Money Talking

With unemployment rising again and U.S. growth slowing, the economy will continue to dominate the presidential race. Mitt Romney argues his business experience has prepared him to turn these indicators around. But how does skill at running a company translate into skill at running a country? One difference between politics and business is the relative absence of innovation, and no business has a more storied reputation for innovation than Apple. Under Steve Jobs, the company created history-making technology: the iPhone, the iPad, among them. Now, all eyes are on the new CEO, Tim Cook, who has hinted at exciting new products, clues of which may be revealed at the Worldwide Developer Conference next week in San Francisco. And Rana Foroohar with Time and Joe Nocera with The New York Times run down what they’re watching to make news in the weeks ahead: the final days of the Rajat Gupta insider trading trial and slowing growth in China.

Facebook’s much-anticipated debut as a public company has turned out to be a small disaster. The company and its lead investment bank, Morgan Stanley, are under fire from regulators and Congress; and the head of NASDAQ is apologizing for its role in how the stock offering was conducted. Meanwhile, the “new economy” has an “old economy” problem: male domination. Facebook’s board of directors consists of seven white men. It’s not the only tech company lacking female executives. If these are the companies of the future and the next generation of leaders, where are the women? And Rana Foroohar with Time and Joe Nocera with The New York Times run down what they’re watching to make news in the weeks ahead: a possible Greek exit from the eurozone and dissent at the Wal-Mart board meeting.

JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon called concerns about a massive trading bet a “tempest in a teapot” last month. Now that it’s cost the bank more than $2 billion and counting, Dimon has admitted he was “dead wrong” to have made that statement. Some shareholders, however, say he was worse than wrong; he was deceptive.  And they’re suing. The question of culpability hinges on where the legal line is draw, and how much bluster is too much. Plus: As Facebook goes public, it will set a record with a valuation of $100 billion. A look at whether being Facebook’s friend is worth it. And Rana Foroohar with Time and Joe Nocera with The New York Times  run down what they’re watching to make news in the weeks ahead.

What does President Obama want from Europe?  It’s the question that hangs over the head of the White House as leaders of the G-8 come to the U.S. for meetings next week.  There's also more political uncertainty in Greece and sharp anti-austerity rhetoric from the new French president, again raising the specter that Europe's economies will continue to founder.  Twenty percent of U.S. trade is with the Euro Zone and a new wave of instability there could be the undoing of the weak economic growth here.  Stability, on the other hand, could benefit our economy as just the President rolls out his re-election campaign.  So who are the Republicans of Europe?  How does what happens in Paris play out in Pennsylvania? Plus:  Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo, padded his resume, claiming an extra degree in computer science that he didn’t earn.  Now, some think he should resign.  It’s so easy to investigate nearly any claim these days (with search engines like, Yahoo), why do people do it?  And Joe Nocera and Rana Foroohar give us a peek at events they’re watching: patent wars and the future of the Postal Service.

A British parliamentary committee calls News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.” Shareholders upset with Chesapeake Energy’s CEO Aubrey McClendon force him to give up his role as chairman of the board. And pay packages for bank executive are being challenged. It just might be the dawn of a new era of corporate accountability. Plus: Harvard and M.I.T are just the latest premier institutions of higher learning to offer free online courses. But if they give the product away for free, are they ultimately undercutting what makes them so exclusive? And Rana Foroohar with Time and Felix Salmon with Reuters run down what they’re watching to make news in the weeks ahead.

May 1 is the deadline for millions of high school seniors to choose where they will go to college in the fall.  To pay for it, many will take out thousands of dollars in student loans, only adding to the country’s more than $1 trillion in existing student debt. All this debt is having enormous consequences on economic growth.  Could student loans be the next financial bubble? Plus: as Facebook faces its $100 billion IPO, we wonder if the social network has peaked -- its mobile strategy is lagging, its founder has resisted going public, and its profits have declined. And Joe Nocera and Rana Foroohar run down the events they’re watching to make news in the week ahead -- China's political scene and Robert Caro's new book.