The first quarter of 2012 was a record-breaking one for the financial markets. The S&P 500 gained more in one quarter than it has since 1998 and the NASDAQ had the best quarter in its history, though still below its all-time high of 5,000. more

What’s the best way to care for patients and their families? Our two organizations have been working to answer that question for 140 years. Now, we’ll be doing it together. And the people who will benefit most will be the patients and their families who we serve every day. more

What do David Brancaccio (journalist, documentary filmmaker and host of American Public Media’s Marketplace), Martin Keen (the creative genius behind Keen Footwear and now Focal Upright Furniture), and Saul Kaplan (author and chief catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory) all have in common? more

The most recent state-level employment figures remind us that this economic recovery, like the recession that preceded it, is astonishingly uneven across the United States. more

George Canellos, 48, has one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s top jobs. The SEC’s new chairman, Mary Jo White, appointed him as co-director of the enforcement division, along with Andrew Ceresney, a former partner of White’s at Debevoise & Plimpton. more

As the 2013 legislative session heads toward its closing date, Rhode Island has a great economic opportunity within its grasp. Passage of a carefully constructed historic-tax-credit program would kick-start jobs, revitalize neighborhood economies and help get us back in business. more

On April 5, at a signing ceremony attended by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and entrepreneurs from around the country, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups – or Jobs – Act. In his remarks prior to the ceremony, President Obama described the act as “a potential game-changer” for startups and small businesses. more

Through April of this year, Rhode Island continued to have the second-highest unemployment rate in the United States, leaving the state with 62,178 people unemployed. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April was 11.2 percent, a one-tenth of a percentage point increase from the March rate. In fact, a double-digit unemployment rate is forecast for Rhode Island through the end of 2013. more

Despite the hoopla over recent jobs numbers and the June 5 long-term fiscal outlook from the Congressional Budget Office, the underlying reality of the U.S. economy hasn’t changed all that much lately. We are still in the midst of the hard slog following the financial crisis, and we still face a massive long-term, government budget deficit. more

A “moral hazard” is defined as a lack of incentive to guard against risk where one is protected from its consequences. more