Ask U.S. consumers about their satisfaction with the existing health care system, and up to 80 percent say major fixes or even a complete overhaul are overdue.

Consumers in the United States who dislike $4.00-a-gallon gasoline had better get used to it. Despite 35 years of talking about the United States becoming energy independent, the U.S. is more dependent than ever on foreign oil — and there's no end in sight.

Arizona's policymakers face crucial decisions about how to ensure that future power needs are met for the nation's second-fastest growing state.

Building the infrastructure necessary to meet Arizonans' rising demand for energy will cost between $74 and $87 billion (allowing for inflation) over the next 25 years. But how to pay those costs — and exactly what type of infrastructure to build — is up for debate.

Public policy-makers and voters need sound, relevant data when making decisions, yet accessing information can be difficult, and often costly. But a national trend to use technology and innovative public and private funding is beginning to change all that.

Arizona's population has ballooned from 2.7 million in 1980 to 6.5 million in 2007. By 2032, the state will have welcomed even more new residents — 4.2 million — for a total of nearly 11 million.

The cover of the New York Times magazine last fall showed an old, disabled speed boat lying on a barren, cracked expanse of earth — which used to be covered with water.

The Phoenix economy "could be worse," says Lee McPheters, director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business. And that's the good news.

Arizona's most severe real estate downturn began in the late 1980s and stretched deeply into the next decade. At the abyss, home prices in the state had declined (on a repeat-sale basis) for a record 17 straight months.

Arizona brought its "A" game to the Super Bowl — both on the field and off — with a winning coordination of events at Glendale's University of Phoenix Stadium.