downward spiral

The federal student loan program has helped tens of millions of students pay for college. But with the economy in a downward spiral, lenders have been pulling out.

Funding for new loans has dried up. For the first time, public confidence in the program seems shaky.

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"Dark Matter" is the story of Liu Xing, a brilliant doctoral student of cosmology. Xing travels to America from Beijing to work and study under his hero, Jacob Reiser, who developed an influential theory.

When Xing's independent thinking and research leads him to challenge Reiser's theory, he becomes an academic pariah and falls into a downward spiral.

What else can I say about this that the title doesn’t say already?

From the AP:

The U.S. is wrestling with the worst food inflation in 17 years, and analysts expect new data due on Wednesday to show it’s getting worse.

That’s putting the squeeze on poor families and forcing bakeries, bagel shops and delis to explain price increases to their customers.

Stocks resumed the downward spiral Monday afternoon after a brief attempt at a recovery, after the sale of Bear Stearns and emergency moves by the Federal Reserve exacerbated fears about the fallout in financial markets.

Steve Inskeep talks with David Wessel, the economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about the downward spiral of the economy and what it will take to turn things around.

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Oil prices hit a new record high Monday of nearly $104 a barrel, breaking what many analysts considered the previous all time high set in the early 1980s as the dollar remained locked in a downward spiral.

A Bank of England rate-setter warns that a downward spiral of falling house prices threatens the economy.