DailyFinance

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a near four-year low of 7.8 percent in September, even as more Americans come back into the labor force to resume the hunt for work.

When gas prices hit $4 at the pump earlier this summer, a lot of motorists were crying Uncle!" They'd be crying all the louder if they realized those first four bucks didn't cover half of it. It's just that the remainder is hidden in your tax bill.

Last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that elites the world over are under-taxed, and that governments everywhere should change that. Most commentators just assumed she was trying to export the "tax the rich" meme. But what if she's really trying to avoid exporting the rich?

The Federal Reserve wants to find a clearer way to signal to the public when it might start raising interest rates. The Fed plans to keep short-term rates low for at least another three years, but it appears to be leaning toward setting a more specific target.

The Seattle-based coffee company says a digital tip function will be added to its mobile payment application starting next summer. A similar option will also be available on Square, a new payment app that Starbucks customers will be able to use starting in November.

Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis and GOP pollster Frank Luntz don't agree on much, but reality is reality. Gov. Romney won the debate. No way to deny it or spin it: It was the moment the Romney campaign was looking for -- a decisive victory that could change the narrative.

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze apparently isn't giving up on his dream of taking back his company. Reuters reports that Schulze and a consortium of at least four private equity firms are studying the struggling consumer electronics retailer's books to explore what sources say may be an $11 billion buyout.

Nearly a year after taking over as CEO of J.C. Penney, Ron Johnson seems all too aware that his image as a retailing miracle worker has been seriously tarnished. But he's not worried about the backward thinking naysayers -- and he's still determined to prove the skeptics wrong.

In 2008, when the foreclosure crisis was raging, Simone Griffin spent her days counseling homeowners behind on their mortgage payments, and her nights worrying about the precarious state of her own finances: $32,000 in debt on two credit cards. Then came her "scared straight" moment.

At some point in your life, were you a 47%-er? On the heels of a leaked videotape in which GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke harshly of those who pay no federal income tax, some now-successful Americans have been stepping up publicly to answer this question in the affirmative.