Handle Your Business

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange U.S. stocks closed mixed Wednesday after a quiet trading day that left the indexes little changed.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 45.57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,124.62. It had been up 20 shortly after the opening bell. The Dow had its biggest loss in two weeks on Tuesday, falling 68.94 points.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 2.63 points, or 0.2 percent, at 1,402.89. The Nasdaq composite average closed up 1.17 at 3,075.32.

Hewlett-Packard led the Dow lower, sliding 2.2 percent after saying it would combine its printer and PC divisions to save money and improve efficiency. H-P is coping with declining sales of PCs and printer ink as smartphones, tablets and electronic document-sharing gain popularity.

Earlier Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors released a mixed report about the state of the housing market.

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Even though the current economic recession was predicted by many financial experts, the size and extent of it still took the whole world by surprise. After all, no one could have predicted that the seemingly never-ending highs in the stock market and gains in  the real estate market could turn to such long-term lows in a matter of a few weeks. However, the reality is that we are now well into a global recession and some experts are even predicting the possibility of that recession turning into a longer, more serious depression.

In such a bleak economic scenario, it is of course natural for people to worry about themselves and their families. Surviving a recession is not easy for the best prepared of us and prospering in such an economic climate is even more difficult.

Tips on prospering during economic downturn

• The most essential thing people need to do is stay calm and not panic.

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WASHINGTONThe Obama administration wants to streamline federal job search and training programs to make it easier for displaced workers to find new careers.

The White House says the current jumble of federal programs is too confusing for many Americans to know where to get help.

The new plan would combine two existing programs that help workers laid off through no fault of their own as a result of downsizing, jobs moving overseas or other reasons.

It would offer money for retraining, stipends to help with child care or transportation costs, and money for job search and relocation.

Most changes would need congressional approval and about $28 billion over 10 years. The White House says the plan would triple the number of workers who get retraining from 150,000 to nearly 500,000.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Damage (Photo credit: mag3737)

Accidents are something that can turn into something very extensive and costly. There are many things to take into consideration when you are in an accident and you are going through the claims process. Insurance companies can be hesitant to reward claims, and the responsible party might try to hold up the claim process for any number of reasons.

Personal injury resulting from an accident can be very extensive, even if it does not seem that way at the beginning. Damage that you absorb because of an accident may not always be very apparent to the naked eye. Read full post…

Q: I work in a county government agency with a co-worker, “Pam,” who is crazy. Pam’s mental state is so deteriorated that she has been placed in an empty office where she cries and screams all day. She keeps yelling things like “I am not a murderer” and “I never killed anyone.”

Recently, Pam has become very suspicious. She has accused several co-workers of talking about her and calling her a killer. She believes that her home and computer are bugged and that county employees are following her. I have tried to be understanding and caring, but now Pam accuses me of watching her.

The human resources manager says there’s nothing management can do about this. Our boss sometimes sends Pam home, but he can’t do that every day. The rest of us are sick of the drama and concerned for our safety. We’ve shared our fears with management, but nothing changes. Is there anything we can do?

A: This is ridiculous. No employer is required to tolerate an employee who is both highly disruptive and quite possibly psychotic.

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OAKLAND — East Oakland has long been the epicenter of professional sports in the Bay Area, and on Tuesday night the City Council pressed ahead with a plan to keep its teams where they’ve been for decades.

To the delight of several Black Hole regulars, Oakland lawmakers approved $3.5 million toward efforts to redevelop the Coliseum complex along with adjacent land west off Interstate 880.

The A’s, Raiders and Warriors are all being courted away from the complex they have called home for more than four decades.

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