(NEW YORK) Fortune -- Dear Annie: We used to have a great team here, until our boss was replaced by a manager brought in from another part of the company who is now trying to control our every move. He insists on telling everyone what to do and how to do it in minute detail (even though we've all been excelling at our jobs for years). No detail is too ridiculously tiny to escape his scrutiny, and .. more

TOKYO, Japan Unemployment in Japan hit 5.7% in July, the highest on record since World War II. Joblessness in the world's second-largest economy has been steadily rising from 4.8% in March to 5.4% in June. The record July number exceeded analyst predictions of 5.5%, which would have matched the previous postwar record. The news days before Japan's elections this weekend could augur the end of ru.. more

NEW YORK� -- U.S. stocks were poised to track world markets and open higher Friday, with investors focusing their attention on the health of the consumer. At 7:25 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq 100 and Standard & Poor's 500 futures were higher. Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open.. more

NEW YORK -- Sick of bailout billions? Here's a bit of good news: While the government struggled to come up with a viable recovery plan, one ailing financial market has managed to heal itself. Small business lending collapsed last year, as loan volumes dropped to half of their previous levels. One of the catalysts was a sudden freeze in the secondary market, where banks sell off bundled batches o.. more

DANVILLE, Va. -- The economy appears to have stabilized and may not need all the stimulus the central bank had planned to offer, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker said Thursday. "The economy appears to have leveled out and I believe we can look forward to better times ahead," Lacker told a business group. Even as he cautioned that "conditions remain distressed in many indus.. more

NEW YORK -- For job hunters, that very first line on your r�sum� can influence potential employers. Just ask Glenn Miller. Miller, 56, was out of work for about four months earlier in the year. On every interview he went on, the senior software engineer had to field jokes about his namesake, the great American jazz musician. "They say, where's your band? And I say, they're all dea.. more

NEW YORK -- Use any metaphor you want: the ticking clock, sands running through the hourglass or pages falling away from the calendar. The fact is, time is running out to claim the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit. Passed earlier this year as part of the economic stimulus package, the credit is good for up to $8,000, or 10% of the purchase price, and applies to people who have not owned a.. more

NEW YORK -- You might be surprised to know that Coinstar, the company that operates those coin counting machines in your local grocery store, is one of the better performing stocks this year. Shares are up more than 70%. Sure, it makes sense that the company would thrive as more penny-pinching consumers turn coins sitting in an old coffee cans into actual dollars they can use to buy stuff. But .. more

NEW YORK -- This is the fourth installment in a series of health-care columns by Fortune's Shawn Tully. Health care is by far the most cartelized, anti-competitive big business in America. The market is crippled by a web of quotas, entry barriers, monopolistic licensing laws, and discount limits that wouldn't be tolerated in any other industry. There is a rationale for this maze of restrictions.. more

NEW YORK -- While Detroit has benefited from Cash for Clunkers, foreign automakers have gained even more. Some critics of the program warned that because it let consumers buy domestic or foreign cars, Clunkers could end up spending more American tax dollars to help foreign companies than American ones. And in fact, foreign automakers -- and foreign auto factories -- have gained somewhat more fr.. more