Economy

Hey, did you hear the good news? We managed to avoid soaring headlong off the fiscal cliff yesterday. Granted, the House pulled the plug on a bill providing emergency aid to people whose lives were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy to do it. But they did it. Hooray!(?)

Gift cards are more popular than ever it seems. They were an easy gift this year for many of us, and quite a few of us received them too. The research firm CEB TowerGroups says around $110 billion worth of gift cards were sold this year in the United States, up ten percent over 2011. But if you received one you don't want, you can exchange it for cash. Here's how it works.

The amount we fork over for Christmas gifts has gone up every year since 2008. The iPads, flat screen TVs, and video game must-haves ain’t cheap! When you add up the hot electronics, the ugly sweaters, and the popcorn tin gift sets, we’re spending just shy of a thousand bucks on Christmas.

The median net worth of working-class Americans is now lingering at a 43-year low of $57,000.

Good news for college students: the job market is starting to look a little brighter, with 5 percent more employment opportunities predicted for new college graduates this year, according to a recent survey conducted by the Michigan State University’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute.

The price of turkey is going to be cheaper than expected this year, largely because many retailers were able to lock in the cost of the birds before the summer’s drought sent feed prices way, way up.

Have you heard the crazy notion that men’s underwear sales are an economic indicator? When men’s underwear sales are up, the economy is doing well. When people are not buying guys’ tighty whities, the economy is in the tank. Do you think it’s true?

These days more credit card customers are paying their bills on time than they have over the course of the last decade. A report released earlier today by the American Bankers Association indicates that delinquencies on credit cards are currently at an 11-year low, with only 2.93 percent of credit accounts reported past due by 30 days or more. These figures come in substantially under the 3.91 per