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Household incomes remained flat in February as a weak jobs market crimped paychecks, the Commerce Department indicated on Monday. But even as wages held steady, consumers were more willing to part with the little cash they had on hand -- a trend economists expect to continue. Spending rose 0.3 percent, or $34.7 billion, compared with January, the fifth month of increases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

IF asked to identify the intellectual founder of their discipline, most economists today would probably cite Adam Smith. But that will change. Economists' forecasts generally aren't worth much, but I'll offer one that even my youngest colleagues won't survive to refute: If we posed the same question 100 years from now, most economists would instead cite Charles Darwin. Darwin, renowned for the theory of evolution, was a naturalist, not an economist, and his view of the competitive struggle was different from Smith's in subtle but profound ways. Growing evidence suggests that Darwin's view tracks economic reality much more closely. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Orders to factories fell for a record fifth month in December, closing out the worst year for American manufacturers since 2002. Analysts say the deepening recession will mean further weakness in coming months. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that orders dropped by 3.9 percent in December, an even bigger decline than the 3 percent that economists had been expecting. The weakness was widespread with a range of industries, including autos, heavy machinery and computers, reporting big declines in demand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A measure of American manufacturing activity contracted more than expected in September as new orders slowed sharply. The reading of 43.5 from the Institute for Supply Management was down from 49.9 in August. It also was worse than economists' prediction of 49.5, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]