Occupy Wall Street

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.

"No work. No shopping. Occupy everywhere." That's the call from Occupy Wall Street on May Day -- International Workers Day. But what does the movement aim to accomplish with its general strike?

President Obama is making the Buffett Rule -- a minimum tax on millionaires who get off easy under the current tax code -- one of the centerpiece of his re-election campaign. Here's what adoption of the tax might mean for all of us.

Every April, resistance to taxes becomes a national hobby. The rebellious souls at taxKilla.org take that resistance to the extreme by encouraging the broad use of tax loopholes and iffy methods to reduce what you pay to the IRS. But there's nothing illegal about it.

Amid all the chatter about Mitt Romney's high income and low taxes, many have wondered why more Americans don't take advantage of those attractive capital gains rates. The answer is that most people can't -- at least not on a level large enough to make a difference in their finances.

Former President Bill Clinton offered up some wide-ranging prescriptions for curing the nation's ailing economy in a speech at the National Retail Federation's annual convention Monday, from investing in new sectors for job growth to cutting taxes on business.

More Americans are waking up to the idea of citizen consumerism -- a fitting topic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when our thoughts turn to social consciousness. Could the concept of making more of our purchases purposeful go mainstream in the same way that the green buying movement has?

It's been a rough few months for the social justice activists of Occupy Wall Street. But on Sunday and Monday, the movement will take to the streets again to honor one of America's most famous protesters: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In a year saturated with big financial headlines, identifying the fiscal heroes and villains is bound to be an exercise in oversimplification. But DailyFinance is going to try: Herewith, we present our picks for the best and the worst of 2011.

Between debt ceiling debates, the crisis in the eurozone, and battles over tax rates, money issues filled the front pages in 2011. Here are our picks for the seven stories that most directly affected your wallet.