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The Republican candidates for president face off tonight in the last debate before the next round of primaries on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Arizona and Michigan. Ahead of the critical Super Tuesday primaries set for March 6, these two races gained importance, not only in terms of delegates but in terms of momentum, after Rick Santorum swept Mitt Romney in the trifecta of races held earlier this month in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. (See: Ralph Nader's Advice to Gingrich on a Third Party Run: "Go for It!")

The two candidates are now in a virtual tie in Michigan, but Romney still has a slight edge over Santorum in the Arizona, according to an NBC/Marist poll of likely Republican voters. In Arizona, Romney has 43% of the support and Santorum 27%, followed by Newt Gingrich with 16% and Ron Paul in fourth place with 11%. Meanwhile in Michigan, Romney is favored by 37% of voters versus 35% who are supporting Santorum.

The race has certainly

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Existing-home sales increased slightly less than expected in the month of January, up 4.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million, and sales were up 0.7% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. This marks the third month in four that sales of existing single family homes, townhomes, condos and co-ops has increased. December home sales, originally seen up 5.0% month-over-month, were revised down to a 4.38 million unit pace, reflecting an 0.5% drop.

"These are good numbers and we've seen many housing numbers lately that have come out positive," says IHS U.S. economist Partick Newport, who believes good weather and positive economic momentum pushed sales higher.

Since the beginning of the year, there's been a lot of chatter over whether the U.S. housing market may have hit bottom. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman

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Global oil prices jumped to a nine-month high Tuesday to $106 a barrel after Iran announced it was stopping oil shipments to France and Britain. Iran is responding to heavy pressure from America, Europe and other allies, who want to stop the country's nuclear power program before the radical regime can build nuclear weapons.

This most recent move by Iran to ban oil exports to the two European countries comes as a direct preemptive response to the European Union's planned Iran oil embargo set for this summer. The EU has already frozen assets of Iran's central bank.

In recent weeks, you've also probably heard news stories about Iran threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. It hasn't happened yet, but Iran has indicated it could close the Strait or take other measures should the country feel threatened enough by the Western allies.

But right now you might be wondering: What is the Strait of Hormuz and why does it matter TO YOU?

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As NASCAR fans are gearing up for the season opener this Sunday, Feb. 26, in Daytona Beach, Florida, NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France sat down with The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task to discuss what fans can expect this season and what changes have been made to the sport.

France says 2011 "was a great year by all metrics" for NASCAR and remains confident that fans will stick with the sport even in hard economic times.

"We have a lot of momentum going into 2012," France says. "We're always hit harder" in an economic downturn, France notes, but "the future looks bright for us."

NASCAR has close to 75 million fans around the world and nearly 30 percent of Americans are NASCAR enthusiasts. The organization reports it's seen strong growth in its fan base, TV viewership, race attendance and online sales merchandise over the past year.

"Our attendance is on the up rise and there's more demand right now across the board for tickets," France

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If you had any lingering hopes that U.S. presidential elections are based on ideas and candidates, think again. More than in years passed, money is turning out to be the biggest determining factor during this race for the White House due to the unlimited amounts of cash flowing into the coffers that support the candidates, those things called super PACs. (See: Super PACs: It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's—Well, It's complicated)

The super PACs supporting the top Republican presidential candidates raised around $22 million in January and ended the month with $5 million more than the campaigns themselves, according to the most recent report from Federal Election Commission. The candidates' campaigns raised slightly less at $21.1 million. Mitt Romney's campaign raised $6.5 million in January and spent nearly three times as much; former House Speaker New Gingrich raised $5.6 million and spent $6 million while both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul raised $4.5 million.

Due to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, individuals and corporations are now able to contribute as much as they would like to a super PAC. As a result, the money has not stopped flowing from some of the country's wealthiest and the candidates have almost come to rely on the financing in their favor.

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The powers-that-be in Europe have finally agreed to the latest Greek bailout.

As expected, the package will involve 1) the restructuring of Greece's existing debt, 2) more "austerity" measures imposed on Greek government spending, and 3) a baby-sitting team from the rest of Europe charged with making sure Greece complies with the new deal.

Of all the observers who have pronounced judgement on the deal today, I am not aware of a single one who views this as a permanent solution.

Rather, like most of the deals in Europe to date, everyone thinks the new Greek bailout will just buy time.

Felix Salmon of Reuters still thinks Greece will still be forced to withdraw from the Euro, probably this year. Although the new deal will push off the country's bond repayments for decades, Salmon says, the new austerity cuts will likely lead to further rioting and frustration among the Greek population. And this, Salmon thinks, will quickly lead to Greece reneging on its latest round of promises.

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In his new book, American Gridlock: Why the Right and Left Are Both Wrong, Woody Brock, president and founder of Strategic Economic Decisions, describes five critical economic challenges facing America:

1. Preventing a "lost decade" of economic stagnation and mounting debt.
2. Preventing future national insolvency from entitlements spending.
3. Preventing future "perfect storms" in the financial markets.
4. Standing up to 'thugocracies' that rig their currencies and engage in other unfair practices.
5. Addressing income inequality.

In the accompanying video, Brock and I discuss his self-described "commonsense solutions," including his recommendation for a massive 10-year, $10 trillion infrastructure spending program, funded by a public/private partnership.

"We need a Marshall plan for infrastructure," says Brock, who compares America to a homeowner who hasn't replaced his roof in 50 years.

"We're not talking bridges and potholes —

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By Daniel Gross

"The West as such is not finished, but its global supremacy is over," Zbigniew Brzezinski writes in his new book, Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global Power.

But that doesn't mean the U.S. should simply sit back, detach from the evolving world, and see its influence decline, as Great Britain did in the years after World War II. Rather, as Brzezinski tells me in the accompanying video, the U.S. has an extremely important twin role to play.

An adherent of the "realist" school of foreign policy, Brzezinski, a long-time national security expert, argues that in this evolving, interconnected world, it's simply impossible for one nation, or even one region, to dominate large chunks of the world the way Rome did 2000 years ago, or the Ottoman Empire did 500 years ago, or the British Empire did a century ago. "The world is now much more diversified," he says. "There is a new east in Asia, and there is a global