Your customized headlines for Sat, Mar 3, 2012

Of all Europe's crisis countries, Ireland has been perhaps the most adamant about pushing ahead with the budgetary, banking and other steps urged by its international lenders.

Yet more than a year into its bailout, economic growth is lagging, high unemployment seems entrenched, and households and banks remain weighed down by the debts accumulated during a heady real estate boom.

BRUSSELS — European leaders said Friday that they are on the way to bringing the continent's debt crisis under control and pledged to increasingly refocus their efforts on reviving the economy and fighting unemployment.

Government regulators on Friday approved the sale of Beacon Power, a bankrupt energy-storage company, to a private-equity firm that will repay most of its Energy Department loans.

Rockland Capital, a private-equity firm focused on energy-related investments, will close a deal Monday to acquire Beacon Power's 20-megawatt energy facility in upstate New York and its flywheel technology, which stores energy in a series of spinning rotors. Rockland will retain the company's employees.

As of Monday afternoon, Arena Stage had about 80 tickets left to sell for March 10 performance of "Red," now the theater's highest-grossing nonmusical ever. Most were in the balcony and on the far sides of the 514-seat Kreeger Theater. All were going for $100.

There is a simple reason health care in the United States costs more than it does anywhere else: The prices are higher.

That may sound obvious. But it is, in fact, key to understanding one of the most pressing problems facing our economy. In 2009, Americans spent $7,960 per person on health care. Our neighbors in Canada spent $4,808. The Germans spent $4,218. The French, $3,978. If we had the per-person costs of any of those countries, America's deficits would vanish. Workers would have much more money in their pockets. Our economy would grow more quickly, as our exports would be more competitive.

Of all Europe's crisis countries, Ireland has been perhaps the most adamant about pushing ahead with the budgetary, banking and other steps urged by its international lenders.

Yet more than a year into its bailout, economic growth is lagging, high unemployment seems entrenched, and households and banks remain weighed down by the debts accumulated during a heady real estate boom.

There is a simple reason health care in the United States costs more than it does anywhere else: The prices are higher.

That may sound obvious. But it is, in fact, key to understanding one of the most pressing problems facing our economy. In 2009, Americans spent $7,960 per person on health care. Our neighbors in Canada spent $4,808. The Germans spent $4,218. The French, $3,978. If we had the per-person costs of any of those countries, America's deficits would vanish. Workers would have much more money in their pockets. Our economy would grow more quickly, as our exports would be more competitive.

— James Q. Wilson, co-author of the "Broken Windows" community policing theory, died Friday.

— Jennifer Homans remembers her husband, the late Tony Judt.

— The NFL says New Orleans Saints players were paid to injure their opponents. Yikes.

Earlier this week, I looked into concerns that even qualified, creditworthy borrowers could be having difficulty getting mortgage loans, further stalling the housing recovery. Joe Weisenthal flags a chart from Nomura that reveals the same trend. According to the firm, the percentage of real-estate agents who've had cancelled sales because of the customers' inability to obtain mortgages rose to 8 percent this January, up from a low of 1 percent in the summer of 2011:

Interactive graphic here. Full article here.