2 OTHER CELLS - The suspect in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II has acknowledged carrying out the mass shooting and bombing, and claims to have worked with two other cells, a judge said Monday. Other court officials have said they could not confirm the existence of the cells. The death toll has been dropped to 76 in the mass killings from the originally reported 93. FULL POST

DEBT PLAN TALKS – Talks are focusing on a deal to cut $3 trillion in federal deficits over the next 10 years that would accompany a debt ceiling increase. However, the sources said, the possible deal remained in limbo over disagreement on whether to extend Bush era tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year, and nothing has been agreed to yet.

The possible deal would include spending cuts expected to total $1 trillion or more that were agreed to in earlier negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden, the sources said. It also would reform entitlement programs by changing the eligibility age for Medicare over time and using a more restrictive inflation index for Social Security benefits, according to the sources.

PENTAGON ENDS 'DON'T ASK' – The Pentagon is set to certify that the U.S. military is prepared to accept openly gay and lesbian service members, and doing so will not harm military readiness, a U.S. official told CNN on Thursday. According to the official, who spoke on condition of not being identified, an announcement of that certification – which is required to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy – is likely to come Friday.

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