G.E. Goes With What It Knows: Making Stuff

By STEVE LOHR

Jeffrey Immelt, G.E.’s chief executive, says the company must rely more on making physical products and less on financial engineering.

Slide Show: Getting Back to the Basics

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Jeffrey Immelt, C.E.O. since 2000, has pared down General Electric to rely less on financial wizardry in its lending unit and more on physical products from the manufacturing divisions.

Betting on Justice

Taking Sides in a Divorce, Chasing Profit

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

A small number of companies are seeing profit in the often contentious and emotional process of ending a marriage.

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Debt payments related to a failed incinerator, left, made Harrisburg, Pa., consider bankruptcy this year.

Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis

By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

The budget imbalances and debt in states and localities remind some analysts of the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown, or of the crisis hitting Europe.

Richard Branson thinks it’s time to pounce. He plans a 25-location Virgin Hotel chain.

After a Rough Night, Hotel Investors Are Waking Up

By JANET MORRISSEY

Private equity funds and entrepreneurs like Richard Branson are hunting for deals in the hotel sector, and many are under the gun to buy earlier rather than later.

Novelties

Architects are finding that hologram technology helps them to communicate with clients, lawyers and engineers.

Holograms Deliver 3-D, Without the Goofy Glasses

By ANNE EISENBERG

Even before the technology is practical for games and entertainment, applications are beginning to arise in advertising, the military, architecture and engineering.

Strategies

The Bond Vigilantes Have Moved to Dublin

By JEFF SOMMER

Despite bailouts of Greece and Ireland, bond investors do not believe that the European debt crisis is near a resolution.

Metrics

The Food Cycle: Recall, Forget, Repeat

By AMY SCHOENFELD

In surveys, Americans say they are concerned about food contamination, but experts say shoppers return quickly to buying products that have been the subject of recalls.

The Boss

The Cross-Cultural Pitch

Daisy Expósito-Ulla, chief executive of an ad agency she founded, was born in Cuba and learned English from shows like “I Love Lucy.”

Police officers at the airport in Barcelona. Air travel may be disrupted for one or two days.

Air Traffic Controller Strike Disrupts Holiday Travel in Spain

By RAPHAEL MINDER

As hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded, air traffic controllers began to return to work after the government declared an emergency.

Fair Game

So That’s Where the Money Went

By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

Knowing who got what at the bailout banquet helps us understand how expensive it is to live in a nation where big financial institutions are not allowed to fail.

Economic View

It’s the Big Questions That Slow Growth

By CHRISTINA D. ROMER

Many people fault uncertainty over tax cuts for the economy’s woes, but there are much larger questions about how the nation will address its budget deficit.

Political Times

Of Debts and Doubts: Reading the Deficit Panel’s Report

By MATT BAI

The report issued by the president’s fiscal commission last week was a call to sacrifice, but not in the name of national greatness.

Corner Office

Kathy Savitt, C.E.O. of Lockerz, a social network and e-commerce site, calls cynicism a “first cell, so to speak, that can metastasize within an organization.”

The Dangers of Cynicism at the Office

After working for a string of big companies, Kathy Savitt founded the social media start-up Lockerz and hopes to build a culture of courage, optimism and respect.

The Search

When a Career Path Leads Abroad

By PHYLLIS KORKKI

International work is not for everyone, and those considering it need to be realistic and strategic.

Special Section: Personal Tech

Can This Be Love?

A special section on personal technology looks at our relationship to our gadgets. Also: more on smartphones, touch-screen-friendly gloves and tablet computers.

Go to Special Section »

Weekend Business

This week: Jeff Sommer and Motoko Rich on unemployment, Tim O’Brien and Steve Lohr on G.E.’s basics, Christina Romer on uncertainty. Plus, bond vigilantes in Europe.