House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Thursday sought to set the record straight on which businesses would be hit with a tax hike under the Democrats' plan to end Bush-era tax cuts benefiting individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000. 

The Federal Reserve chairman's speech will be his first comment since a string of negative economic reports.

An ad financed by a committee chaired by former U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian has begun running in Nevada that blasts Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for his votes on the economy. 

The ad targets his position on spending and tax cuts. 

More people think the nation's economic situation is getting worse, according to a recent CBS News poll. 

About 34 percent of those asked in August said the economy is getting worse, up from 26 percent last month, according to the poll released Thursday. 

The poll showed that eight of 10 people think the economy is in bad shape, a number that has remained flat throughout the summer. 

Just 17 percent of Americans describe the nation's economy as being in good shape, down from 21 percent in July.

The House GOP leader said the administration's position on extending the Bush tax cuts will impede economic recovery.

House Republicans are holding more than 500 events during the recess, mostly on jobs, a GOP leader said Thursday.

Foreclosures dropped in the second quarter for the first time since the housing market began its slide in 2006, but it's still higher than at this point a year ago. 

Loans in the foreclosure process declined last quarter to 4.57 percent from 4.63 percent in the first three months of the year, partly because of a federal government tax credit and lenders relaxing payments for homeowners, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday in its quarterly delinquency report.

At this time last year, 4.3 percent of loans were in foreclosure. 

Overall, nearly 10 percent of homeowners had missed at least one payment during the summer, and the number of newly delinquent homeowners increased, according to the report. 

Short-term delinquencies are connected to unemployment benefits claims, which have been increasing, said Jay Brinkmann, the MBA's chief economist.

"On the surface, there is good news on the foreclosure front, but not on short-term delinquencies," Brinkmann said. "There’s a little pause. It could be short-term factors instead of a trend."

New claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped last week, but not enough to signal strong job growth. 

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) say a federal value added tax (VAT), of any amount would cut into personal spending habits and negatively affect the purchase of almost anything, from homes to groceries, even medicine, according to a survey for the National Retail Federation (NRF). 

A VAT as high as 15 percent would affect the purchase decisions of 92 percent of survey respondents.