The White House announced today its plans to team up with private investors to buy a possible $1 trillion of toxic assets in order to unclog the banks and the credit markets. Also called "legacy assets" by the Obama administration, toxic assets are basically loans and mortgages from banks that have little hope of being repaid.

Gender equality in the workplace is nearly a reality, according to a recent international study done by Accenture. When asked how successful they are in the work place, both men and women polled right around 60%, and about 75% of each gender felt confident in their skills and abilities. Accenture, a global management and consulting company, surveyed 3,600 business people in 18 countries, 100 men and 100 women per country, in celebration of International Women's Day.

Speaking at a conference on immigration, TV personality and Journalist Geraldo Rivera on Thursday said he believes President Barack Obama is going to deliver on a campaign promise to undo what Rivera considers to be unfair immigration policies, referring to Obama as "the first Hispanic President," CNS News reported.

CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs apologized this week to the U.S Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for comments he made linking the chamber to illegal human drug trafficking.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

The Top 10 Hispanic-Owned Investment Advisory Firms

From credit access to health care, the new administration faces colossal challenges.

The issues are large for Hispanic-owned small businesses, which are seeking to be a priority in the president's new administration.

In this report, Hispanic Business spotlights the Top 25 Supplier Diversity Companies and minority-owned businesses that are battling to keep their contracts as virtually every industry downsizes its operations. From retail and automobile to construction and technology, the decline of traditionally strong industries has rattled the economy and upended the American work force.