Marketplace Morning Report for Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Study finds growth in healthcare spending has reversed its post-recession slump.

Free phones and free lunch are nice perks, but what about innovations that get the company growing again?

It may be too early to assign blame for Europe's economic crisis, but it is not too early to figure out what went wrong in this country back in 2008. Sheila Bair headed the FDIC back then, and is out with a new book this morning, in which she says she saw signs of trouble in subprime mortgages way back in 2006.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote today on whether to allow the building of micro-apartments as small as 150 square feet. Similar programs have started to be tested in New York and Boston.

The ongoing fight between China and Japan over a chain of islands continues, and now it has Toyota is scaling back production of its luxury Lexus models because of reduced demand in China.

President Obama and Mitt Romney will be in New York this morning for speeches at the Clinton Global Initiative. Josh Dinman, meanwhile, will be at work in Loudoun County, trying to figure out which one of them he should vote for.

European wine experts are mulling over a critical issue today: whether American wine producers should be allowed to use the word "chateau" on bottles they sell in Europe.

Today, the latest Case-Shiller Home Price index was released. It looks at housing prices in the 20 biggest metropolitan areas of the country. Consumers are also upbeat: consumer confidence jumped to the highest level since February.

If you're looking for a job or trying to get ahead in this economy, there's some age-old wisdom that would seem to apply: play up your accomplishments. Seems obvious, but maybe that's in fact not your best plan of attack.

Health care spending grew more than 4 percent last year. Workers at Yahoo! are expecting to hear from the company's new CEO today on her plans to jump-start growth. A dispute between China and Japan over a chain of islands could have a real impact on the U.S. economy because Japan is expected to switch focus from a free-trade pact with China to a new one with the United States. And if you're trying to get ahead in this economy, there's some age-old wisdom that would seem to apply -- play up your accomplishments. Seems obvious, but maybe that's in fact not your best plan of attack.