China is handing out new subsidies for buying ships to help its beleaguered shipbuilders, confounding a government pledge to reduce support for sectors with over-capacity in order to reform the economy.

While President Obama and Congress keep talking about the plight and economic cost of Americans' declining incomes, a growing number of states and municipalities frustrated by federal inaction are moving to do something about it. Legislators and voters in five states "” California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island "” and in four local governments this year approved measures raising the minimum wage above the current national rate of $7.25 an hour, in one case as high as $15 an hour.