It’s the new American Dream, to shake off those corporate shackles and go to work for yourself. But where you start your small business may affect its chances for success.

CNN Money lists the states that are most entrepreneurial-friendly. Vermont has the highest rate of entrepreneurship of any state and South Dakota has the friendliest policy environment for entrepreneurs. Delaware ranks lowest with only 160 entrepeneurs per 100,000 people. The list from CNN also shows the survival rate of new small businesses in these states.

Check out the list at CNN Money.com and see how likely your new business is to survive on the Small Business Survival Index.

Spending so much time on the internet writing, reading and conducting business transactions, the results of a study by The Newspaper Associaton of America are somewhat surprising.

The survey, How America Shops and Spends indicates that consumers rely more on newspaper advertising when making decisions about purchases. Consumers felt that newspaper advertising made it easier to compare prices at different stores, were most effective at bringing sales to their attention, were more convenient to use and more up to date than other forms of advertising. Possibly the fact that consumers expect to receive sales circulars and sales updates in their newspapers gives papers the edge with shoppers, as it becomes ritual to check for sales and bargains.

Radio and magazines as advertising media scored lowest in all categories with TV making only a slightly better showing.

The Internet showed signs of increasing popularity with consumers and possibly catching up to newspapers as an advertising medium in ease of comparing prices, convenience of use and in being up to date, scoring higher than all other media except newspapers. The Internet ranked lower when it came to being able to brings sales to the attention of shoppers.

According to a Harris interactive poll on Attitudes in the Workplace, employees of smaller companies found more job satisfaction than those working for larger companies.

The survey also showed that employees of smaller companies were less likely to feel their job demands interfered with personal and family needs.

Income was higher for employees of larger companies with 17% of employees earning $100,000 before taxes as opposed to only 5% of employees of small companies attaining that salary.

But income isn’t always the most important factor. Many workers cite home and family obligations, job stress and other considerations as being key to their employment decisions.

Looking for a great place to work? The Great Place To Work Institute can help guide you with their list of the Best Small & Medium Companies to Work For in America.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that more homeowners are falling delinquent on their mortgage payments. According to their report, 4.7% of loan payments were more than 30 day past due and 11% of mortgages were in foreclosure.

The trend is being blamed on high-risk loans with subprime rates and adjustable rate mortgages that are being affected by rising interest rates over the past few years.

More Americans Making Late Mortgage Payments