Business_Finance

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Dan Johnson uses a hands-free device to talk on a cellphone Dec. 14, 2011, while driving in San Diego. Johnson, an operations manager, uses his cellphone while driving frequently for business. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner called Wednesday for Democrats to release a year-end spending bill from their blockade. Democrats said they won't allow the bill to go through until lawmakers also pass an extension of this year's payroll-tax cut. (Associated Press)

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"We know that [natural resources] will either help your country finance its own path out of poverty, or you will fall prey to the natural-resource curse, which will enrich a small elite, outside interests, corporations and countries, and leave your people hardly better off then when you started" - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

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"I don't really care about efforts; I care about results," says political consultant Dave Carney, who gives campaign contractors small monthly payouts and bonuses if they win. (Associated Press)

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Former MF Global Holdings CEO Jon Corzine is sworn in Tuesday to testify before the Senate Agriculture Committee on the company's bankruptcy. A later witness challenged Mr. Corzine on when he knew of the transfer of customers' money. (Associated Press)

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HE'S CLEAR: President Obama has said he will veto the bill extending the payroll-tax cut because of its proposed spending cuts and lack of tax hikes on the wealthy. (Associated Press)

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The presidential dollar coin has been sacrificed to cost-cutting needs. The White House said Tuesday it is stopping nearly all production of the coins, which carry the likeness of every deceased president. The lack of demand has resulted in nearly 1.4 billion coins, or 40 percent of those produced, being returned to the Federal Reserve, which costs money. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Former MF Global Holdings CEO Jon Corzine is sworn in Tuesday to testify before the Senate Agriculture Committee on the company's bankruptcy. A later witness challenged Mr. Corzine on when he knew of the transfer of customers' money.

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Jim Jordan (front) and Robby Hardison in 2005 stand in front of the "Snoopy House" they started 44 years ago in Costa Mesa, Calif. The city has offered to host a massive, animated display of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" Christmas characters because the house was lost to foreclosure. (Associated Press)

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Palestinians demonstrate for statehood in Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem in May. Now at Christmastime, Palestinians in Jesus' traditional birthplace of Bethlehem are aiming to re-energize their bid for recognition. (Associated Press)

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From left: Jon Corzine, former MF Global Holdings Ltd. chairman and CEO; Bradley Abelow, MF Global president and COO; and Henri Steenkamp, MF Global CFO, are sworn in Dec. 13, 2011, on Capitol Hill prior to testifying before the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Associated Press)