(CNN) — President Barack Obama took his economic relief plan on the road to Colorado Wednesday, highlighting new measures designed to help college graduates manage student loan debt.

One of the president’s measures will push up the start date for more favorable terms on a special loan repayment program based on income. Another measure is designed to encourage graduates with two or more kinds of federal loans to consolidate them and get a small break on interest rates.

Washington (CNN) – Economic fears are not diminishing. More than eight in 10 Americans think the economy is in another recession, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. One-third of those surveyed think it’s serious.

While the country isn’t technically in a recession because the economy hasn’t experienced two straight quarters of negative growth, the poll’s results highlight the importance of President Barack Obama’s jobs speech next Thursday night.

Full results (pdf)

Americans have “a bad case of economic jitters,” according to CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — It’s easy to read the latest budget outlook from the Congressional Budget Office as further proof that the United States really needs to get serious about dealing with the national debt.

But if that’s all that lawmakers take away, they will have missed a big point.

The CBO is not in the business of telling Congress what to do. But it is in the business of showing Congress how what it chooses to do may affect the country’s economic future.

One of the big lessons in the latest CBO analysis is that lawmakers should tread carefully when deciding how to tamp down debt so as not to unduly upend economic growth.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Despite all the heated rhetoric and the gloomy economic forecasts, most states will start the new fiscal year Friday with budgets in place.

But it looks likely that at least three states — Minnesota, Iowa and Massachusetts — could miss the deadline.

Lawmakers and governors in several states are racing to finish up their budget work before the clock strikes midnight. Some 46 states have fiscal years that end June 30.

Massachusetts will enter fiscal 2012 with no budget since legislators aren’t set to vote on a spending plan until Friday. However, the state can continue to operate under a 10-day stopgap budget.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Metro economies struggling the most to recover from the Great Recession typically lost government jobs, a new Brookings Institution report found.

Fourteen of the 20 metro areas that have performed the worst since the start of the nation’s economic troubles lost government jobs, according to the report, published Wednesday.

They include: Bridgeport, Conn.; Cleveland; Detroit; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Las Vegas; Minneapolis; New Orleans; North Port, Fla.; Palm Bay, Fla.; Phoenix; Riverside, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif., and Toledo, Ohio.

Most people seemed to agree that the narrowly avoided government shutdown would have hurt the economy. But the question is whether the budget deal struck to avert the shutdown will hurt the economy more than if Washington had just turned off the lights?

The budget deal struck by President Obama and John Boehner and other Republicans over the weekend will cut $38.5 billion from government spending in the next year. Generally, when the government spends less that slows the economy, just like when consumers or companies spend less

Carrie Dann writes:The Senate has rejected two competing bills to fund the government until the end of the fiscal year. Eleven lawmakers who caucus with Democrats broke with their party to vote against the Democratic version of the spending bill, which would have made relatively modest cuts to current government funding levels.

The bill drafted by Democratic leaders would have cut about $4.7 billion from current spending levels. It failed 42 to 58.

(CNN) — Could the United States government run out of money, stop paying its creditors worldwide and just shut down?

“The strength of the American dollar as a world currency is grounded on the unconditional guarantee by the United States to pay its debts,” said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

“A default on that commitment, a near default, a threat of default, no matter how short, would be a first in the history of the United States.”

(CNN) – Rush Limbaugh criticized President Obama’s economic positions Tuesday during his radio show with some intense rhetoric, even for him.

“He’s a jackass, he’s an economic illiterate, he’s an economic ignoramus and that’s being charitable,” Limbaugh said on his popular radio program.

Washington (CNN) — Economic experts may believe the recession is over, but try telling that to the public.

Seventy-four percent of Americans believe the economy is still in a recession, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. Only 25 percent think the downturn is over.

One-third of Americans say the recession is serious, while another 29 percent characterize it as moderate.