Let the extreme couponers fill their underground bunkers with pallets of discounted hand soap. The extreme non-couponing majority of U.S. consumers has figured out how to save without relying on junk mail or scissors.

 

According to coupon consulting firm Inmar, about 3 billion coupons were redeemed in 2012. That's down 14% from 2011, though another group, NCH Marketing Services, suggests coupon use has actually dropped 17%. 

 

Between grocers like Kroger (KR), Safeway (SWY) and SuperValu (SVU) offering fewer coupons and consumers opting for card-based or online coupons instead -- or shunning coupon-issuing stores altogether -- there could be tough times ahead for the coupon-clipping contingent. Discovery Media's TLC may want to keep a mid-season replacement for retail hoarding show "Extreme Couponing" on deck.

 

Watch that minimum wage debate carefully, college students: It's your first job people are fighting over.

 

While Congress and the president squabble over giving workers an extra 2 bucks an hour, The Wall Street Journal reports that 284,000 Americans with college degrees worked minimum wage jobs last year. That's down from a 2010 high of 327,000, but it does mean that 70% more college grads are earning minimum wage than a decade ago.

 

With art-school students and MBAs alike crushed by debt and even Ph.D. students seeking food stamps in increasing numbers, it's understandable that folks would write off college education as an expensive waste in the current economy. Yet a college degree is just about the only way young Americans benefit from the sluggish economic recovery.

 

Forget buying his friends the next round at the bar. Newly minted Powerball multimillionaire Pedro Quezada is paying the rents and mortgages of the people who live on the same block as his bodega in Passaic, N.J., for the next month or two, according to The New York Daily News.

It isn't clear how Quezada, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who won a $338 million jackpot, came up with the idea. He can certainly afford it. Quezada opted for a lump-sum payment of $152 million, the fourth-largest payout in Powerball history. Neighbors of his Apple Deli Grocery were "stunned" by Quezada's magnanimous gesture, the paper said. 

Passaic is a working-class suburb of New York City. Average rents there range from $990 per month for a studio to $1,890 for a 4-bedroom apartment, according to Realtor.org.

 

Mark Zuckerberg's team of accountants has a big headache on its hands: The Facebook (FB) founder probably has a tax bill of around $1.1 billion.

Zuckerberg bought 60 million Facebook shares for just 6 cents each on May 18, 2012, the day of the company's initial public offering, CNNMoney reports. But even if he never sold those shares, they still count as income, bringing his income just from stock options last year to nearly $2.3 billion.

Under California's highest-tier tax bracket, Zuckerberg would likely get taxed at 48.3%. There are several loopholes the wealthy can take advantage of, but three California accountants that CNNMoney talked to estimated Zuckerberg's 2012 taxes at higher than $1 billion. 

Even before the first pitch ever crossed the plate for the 2013 Major League Baseball season, the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins had two strikes against them on the game's financial basepaths.

The Astros have moved to the American League this year and even managed to upset cross-state rivals Texas Rangers 8-2 in their debut game in their new league, their first season-opening win since 2006. Fans in Houston might want to savor it because most baseball experts don't expect to see many more such victories. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports predicts the Astros will post a dismal record of 45-117, continuing the streak of 100-plus-loss seasons.

One big reason for the low expectations for the Astros is their estimated $25 million payroll -- by far the lowest in the Major Leagues. 

If you're looking for the face of American labor, head down to your nearest big-box retailer and look for a person in a brightly colored vest.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that as of last May, the American retail salespeople at Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD), Lowe's (LOW) and elsewhere have the most common job in the country. Nationwide, 4.3 million retail salespeople are making an average of $25,000, or well below the annual mean wage of $45,790.

As The Atlantic astutely notes, America has more retail salespeople than Kentucky has citizens. It's also enough retail sales jobs to employ every man, woman and child in Wyoming, Vermont, Washington, D.C., North Dakota, Alaska and South Dakota combined.

 

Would you buy stock in someone's life? One man has been selling shares of himself for years, letting shareholders vote in the major decisions in his life.

As a result, shareholders have changed Mike Merrill from a Democrat into a Republican and from a meat-eater into a vegetarian. They advised him against a vasectomy and dictated his dating life.

And his shares are still going strong -- currently about $13.70 on his own personal exchange. You can invest by sending him money through Paypal, owned by eBay (EBAY).

It all started in 2008, when Merrill, then 30, put 100,000 shares of himself up for bidding at $1 a share. Shareholders were promised a cut of any profits Mike made outside of his day job as a customer-service rep in Portland, Ore., Wired reports. 

KFC is trying to fix a pint-size problem.

After selling kids' meals in adult packaging last summer, the Yum Brands (YUM) chain saw dwindling sales of children's food, according to The Wall Street Journal.

KFC is hoping a small version of its family-style bucket, bearing the name Li'l Bucket and covered with a childish font and a drawing of a smiling bucket, will reverse the slump. Inside, kids will find a chicken drumstick, green beans, applesauce and a Capri Sun drink. 

But the kid-size bucket might find it tough going in today's fast-food market. That's because while it's marketed as a healthier option than McDonald's (MCD) Happy Meals and other kids' meals, some parents are skeptical of KFC's ingredients and motives.