Gas prices have been on a tear in recent weeks, hitting a national average this week of $2.75 per gallon, the highest price this year, but they’re poised to fall back down as the summer progresses, according to AAA. 

The organization is predicting that the cost of gas could fall to its lowest levels since 2009, which is good news for travelers ready to hit the road. About 60 percent of Americans recently surveyed by AAA said they were more likely to take a long road trip this year is gas prices remain low. 

While the national average price of gas remains well below $3 per gallon, and 87 percent of U.S. stations are selling gas for below that benchmark, consumers out west and in Hawaii are paying more. Prices in California are highest at $3.30, followed by Hawaii ($3.70) and Nevada ($3.30). 

Related: Gas Prices or Economy, Experts Disagree on What Drives U.S. Demand 

The average price for a gallon of gas last month was $2.69 per gallon, nearly a dollar less than the $3.66 it cost last May. Economists have been hoping for months that low energy prices would boost consumer spending, but Americans have been choosing to sock away their extra cash rather than spending it. 

Personal spending was basically flat in April, falling less than 0.1 percent despite a slight increase in personal income. At the same time, the savings rate increased from 5.2 to 5.6 percent.

According to a recent report from U.S. Trust, women at the top of the earnings ladder are not only making strides in the workplace, but they’re also taking charge of their households’ finances at higher rates.

The national survey of 640 adults found that among high-net-worth individuals—defined as those with at least $3 million in investable assets—30% of Gen Y women are breadwinners in their households, and another 21% contribute the same amount of income to the household as their partners.

Perhaps even more surprising? That’s true for Millennial women more than any other demo.

Related: How Millennials Could Damage the U.S. Economy

Compare that to the 11% of Gen X women and 15% of Baby Boomer women who earned more than their husbands.

Likely a result, young women have a greater influence over their family’s money decisions than ever. Among today’s high-earning female Millennials, 31% are the primary decision-makers when it comes to their household’s wealth and investment planning. That’s considerably more than the 11% of Gen Xers and 9% of Boomer women who can say the same.

Of course, these role changes don’t just affect women. As moms continue to earn more, about one in four Millennial fathers are more likely to be the primary caretakers of their children—a striking difference from the 7% of Gen X and 3% of Boomer dads who’ve undertaken the same responsibility.

Economists have been waiting for a surge in consumer spending fueled by savings at the gas pump and a stronger job market boosting personal incomes. They’re going to have to keep waiting.

The Commerce Department on Monday said personal spending was essentially flat in April —it fell less than 0.1 percent — even as personal income rose a better-than-expected 0.4 percent. Americans made more money in April but they didn’t spend more. Instead, they socked it away, raising the savings rate — personal savings as a percentage of disposable income — from 5.2 percent in March to 5.6 percent in April.

Related: How Obamacare Could Be Squeezing Consumer Spending​​ 

The April spending picture was the reverse of that from March, when incomes growth stalled but spending rose. Overall, though, Americans still look to be hesitant about opening up their wallets.

“This report clearly indicates that the bounce back in March did not continue into April,” Chris G. Christopher, Jr., director of consumer economics at HIS Global Insight, said in a note to clients. “It is becoming blatantly obvious that the so-called consumer gasoline price dividend is not motivating the average American household to increase their discretionary spending in any meaningful manner.”

Energy prices have risen lately, but they are still down 20 percent from where they were a year ago, notes PNC Senior Macroeconomist Gus Faucher. Eventually, that should still translate to more spending as long as the job market recovery continues apace.

“Clearly, consumption is hardly booming, but the lag between declines in gas prices and the response in the spending numbers is long, typically six or seven months,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomcs, said in a note to clients. “Gas prices did begin to fall rapidly until November, with the biggest single drop in January, so we don't expect to see consumption accelerate properly until the summer.”

For now, the economists — and the economy — keep waiting.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:

• What's Next for Oil Prices? Look Out Below!
• We Just Went Through the Worst Month Since the Great Recession
• Boomers, It's Time to Cash Out of This Bubble​

Forget Target and Home Depot. You may be risking identity theft every time you visit the doctor’s office.

Medical ID theft, in which thieves steal your Social Security number and health insurance info in order to fraudulently obtain medical services or treatment, is skyrocketing.

More than 90 percent of healthcare organizations have had a data breach, and 40 percent had more than five data breaches in the past two years, according to a report released last month by ID Experts. Attacks by criminal organizations are up 125 percent over the past five years. Medical identities are worth far more on the black market than financial identities.

The study estimates that data breaches may have cost the industry $6 billion in the last two years. The scariest stat for consumers: Half of organizations surveyed have little or no confidence in their ability to detect all patient data loss or theft. 

Related: Now You Could Lost Your Medical Identity, Too 

Victims of medical ID theft spend thousands to restore their credit and correct inaccuracies in their medical records, and unlike banks and credit card issuers, most healthcare organizations offer no protection services for victims.

In addition to the financial toll, there are health risks to victims of medical ID theft. If someone steals your identity and receives treatment that gets added to your medical records, doctors may have incorrect information regarding your health history and allergies. 

It’s difficult to prevent medical ID theft, but monitoring your credit and closely reading your healthcare bill and explanation of benefits notices can help you catch it early.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has clashed repeatedly with Yanis Varoufakis over Greece's debt and economic reforms since the leftist Syriza party took power in January, pledging to end austerity and renegotiate the bailout terms.

In an interview with the children's television program "Logo" on German broadcaster ZDF last week, a girl reporter gave Schaeuble a supportive handful of the chocolate coins.

"I'll take a few for my Greek colleague, he also needs strong nerves," Schaeuble replied.

Greece hopes to secure a cash-for-reforms deal with its lenders this week. But after four months of tortuous negotiations no breakthrough is in sight. Without a deal Athens risks default or bankruptcy in weeks.

Marketers are great at making up holidays—and who doesn’t love having an excuse to eat donuts on National Donut Day or pizza on National Pizza Day?

Most of these special days, however, tend to take a toll on both our wallets and our waistlines. Today may be an exception: The personal finance and college saving industries have dubbed today 529 Day (Get it? 5/29), a day to celebrate saving for college via tax-favored 529 plans.

Americans could benefit from any impetus to save more for higher education. The average American family that’s saving for college put away about $2,600 last year and has a total of just over $10,000 socked away for education, according to Sallie Mae’s annual How America Saves for College report. That’s the lowest amount since the survey began in 2009 — or about enough to send one kid to college for one semester at today’s prices.

Related: Top-rated 529 Plans Probably Are Not For You

Many states are “celebrating” the day with everything from waived enrollment fees to discounted admission to local baseball games. (Each plan is sponsored by a state but run by financial firms.) Check out this interactive map to find out if your state is offering any incentives today.

Contributions to a 529 plan are made after federal taxes, but the money grows tax-free as long as the proceeds are used for education costs. Some states also offer tax breaks on contributions.

The average cost of attending public college this year is $19,000. For private college it’s $33,000, according to The College Board. So there’s no time like today to start saving.

At commencement ceremonies, every speaker gets to be a comedian, even comedians. The competition was tough, but at least two of the best lines compiled by The Washington Post, came from politicians.

“I stand here humbled, gracious and completely naked under this robe.”
  --Maya Rudolph, Tulane University

“The UVA community has some experience with being defined by outsiders. It has been said that a rolling stone gathers no moss. I would add that sometimes a rolling stone also gathers no verifiable facts or even the tiniest morsels of journalistic integrity.”
--Ed Helms, University of Virginia

“Tisch graduates, you made it. And you’re f----ed. The graduates from the College of Nursing, they all have jobs. The graduates from the College of Dentistry, fully employed. The Leonard N. Stern School of Business graduates, they’re covered. The School of Medicine graduates, each one will get a job. The proud graduates of the NYU School of Law, they’re covered. And if they’re not, who cares? They’re lawyers.”
--Robert DeNiro, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

…[Yale was] one touchdown away from beating Harvard this year for the first time since 2006. So close to something you’ve wanted for eight years. I can only imagine how you feel. I can only imagine.”
--Vice President Joe Biden, Yale University

Those of you who are graduating this afternoon with high honors, awards and distinction, I say, ‘Well done.’ And as I like to tell the C students, ‘You, too, can be president.’”
--former President George W. Bush, Southern Methodist University

Illinois state lawmakers are hitting the breaks on a proposal to spend half a million dollars for a statue honoring former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert after the Justice Department indicted the Illinois Republican on multiple charges Thursday.

About a month before the DOJ announced the indictment against Hastert,

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan introduced a bill to allocate $500,000 from the Illinois Development Fund for a statue of Hastert, who represented Illinois’ 14^th Congressional for 20 years after serving as a state representative. 

Related: Lying, Cheating, Stealing: How Corrupt is America?

However, Madigan’s spokesperson, Steve Brown, said Hastert contacted lawmakers asked that they defer the proposal because of the state’s financial condition. Illinois currently is running a $9 billion deficit. Still, the bill, which passed through a house committee, was placed on the calendar for a third reading on May 18.

In the indictment released Thursday evening, federal investigators allege that Hastert paid $3.5 million in hush money to “cover up misconduct.” The money allegedly went to someone in Yorkville, Ill., where he previously coached high school wrestling. The seven-page indictment also accused him of lying to the FBI.

Following the announcement, Hastert reportedly resigned from his current position at Washington, D.C., law firm Dickstein Shapiro, as well as a board member at CME Group, according to Reuters.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill sent a scathing letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter this week slamming the Pentagon for allowing Air Force and Army pilots to operate predator drones without completing their necessary training. 

The revelation came in a report published last week by the Government Accountability Office that said most drone pilots never finished all of their training because of pilot shortages and a lack of planning and strategy within the Defense Department. 

Related: Undertrained U.S. Drone Pilots Put War Effort at Risk 

The report said that just about 35 percent of Air Force pilots had completed training for all their required missions. Separately, the Army had not been keeping sufficient pilot training records. “As a result, the Army does not know the full extent to which pilots have been trained and are therefore ready to be deployed,” the report said. 

In the letter to Carter, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the committee, said they were “disturbed that the Department of Defense has no standardized training program for [unmanned aerial system] pilots and personnel.” 

"The continued lack of consistent and uniform training standards is simply unacceptable. In addition to collecting critical intelligence, the department's UAS programs carry out sensitive strike missions that should require high standards and specialized training,” the letter said. 

Related: The Duck Drone That Could Change the Navy 

The senators slammed the Air Force for its lax training efforts and demanded that the military improve its process and resolve the pilot shortages. 

"These pilot shortages have constrained training and place extreme strain on the existing community of pilots and sensor operators,” the senators wrote. 

The GAO first called attention to the drone pilot shortages and training concerns last year. The auditors said that the military attempted to resolve the shortages by hiring more instructors, but the new report shows that the instructors, too, lacked sufficient training.

You can’t keep a good junk food down.

The New York Post is reporting today that several bidders have made offers in the $2 billion range for Hostess Brands LLC, the maker of Twinkies, Ho Hos and Ding Dongs, among other gut-bloating goodies.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy in early 2012, and the snack cake part of the business was bought out of liquidation two years ago by Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos.

Citing sources, the Post said bidders include Grupo Bimbo, Flowers Food and Aryzta AG, a Swiss company.

If Hostess does command anywhere near $2 billion, it will be a sweet day for Apollo and Metropoulos. According to the Post, they bought the Twinkies maker for $410 million.