RealtyTrac finds that the cost of owning a median-price home is up 21 percent over a year – both housing prices and mortgages costs are up. Who’s to blame? And, Thursday is the deadline for states to spend some $3.7 billion set aside to help promote the Affordable Care Act, and much of that money has gone unspent in states with governors opposed to the law. What happens to that unspent money?

The political leaders of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada are meeting this week in Mexico for their regular summit, sometimes called the meeting of the “Three Amigos.” One of the things expected to come out of this year’s event is a new program to encourage business travel by relaxing some border controls. Plus, the talent consulting firm Mercer publishes its annual Worldwide Quality of Living Survey.  It compares cities based on political, social, economic, and environmental factors, personal safety and health, education, and public services. Cities are ranked against New York, which is the base city with an index score of 100. So how do the world’s cities stack up on quality of life? What counts as good living? And why is the Big Apple the baseline?

More than 850 colleges offer their students school-sponsored debit or prepaid cards. And most allow students to receive their financial aid disbursements on those cards. But, the fees and transparency surrounding the cards are under scrutiny. Also: Uber officially launches in China, but the Bay area start-up may have a rough ride in a market already saturated with similar apps.

It’s the fifth anniversary of President Obama’s signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus was supposed to create 3.5 million new jobs. Five years on, we run the numbers on how successful the program was at reaching that goal. Also, the Affordable Care Act continues to encounter traction issues. One big problem: the administration’s apparent failure to connect meaningfully with minorities. Later: Snow’s the word in much of the country. But so’s the word drought. In Texas and the far west the rain has been sparse for almost two years. Marketplace’s Adriene Hill looks at how we value the water we have.  

“Operational efficiencies” is often just another way of saying job cuts.  So how many of those are we looking at with this merger?  Later, President Obama makes his first visit to the Central Valley of California, to talk about the state’s drought emergency. What a president can do about making it rain. And finally, It’s that time again – Valentine’s Day… Whether you’re single, married or wooing, chocolate is a must on this day.  But brace yourself before you hit the stores for that last-minute chocolaty gift…the sweet stuff is a little richer this year. The price of chocolates has been rising and doesn’t look like it’s going down anytime soon. Finally, African American buying power may be rising – but do rosy projections of buying power translate into growing economic, social or political power? 

Beyond the $45 billion in stock, why would Time Warner Cable want to hand itself to Comcast? President Obama launches a new initiative to help young men of color find good jobs. The $1.1 trillion buying power of black people. And how wearing wacky clothes can help your career.

The House passes a temporary debt ceiling relief measure, college philanthropy hits a new high, and how to never miss a call again. 

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has her first Congressional hearing today, and auto workers at a the three year-old Volkswagen plant in Tennessee will vote on whether to have union representation, a decision that could change the strength of auto unions in the American South. 

First it was Mitsubishi, Ford, and a car company called Holden. Now Toyota says it will stop making cars in Australia. And, with Treasury Secretary Lew now saying the U.S. could run out of authority to pay its debts in about two and a half weeks, Republicans controlling the House of Representatives are now talking about a vote on the so-called “debt ceiling” this Wednesday. That’s by no means certain. The Treasury Department is shifting money between accounts to keep the country solvent, while Congress figures out strategy. But the fight over the debt ceiling is tied up in a larger problem. The government is not good at making honest and accurate predictions about our future spending and deficits.