Economy

While many McDonald’s customers opt for the drive-through, those who dine inside the fast-food restaurants may soon benefit from an original programming experience via the McDonald’s TV channel.

The Occupy Wall Street movement continues to generate headlines, so what better time to see what Americans actually think of our esteemed financial institutions? Forty-seven percent of Americans think Wall Street hurts the American economy more than it helps, whereas only 38 percent think the opposite is true.

Restaurant workers in San Francisco are trying to change the equation on tipping.

Here's more bad news for people who still owe student loans or back taxes, and who now rely exclusively on their cellphones. President Barack Obama wants to make it easier for private debt collectors to call your cellphone and badger you into paying up.

Starbucks is hoping its customers will be willing to pay at least $5 more when they stop in for their morning cup of Joe.  Starting November 1, Starbucks will begin asking customers for donations of $5 or more to stimulate job growth through its “Jobs for USA” program.

In light of new regulations limiting what financial institutions can charge merchants when buyers swipe their debit cards, Bank of America — the nation’s largest bank — will soon impose a $5 monthly fee on customers who use their debit cards to pay for such transactions. Anne Pace, a Bank of America spokeswoman, said the fee will only be charged when customers use their cards during merchant trans

Oh joy.  Another decade of this?  That's what weather experts are saying.  The state climatologist for Texas says the record drought of 2011 could be just the beginning of a long dry spell that could last until 2020 or beyond.

Thanks to a steep drop in crude-oil prices, gas costs have fallen below $3 a gallon in parts of Michigan, Missouri and Texas, and are expected to decline in many other states as well. Call it an unexpected bright spot in the global economic crisis. Now that drivers have cut back on trips, shippers are moving fewer goods, and vacationers are staying closer to home, the demand for gasoline, diesel a