The outlook for recent college graduates continues to be depressing.

According to data released earlier this year by the Center for College Affordability & Productivity, 48% of employed U.S. college graduates are in jobs that don't require a four-year degree and 37% are employed in positions that require only a high school diploma. The rise in underemployment in this group since 1970 is pretty stark.

More than 15% of taxi drivers and firefighters hold college degrees. In 1970, fewer than 1% of taxi drivers held one, and the figure for firefighters was about 2%. Nearly 25% of all retail salespeople, along with 15% of bank tellers and 5% of janitors are now college graduates, the report says. Back in the 1970s, college graduates with those jobs accounted for less than 5% of the workforce. 

Americans have an uncanny ability to press on, even after the worst of tragedies. And that's what began to happen Tuesday as the initial shock of the Boston Marathon bombings wore off.

Certainly, the emotional toll is heavy. Three people are dead, including an 8-year-old boy. Families are grieving, lives are shattered and the country is searching for answers.

But the economic impact from the explosions is muted. Officials in New York and other cities have stepped up security at hotels and other notable locations. The area around Boston's Copley Square remains closed, and state troopers and National Guard members were monitoring the city and its transit systems. 

Is there too much sports on TV? Some advertisers are starting to wonder, and it's easy to see why.

The cost of sports programming is skyrocketing because it's one of the few genres that large numbers of people still watch live. Sports programs often top the ratings on both cable and broadcast channels. Their costs, however, show no signs of slowing, which is starting to worry some players.

News Corp.'s (NWS) Fox, Walt Disney's (DIS) ESPN and Time Warner's (TWX) TBS spent $12.4 billion last year for the broadcast rights for Major League Baseball from 2014 to 2021, a deal that will double MLB's annual payday. 

Comcast's (CMCSA) NBC and CBS (CBS) are paying 63% more to broadcast National Football League games under their $28 billion deal that runs through 2022. 

If you work for a small business and currently have health care insurance, be prepared. You might be in for an unhealthy surprise in 2014. 

That's because companies with fewer than 500 employees are more likely than larger businesses to dump their health care plans under the Affordable Care Act, which goes into effect next year. 

About 10% of companies with between 50 to 499 employees that currently offer health insurance indicated they're considering dropping their plans, according to a survey from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. That portion of respondents said they are "very unlikely" to only "somewhat likely" to continue health insurance coverage. Fewer than two-thirds of companies of that size said they would definitely continue, the study found.

 

Two of the country's biggest banks -- Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) -- reported quarterly earnings early Tuesday and easily plowed through expectations as the stock market's 2013 surge whetted companies' desire to make deals. Whether ordinary folks are benefiting from Wall Street's good fortune is less clear.

Net income at New York-based Goldman in the last quarter rose 7% to $2.26 billion, or $4.29 per share. Revenue rose 1% to $10.1 billion. Those results exceeded analysts' expectations for a profit of $3.88 per share on sales of $9.64 billion.

Citigroup, also based in New York, reported net income of $3.81 billion, or $1.23 per share, on revenue of $20.4 billion, an increase of 3%. Analysts' had forecast earnings of $1.17 per share on sales of $20.11 billion. 

Can space travel ever become cost-efficient? It certainly has never been cheap. The recently ended U.S. space shuttle program, even with its reusable spacecraft, still cost about $1.5 billion per flight, according to an analysis quoted by Space.com. And NASA estimates that the cost of just launching a spacecraft to Mars, using currently available chemical rocket fuel, would run more than $12 billion.

But University of Washington researchers, along with scientists at a private Washington state company, say they've come up with a fusion-powered rocket that, according to a press release, would "clear many of the hurdles that block deep space travel, including long times in transit, exorbitant costs and health risks."

In theory, a fusion-driven rocket uses magnetism to compress special metal bands around a deuterium-tritium fuel pellet -- which in turn starts the powerful fusion process.

 

College credit for a course sponsored by Starbucks (SBUX)? Why not? That's where college grads end up working anyway.

CNNMoney and The Hechinger Report took a look at restaurant and service industry education initiatives and discovered that Starbucks workers who take the company's Barista Basics and Barista 101 courses in Seattle can earn one-and-a-half credits from City University of Seattle for each class. They can stockpile three more credits apiece for higher-level management courses.

Other colleges also recognize the Starbucks training for academic credit through the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service, an organization that reviews and puts its stamp of approval on workplace courses.

 

It seems things couldn't be better for Mexican tourism. Cancun's Convention & Visitors Bureau says the recently concluded Easter Week was one of its most successful spring weeks ever. Hotel occupancy rates in the resort area ran at 90% or better, and Cancun International Airport handled more than 500 flights daily.

"Cancun remains the top international destination for North American tourists," said Cancun CVB CEO Jesus Almaguer in a recent press release, "and continues to meet and exceed expectations in terms of service and the general appeal of this full-fledged destination."

But for the second time in two months, Cancun -- which generates over one-third of Mexico's overall tourism revenue -- has been the site of a mass killing. The bodies of seven people were discovered on Sunday in a shack on Cancun's outskirts.