Most of us have assets worth insuring -- our homes, our cars, our health. Celebrities are no different, but they must protect their most important assets -- themselves. So who's buying insurance on their fingers, legs and even smiles and hair? Check out our gallery:

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.

Fewer and fewer Americans can afford the basics that have been part of what the middle class has been able to expect for decades. That's not just bad for them -- falling demand for some services will undermine their ability to exist at all %u2014 at least at current levels.

Obese people do not just risk their own health; their health problems cripple the economy. GDP would be given a boost if the number of fat people fell sharply. The Obama administration has not made an attack on obesity part of its stimulus program. Maybe it should.

Gas prices have finally begun to reflect the falling price of oil, which dipped from nearly $100 a barrel in July to less than $78 now. A gallon of regular averaged $3.408 Tuesday, down from $3.662 a month ago. That's excellent news for the nation's retailers as we approach the holiday shopping season.

More people have been selling their gold jewelry in the past year, many to cover expenses, others to just to take advantage of record high prices. Prices have dipped a bit from their recent highs, but expect more people to sell in the months ahead, and expect the prices to rise again.

Some people take fun to the extreme, engaging in pastimes that put their health -- and even their lives -- at risk. Insurance companies refer to such activities as "hazardous vocations," and charge higher premiums to those who engage in them. One way or another, these hobbies will cost you.

The bad news is that the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, sits at 1,131, a low point it hasn't traded near consistently since late 2009. The worse news is that there's every reason to believe it will decline further to below 900, back to levels it hit around March 2009.

Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard's new CEO, will be paid $1 a year, joining a string of other high-profile CEOs that are earning a buck, plus other incentives.

The policies of departed Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) CEO Leo Apotheker helped cost investors $50 billion in market value as the tech company's stock dropped from a 52-week high of $49.49 to its current price of $23.19. Now, the board wants to create a plan that could well keep the price of the stock low for some time.