Jim Zarroli

Washington may be preoccupied with the debate over whether to raise the debt ceiling and the consequences of a default, but so far at least, the nation's financial markets seem to be taking the prospect in stride.

Although politicians from President Obama on down have been predicting for weeks that a debt default would wreak havoc on the global economy, interest rates on U.S. government debt remain near historic lows.

The 10-year Treasury bill, often seen as a barometer of investor sentiment toward the bond market, hovered around 3 percent on Friday.

J.P. Morgan Chase will pay more than $150 million to settle charges the firm misled investors about the riskiness of the mortgage backed securities the firm was selling. The Securities and Exchange Commission says J.P Morgan Securities designed the packages to do poorly and then hid that fact from investors. The company neither confirms nor denies the allegations.

A lot of companies try to instill loyalty in their employees. But it's safe to say few of them took it as far as IBM.

For years IBM employees had to learn company songs. Journalist Kevin Maney, who was commissioned by IBM to co-author Making the World Work Better, a history of the company, says it was part of the effort to build a corporate culture. That was something IBM founder Thomas Watson Sr. took very seriously.

This week the White House has been lobbying Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling. Doing so would give the government the legal authority to borrow billions of dollars to pay its bills.

Although refusing to raise the ceiling would be an almost unprecedented move, some conservatives argue it's the only way to get federal spending under control.

The Treasury Department says that if the limit isn't raised by Aug. 2, the government will run out of money to operate.

With Dominique Strauss-Kahn out of the picture, the job of heading the International Monetary Fund has temporarily fallen to his No. 2 man — an American named John Lipsky.

And so it was that Lipsky found himself giving a speech in Washington on Thursday that was originally supposed to be delivered by the departed Frenchman.

"I deeply regret the circumstances that have made it necessary for me to substitute for Dominique Strauss-Kahn," he said, during the speech. Strauss-Kahn is accused of trying to rape a maid at a Manhattan hotel.

Half a century ago, before the picturesque seaside town of Half Moon Bay, California decided to incorporate, residents had to call the county sheriff's office to report crimes.

In fact, one big reason Half Moon Bay decided to incorporate was to have its own police force, says Mayor Naomi Patridge.

"It makes you a city, it really does," she says.

The price of virtually every majority commodity fell Thursday. Oil prices closed below $100 a barrel and silver fell 8 percent. Analysts say prices fell, at least in part, because of recent reports suggesting the economy might be slowing, which would mean less demand for commodities.

Exxon Mobil said Thursday that its profits surged during the first three months of the year: The company said it earned $10.6 billion during that period — an increase of 69 percent.

These higher profits come at a time when gasoline prices are exceeding $4 a gallon in some states. So, in Washington, there's once again talk of eliminating some of the tax breaks the industry receives.

The budget battle is all about numbers: how much the government takes in, and how much it spends. But it's also a battle over words.

Both sides have put a lot of energy into coming up with new ways of describing old concepts. It's part of the process of selling their ideas to the public.

At the end of the day, the budget battle is political, and both sides choose their words carefully. Democrats, for example, don't like to talk about government spending, which has a bad connotation, so they talk about making investments in the country's future.

The Japanese government says it may ask major businesses and institutions to reduce the amount of power they use by 25 percent this summer.

Parts of Japan have had rolling blackouts as a result of last month's earthquake and tsunami, which crippled a major nuclear reactor complex. But some Japanese businesses say the huge cuts being contemplated right now will be difficult to live with.

Most people in Japan have a story to tell about where they were on March 11.

Like other Japanese manufacturers, Toyota has had to suspend production since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The impact is being felt acutely in Toyota City, where the company is based. Many small manufacturers there survive by selling parts to the automaker, and the shutdowns are already hurting the local economy.

In California's Silicon Valley, the economy is finally showing signs of a turnaround. Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook are generating a lot of new excitement, and there's even been a slight uptick in hiring. Still, the recession has done considerable damage to the region's economy, and the unemployment rate remains high.