Mexico

Given the sluggish recovery and a strapped consumer, you'd expect to see corporate America trudging along, not racing for glory. In fact, the Fortune 500 are thriving as a group.

America's food chain has lately produced a bumper crop of scary news, but the worst food-related threat to our health was being caused by U.S. energy policy: Here's how the corn ethanol subsidy was making us fatter, and why to be glad that Congress finally killed it.

When it comes to eating locally, it's hard to beat the original Thanksgiving dinner. Today's holiday diners have far more options than the Pilgrims, and the string beans, sweet potatoes, cranberries and such on your table may come from abroad -- but they probably didn't have to come too far.

America's road to economic recovery has been long and slow -- and uneven. Some parts of the country are doing a lot worse than others. It's a pattern that shows up in the jobs numbers, poverty rates, foreclosures. But if you want a quick, simple gauge of how any part of the U.S. is doing economically, just look at its median household income.

More than any other demographic, Latino homeowners were slammed by the mortgage crisis: Two-thirds of total Hispanic wealth in the U.S. evaporated from 2005 to 2009. But as the fastest growing demographic in the nation, they are also well positioned to power the housing rebound.

Escalating violence related to the cross-border drug trade has caused Texas authorities to advise spring break revelers to avoid Mexico. The Mexico Tourism Board countered that traveling south of the border remains safe. At stake is a big chunk of the $12 billion that tourists spend in Mexico each year.

You probably have heard that the U.S. is the world's largest consumer of oil. But did you know that we're also the third-largest producer of oil? And yes, the U.S. imports more than half its oil. But our two biggest suppliers are our nearest neighbors.

In an effort to get Mexico to cut tariffs on some U.S. goods, the U.S. federal government may start allowing Mexican trucking companies to transport goods onto U.S. roads.

In the U.S., a real estate crisis has left some neighborhoods virtually abandoned. But in the border towns of Mexico, most notably Ciudad Juarez, a different disease is causing the same symptoms: the brutal escalation of the war among drug traffickers.

VW has set a hefty goal for itself: to displace Toyota as the world's No. 1 car company. The German automaker is actually within reach, thanks mainly to its huge lead in China. To overtake Toyota, however, VW will need to really ramp up sales in the American market.