economy

Are you single and ready to mingle? You may want to head to the Midwest.

Kelley Blue Book’s first-ever ‘Total Cost of Ownership Award Winners‘ considered factors like purchase price, fuel expenditures and expected maintenance and depreciation to come up with the cars it says have the lowest-projected overall cost of ownership. The big winner in the brand category? South Korean automaker Kia.

Just about everyone was hit hard by the bad economy and had to change their lifestyles in at least some small way. Now that we’re all attempting to regain our footing, there’s actually one group of people having a harder time doing so than everyone else.

Remember the summer of 2008 when the highest gas prices on record occurred and the price for a gallon of fuel hit $4.11? Hate to break this to yah, but a warm winter and tensions in the Middle East have some analysts predicting current prices will top $4 by this spring — and could even climb as high as $6.50.

Seems Americans are getting a lot more flexible about employment options — according to a new survey, we’re changing the way we look at temp work, in particular.

People can argue about climate change, but they can’t argue with this: so far, 2012 has had some bizarrely warm weather. And while that may be bad for snow-reliant ski resorts, it’s actually been good for a variety of other industries.

Spurred on by the recent “Occupy” protests, class conflict has become an increasing part of the public discourse. This is reflected in a new poll from the Pew Research Center, which finds the percentage of Americans who see conflict between the rich and poor as a problem has jumped significantly over the last two years.

Since a new survey shows more than a third of Americans have already finished their holiday buying, analysts say retailers need to cut prices to the bone if they want people to keep shopping.

While many college grads are only too happy to fly their parents’ nest and get a place of their own, the dip in the economy has meant some can’t — or won’t — until they feel more financially able to do so comfortably. What does this mean for the economy? Unfortunately, nothing good.

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.