Europe Considers Wholesale Savings Confiscation, Enforced Redistribution -

Europe Considers Wholesale Savings Confiscation, Enforced Redistribution - 



At first we thought Reuters had been punk'd in its article titled "EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap" which disclosed the latest leaked proposal by the European Commission, but after several hours without a retraction, we realized that the story is sadly true. Sadly, because everything that we warned about in "There May Be Only Painful Ways Out Of The Crisis" back in September of 2011, and everything that the depositors and citizens of Cyprus had to live through, seems on the verge of going continental. In a nutshell, and in Reuters' own words, "the savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says." What is left unsaid is that the "usage" will be on a purely involuntary basis, at the discretion of the "union", and can thus best be described as confiscation.

The source of this stunner is a document seen be Reuters, which describes how the EU is looking for ways to "wean" the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment. So as Europe finally admits that the ECB has failed to unclog its broken monetary pipelines for the past five years - something we highlight every month (most recently in No Waking From Draghi's Monetary Nightmare: Eurozone Credit Creation Tumbles To New All Time Low), the commissions report finally admits that "the economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment."

The solution? "The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said."

Mobilize, once again, is a more palatable word than, say, confiscate.

And yet this is precisely what Europe is contemplating:

Banks have complained they are hindered from lending to the economy by post-crisis rules forcing them to hold much larger safety cushions of capital and liquidity.

The document said the "appropriateness" of the EU capital and liquidity rules for long-term financing will be reviewed over the next two years, a process likely to be scrutinized in the United States and elsewhere to head off any risk of EU banks gaining an unfair advantage.
But wait: there's more!

Inspired by the recently introduced "no risk, guaranteed return" collectivized savings instrument in the US better known as MyRA, Europe will also complete a study by the end of this year on the feasibility of introducing an EU savings account, open to individuals whose funds could be pooled and invested in small companies.

Because when corporations refuse to invest money in Capex, who will invest? Why you, dear Europeans. Whether you like it or not.

But wait, there is still more!

Additionally, Europe is seeking to restore the primary reason why Europe's banks are as insolvent as they are: securitizations, which the persuasive salesmen and sexy saleswomen of Goldman et al sold to idiot European bankers, who in turn invested the money or widows and orphans only to see all of it disappear.

It is also seeking to revive the securitization market, which pools loans like mortgages into bonds that banks can sell to raise funding for themselves or companies. The market was tarnished by the financial crisis when bonds linked to U.S. home loans began defaulting in 2007, sparking the broader global markets meltdown over the ensuing two years.

The document says the Commission will "take into account possible future increases in the liquidity of a number of securitization products" when it comes to finalizing a new rule on what assets banks can place in their new liquidity buffers. This signals a possible loosening of the definition of eligible assets from the bloc's banking watchdog.
Because there is nothing quite like securitizing feta cheese-backed securities and selling it to a whole new batch of widows and orphans.

And topping it all off is a proposal to address a global change in accounting principles that will make sure that an accurate representation of any bank's balance sheet becomes a distant memory:

More controversially, the Commission will consider whether the use of fair value or pricing assets at the going rate in a new globally agreed accounting rule "is appropriate, in particular regarding long-term investing business models".
To summarize: forced savings "mobilization", the introduction of a collective and involuntary CapEx funding "savings" account, the return and expansion of securitization, and finally, tying it all together, is a change to accounting rules that will make the entire inevitable catastrophe smells like roses until it all comes crashing down.

So, aside from all this, Europe is "fixed."

The only remaining question is: why leak this now? Perhaps it's simply because the reallocation of "cash on the savings account sidelines" in the aftermath of the Cyprus deposit confiscation, into risk assets was not foreceful enough? What better way to give it a much needed boost than to leak that everyone's cash savings are suddenly fair game in Europe's next great wealth redistribution strategy.

Read more- 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-12/europe-considers-wholesale-savings-confiscation-enforced-redistribution

GONE IN 60 SECONDS - Vintage Corvettes swallowed by sinkhole under National Corvette Museum -

GONE IN 60 SECONDS - Vintage Corvettes swallowed by sinkhole under National Corvette Museum - 



A massive sinkhole that opened up under a Kentucky museum Wednesday morning swallowed several vintage and rare Corvettes.

The National Corvette Museum said the Bowling Green Fire Department estimates the sinkhole to be around 25-30 feet deep and 40 feet wide.

"This is going to be an interesting situation," Museum Executive Director Wendell Strode told the Bowling Green Daily News, noting that a structural engineer is at the Bowling Green facility to evaluate the damage inside its Sky Dome section.

Six of the cars in the sinkhole are owned by the museum; two others are owned by General Motors.

"It is with heavy hearts that we report that eight Corvettes were affected by this incident," the museum said in a press release.

The museum said the cars are a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors; a 1962 Black Corvette; 1984 PPG Pace Car; 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette; 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette; 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette and a 2009 White 1.5 Millionth Corvette.

Strode told the Courier-Journal that emergency personnel allowed museum staff to remove the only surviving 1983 Corvette, which was at risk of joining the other cars in the sinkhole.

“Before we do anything, like remove the other cars, we want that assessment so we know if there’s been any structural damage to the Sky Dome,” Strode told the Courier-Journal.

The museum is closed for the day.

An estimate of the cost of the damage done to vehicles and the museum has not yet been determined.

No injuries have been reported and Bowling Green city spokeswoman Kim Lancaster told The Associated Press that this appears to be the first incident of its kind at the property.

Bowling Green is also the only place where General Motors builds Corvettes. The city sits in the midst of Kentucky’s Western Pennyroyal area, where many of the state’s longest and deepest caves run underground, according to The Associated Press.

Read more - 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/12/sinkhole-opens-up-at-national-corvette-museum-swallows-cars/?intcmp=latestnews

USA - CBO Director Warns of 'Fiscal Crisis'... - Meanwhile - Canadian Gov't Set to Balance Budget... - 



 Canada's Conservative government looks set to comfortably balance its books in 2015 or even sooner, its latest budget showed on Tuesday, with cuts in spending on the public service more than offsetting a series of modest new expenditures.

The low-key spending plan leaves Prime Minister Stephen Harper well-positioned to offer tax breaks and other initiatives in the runup to an election scheduled for October next year.

"Some people will say this budget is boring," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters ahead of the budget speech. "Boring is good."

The budget shows a deficit of C$2.9 billion ($2.63 billion)in the 2014-15 fiscal year, up from the previous estimate of C$5.5 billion. That balance includes a C$3 billion contingency fund, which in fact reveals an underlying surplus that year.

Flaherty acknowledged the budget would be narrowly balanced this coming year without the contingency fund, but said he preferred to have a "nice clean surplus next year".

Meanwhile in the USA - 

On the same day House Speaker John Boehner said he would bring a "clean" debt ceiling bill to the House floor -- and join Democrats in voting for a 13-month extension of the debt limit -- the head of the Congressional Budget Office declared that the "large and growing federal debt" could eventually increase the risk of a  "fiscal crisis."

"The large budget deficits recorded in recent years have substantially increased federal debt, and the amount of debt relative to the size of the economy is now very
high by historical standards," Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee.

"CBO estimates that federal debt held by the public will equal 74 percent of GDP at the end of this year and 79 percent in 2024 (the end of the current 10-year projection period). Such large and growing federal debt could have serious negative consequences, including restraining economic growth in the long term, giving policymakers less flexibility to respond to unexpected challenges, and eventually increasing the risk of a fiscal crisis (in which investors would demand high interest rates to buy the government’s debt).

Read more - 

http://news.yahoo.com/canadian-government-set-comfortably-balance-budget-2015-211839820--sector.html

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/cbo-director-large-and-growing-federal-debt-could-produce-fiscal-crisis

22 Facts About The Coming Demographic Tsunami That Could Destroy Our Economy All By Itself -

22 Facts About The Coming Demographic Tsunami That Could Destroy Our Economy All By Itself - 



Today, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will retire.  This is going to happen day after day, month after month, year after year until 2030.  It is the greatest demographic tsunami in the history of the United States, and we are woefully unprepared for it.  We have made financial promises to the Baby Boomers worth tens of trillions of dollars that we simply are not going to be able to keep.  Even if we didn't have all of the other massive economic problems that we are currently dealing with, this retirement crisis would be enough to destroy our economy all by itself.  During the first half of this century, the number of senior citizens in the United States is being projected to more than double.  As a nation, we are already drowning in debt.  So where in the world are we going to get the money to take care of all of these elderly people?

The Baby Boomer generation is so massive that it has fundamentally changed America with each stage that it has gone through.  When the Baby Boomers were young, sales of diapers and toys absolutely skyrocketed.  When they became young adults, they pioneered social changes that permanently altered our society.  Much of the time, these changes were for the worse.

According to the New York Post, overall household spending peaks when we reach the age of 46.  And guess what year the peak of the Baby Boom generation reached that age?...

People tend, for instance, to buy houses at about the same age — age 31 or so. Around age 53 is when people tend to buy their luxury cars — after the kids have finished college, before old age sets in. Demographics can even tell us when your household spending on potato chips is likely to peak — when the head of it is about 42.

Ultimately the size of the US economy is simply the total of what we’re all spending. Overall household spending hits a high when we’re about 46. So the peak of the Baby Boom (1961) plus 46 suggests that a high point in the US economy should be about 2007, with a long, slow decline to follow for years to come.

And according to that same article, the Congressional Budget Office is also projecting that an aging population will lead to diminished economic growth in the years ahead...

Lost in the discussion of this week’s Congressional Budget Office report (which said 2.5 million fewer Americans would be working because of Obamacare) was its prediction that aging will be a major drag on growth: “Beyond 2017,” said the report, “CBO expects that economic growth will diminish to a pace that is well below the average seen over the past several decades [due in large part to] slower growth in the labor force because of the aging of the population.”

So we have a problem.  Our population is rapidly aging, and an immense amount of economic resources is going to be required to care for them all.

Unfortunately, this is happening at a time when our economy is steadily declining.

The following are some of the hard numbers about the demographic tsunami which is now beginning to overtake us...

1. Right now, there are somewhere around 40 million senior citizens in the United States.  By 2050 that number is projected to skyrocket to 89 million.

2. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

3. One poll discovered that 26 percent of all Americans in the 46 to 64-year-old age bracket have no personal savings whatsoever.

4. According to a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, "60 percent of American workers said the total value of their savings and investments is less than $25,000".

5. 67 percent of all American workers believe that they "are a little or a lot behind schedule on saving for retirement".

6. A study conducted by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research found that American workers are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire comfortably.

7. Back in 1991, half of all American workers planned to retire before they reached the age of 65.  Today, that number has declined to 23 percent.

8. According to one recent survey, 70 percent of all American workers expect to continue working once they are "retired".

9. A poll conducted by CESI Debt Solutions found that 56 percent of American retirees still had outstanding debts when they retired.

10. A study by a law professor at the University of Michigan found that Americans that are 55 years of age or older now account for 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States.  Back in 2001, they only accounted for 12 percent of all bankruptcies.

11. Today, only 10 percent of private companies in the U.S. provide guaranteed lifelong pensions for their employees.

12. According to Northwestern University Professor John Rauh, the total amount of unfunded pension and healthcare obligations for retirees that state and local governments across the United States have accumulated is 4.4 trillion dollars.

13. Right now, the American people spend approximately 2.8 trillion dollars on health care, and it is being projected that due to our aging population health care spending will rise to an astounding 4.5 trillion dollars in 2019.

14. Incredibly, the United States spends more on health care than China, Japan, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia combined.

15. If the U.S. health care system was a country, it would be the 6th largest economy on the entire planet.

16. When Medicare was first established, we were told that it would cost about $12 billion a year by the time 1990 rolled around.  Instead, the federal government ended up spending $110 billion on the program in 1990, and the federal government spent approximately $600 billion on the program in 2013.

17. It is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.

18. At this point, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years.  That comes to approximately $328,404 for every single household in the United States.

19. In 1945, there were 42 workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.  Today, that number has fallen to 2.5 workers, and if you eliminate all government workers, that leaves only 1.6 private sector workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.

20. Right now, there are approximately 63 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits.  By 2035, that number is projected to soar to an astounding 91 million.

21. Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.

22. The U.S. government is facing a total of 222 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities during the years ahead.  Social Security and Medicare make up the bulk of that.

So where are we going to get the money?

That is a very good question.

The generations following the Baby Boomers are going to have to try to figure out a way to navigate this crisis.  The bright future that they were supposed to have has been destroyed by our foolishness and our reckless accumulation of debt.

But do they actually deserve a "bright future"?  Perhaps they deserve to spend their years slaving away to support previous generations during their golden years.  Young people today tend to be extremely greedy, self-centered and lacking in compassion.  They start blogs with titles such as "Selfies With Homeless People".  Here is one example from that blog...

Selfies With Homeless People

Of course not all young people are like that.  Some are shining examples of what young Americans should be.

Unfortunately, those that are on the right path are a relatively small minority.

In the end, it is our choices that define us, and ultimately America may get exactly what it deserves.

Read more - 

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/22-facts-about-the-coming-demographic-tsunami-that-could-destroy-our-economy-all-by-itself

Bacon sales sizzle to all-time high -

Bacon sales sizzle to all-time high - 



It’s a question that veteran “As Seen on TV” marketer Scott Boilen asked when he was given the opportunity to introduce yet another bacon product to an already crowded marketplace. But Boilen couldn’t resist the invention, a simple gizmo that turns a few strips of bacon into an edible shell. And so the Bacon Bowl was launched by Boilen’s Allstar Products Group via a series of infomercials in late 2013.

In a brief period, Boilen’s New York-based company has sold more than two million units of the $10.99 bacon cooker, making the Bowl a success story potentially on par with the Snuggie, to name Boilen’s biggest “As Seen on TV” hit.

The lesson? Never underestimate the power of bacon, says Boilen: “It’s almost become a cult-like food.”

Enlarge Image
Indeed, for food marketers and foodies alike, bacon is the gift that keeps on giving, a culinary trend that unlike, say, cupcakes never seems to get old. Bacon sales in the U.S. have increased in each of the last four years, according to market researcher Information Resources, Inc. (IRI). In 2013 alone, sales climbed 9.5% to an all-time high of nearly $4 billion. A survey by pork supplier Smithfield even found that 65% of Americans would support the idea of making bacon our “national food.”

The bottom line: “It’s a bacon nation, and we just live in it,” declares The National Provisioner, a trade publication that tracks the meat business.

While one might think the rough economy would have stifled the boom, some food industry insiders and observers believe it’s what’s helped foster it. It’s no secret that in tough times, Americans turn to comfort foods from their childhood, as in meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Bacon falls in much the same category, says blogger and self-proclaimed “Bacon Queen” Amy Vernon, but it’s even more potent by virtue of its “distinctive smell.” In other words, when the scent of that sizzling pork fat hits your nostrils, you’re back at the family breakfast table.

But just as important, bacon is a food that has adapted well to the foodie culture of the last decade, perhaps because it’s so multidimensional. “Need some fat to balance an acidic dish? Bacon. Need something salty to balance the sweet? Bacon,” says chef Kyle Rourke of the critically acclaimed Red Star Tavern in Portland, Ore.

It’s also a food that lends itself to kitschy festivity. Why else would there be such a thing as a Bacon Bowl? (Or for that matter, a bacon wallet ?) Add it up and bacon, once a down-home food, has acquired a kind of cultural currency and cachet.

It’s “the gentrification of bacon,” says “Bacon Queen” Amy Vernon.

This never-ending bacon boom has taken many forms, beginning with the sheer varieties of strip bacon now on the market—thick-cut, thin-cut, specialty smoked, peppered, you name it. Smithfield, for example, has recently added cherry wood and apple wood-smoked and sea salt-flavored varieties to its lineup. There’s also a growing do-it-yourself movement in bacon , with chefs—or just plain bacon freaks—making their own. (All it takes is a slab of pork belly, a little brine and some time in the smoker.) “My house-made bacon usually maintains a more pork-like texture,” says Todd Mitgang, chef of the newly opened Bo’s Kitchen in New York, where the bacon is featured an upscale version of a BLT.

On top of that, there’s what might be dubbed the everything-is-better-with-bacon trend, with a host of new products commanding space on store shelves or on restaurant menus. Think bacon and chocolate (Black Pig Meat Co., a California-based gourmet brand, offers its Piggy Pops ). Or bacon and booze (yes, there’s a bacon-flavored vodka ). Or bacon and ice cream—a concept that has gone so mainstream that in 2012, the Burger King chain introduced its Bacon Sundae , billed as “a cool collision of salty and sweet.”

And if you’re really, really into bacon, there are now bacon-themed restaurants in New York and Chicago and bacon-themed festivals everywhere from Hoboken, N.J., to Ann Arbor, Mich. (the Bacon Today website compiled this list . There’s also been a bacon festival of the non-edible variety—as in a bacon film festival that bacon giant Hormel organized in New York last year.

Of course, there’s perhaps only so far the bacon boom can go. Even a few years ago, foodies were saying that they were starting to suffer from bacon overload—and “The Bacon Backlash,” to quote the headline of a Wall Street Journal article seemed inevitable. (As Boston chef Ken Oringer said in the story, bacon has “been overplayed so much and my taste buds are tired of it.”) And needless to say, many nutritionists take a somewhat dim view of bacon—not only because of its high fat and sodium content, but also because of the fact that bacon often contains chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer. Nutritionists thus encourage bacon lovers to try alternatives, including tofu products that are often dubbed “facon.” The only problem? “Don’t expect it to be bacon because it isn’t and won’t ever be,” says Alicia Armeli, a nutritionist based in Washington state who’s researched the risks of preservatives in cured meats.

Still, Scott Boilen, the marketer behind the Bacon Bowl, says you can make a perfectly acceptable bowl from such bacon substitutes. Then again, he also says there’s nothing like the real thing, whether it’s combined with pastrami or a Caesar salad or mac ‘n’ cheese, to name some ideas suggested by Bacon Bowl users. But it all begins with that strip of pork that never seems to lose its salty, smoky and fatty appeal.

“It’s almost like, ‘Don’t touch my bacon,’” says Boilen. 

Read more - 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bacon-sales-sizzle-to-all-time-high-2014-02-11

NBC Olympics Fail = CBC Win? - CBC Sochi 2014 Olympics Coverage Attracts Frustrated NBC Viewers -

NBC Olympics Fail = CBC Win? - CBC Sochi 2014 Olympics Coverage Attracts Frustrated NBC Viewers - 



Bashing Olympics coverage in the United States seems to have become a sport in itself for fans seeking live coverage south of the border, with a groundswell of NBC-targeted rage emerging in the Winter Games' opening weekend.

Just days into Sochi, thousands have revived the Twitter hashtag #NBCfail from previous Games with fresh complaints, while an online petition to wrest broadcast rights away from the peacock network has popped up online, and at least one desperate household has purchased a Canadian IP address to stream CBC coverage instead.

L.A.-based Olympics fan Morgan Linton said Monday that he and his Canadian-born wife were so disappointed in NBC's delayed coverage they turned to a foreign IP provider for live CBC and BBC feeds.

"It's terrible," Linton said of NBC's Internet stream in particular.

"They pretty much show two athletes and then 10 minutes of commercials and then another two athletes and then 10 minutes of commercials and they are still not covering all the athletes around the world. ... I'd say 90 per cent of what we're watching is CBC streaming."

Linton was so incensed with NBC's coverage he posted an open letter to the broadcaster online.

"By not providing live coverage of the Olympics, NBC has made it impossible to enjoy something that we look forward to so much," he wrote on medium.com and morganlinton.com.

"So today we made the decision to say goodbye to NBC, pony up the $12/month fee, and buy a Canadian IP address so we can watch CBC's live coverage."

A spokesperson for NBC Sports pointed out that NBC Universal is presenting more than 1,500 hours of Olympics coverage, more than 1,200 of which are live.

"NBCSN is televising live every performance in the figure skating competition — the first time that has ever been offered in an Olympics — and the channels of NBCUniversal are offering live coverage of men's and women's hockey, bobsled, Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, speed skating, and ski jumping," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement, adding that NBCOlympics.com offers live streaming of every event.

Still, NBC's coverage is dwarfed by that of CBC and its broadcast partners, which offer more than 1,500 hours of TV and another 1,500 hours of online streaming.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/02/10/cbc-sochi-2014-olympics_n_4763185.html

2014 Winter Olympics Medal Count On ABC Is Just A Little Bit Off - 



Someone missed their morning coffee.

We're proud of the medals Canada has collected so far at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but ABC's medal counter could have used another look before it was shown on TV Sunday morning. While this screen capture was taken before Norway captured their fourth bronze medal, something still isn't right.

No, you can't have our flag, America.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/02/09/2014-winter-olympics-canada_n_4757395.html

Man Breaks Into Woman's House, Takes Selfie On Her Phone, Leaves... -

Man Breaks Into Woman's House, Takes Selfie On Her Phone, Leaves... - 



The woman who found a selfie on her cell phone of a man who broke into her home is traumatized by what happened as police continue their search for the man.
The victim told police she had no idea the man had been inside her home while she was there– until she checked her cell phone the next day.

According to police, on Jan. 29 at approximately 9:20 p.m. a woman was putting her children to bed when an unknown man entered her home and used the woman’s cellphone to take a picture of himself.
The incident occurred in the 3400 block of West Amherst Avenue.

“And he looks familiar to me, everybody else says they didn’t see him but he looks familiar to me, I know I’ve seen him before,” said neighbor Richard Gardner.
Police said the man walked into the home through the back door, took the picture and left. He didn’t take anything.
Gardner said he recognized the man on the selfie.
“He doesn’t have glasses when you normally see him walking down the street. Maybe they’re a disguise. I don’t know,” said Gardner.
When asked about the facial hair, Gardner replied, “Oh, that’s his, that’s him.”
Gardner said a nearby park does attract some strange characters.
“We don’t take the kids up there either. There’s just too many strange people up there anymore,” said Gardner.

Read more - 
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/02/07/victim-traumatized-after-finding-pic-of-suspect-on-cell/

SHOCK: Almost One in Four 26 year-olds still live with parents! -

SHOCK: Almost One in Four 26 year-olds still live with parents! - 




A ten-year survey of millennials reveals that almost one in four (22.6%) 26-year-olds are still living with their parents.
The U.S. Department of Education report confirmed that, if you are tired of living with Mom and Dad, then do your homework and stay in school. According to the survey titled “Where Are They Now," education makes a difference: generally those with more schooling were less likely to be living at home. The study shed some light on how older millennials have been faring during the Great Recession. 
According to a Pew Research analysis of the 2012 data, lower levels of employment, an increase in college enrollment, and a decrease in young people getting married are major factors in the increase of millennials living at home. 
The survey followed 13,000 high school students who were sophomores in 2002, and checked in with them in 2012 to see where are they now.  Some of the results are:
10% living with roommate(s), prompting fellow millennial Katy Waldman to write an embarrassing Slate article bearing the headline, "More 27-Year-Olds Live With Parents Than Roommates"
53.8 percent made less than $25,000 from employment in 2011
40%  had been unemployed for one or more months since January 2009
13% reported they were neither working for pay nor taking postsecondary courses
60.2 %  of those who had enrolled in college, reported they had taken out student loans

Read more -

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/06/Almost-One-in-Four-26-Year-Olds-Still-Live-with-Parents

POLL: Internet access, smartphones, laptops more important to Americans than sex... -

POLL: Internet access, smartphones, laptops more important to Americans than sex... - 



There is a popular quote attributed to an unknown author which goes, “I would like to meet the man who invented sex and see what he's working on now.” Evidence reveals that it may have been the smartphone.
A new poll shows that while 20% of Americans claim they couldn’t live without sex, a full 26% say they couldn’t live without using their smartphones. It also shows that Americans prefer internet access, cars, laptops, and TV to sex.
The study by Harris Interactive also discovered that almost three quarters of adults say technology enriches the quality of their lives, and almost half of the people surveyed believe it improves their relationships with friends and boosts their social lives. About 40% of those polled thinks technology makes them happier.
Food was far and away the most treasured of all “could not live withouts,” garnering a hefty 73% of positive responses. 
From a generation of technology savvy Americans, only eight percent seem to regularly lose their ways, admitting that they could not live without their satellite navigation devices



Read more - 

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/06/More-Americans-Prefer-Their-Laptop-and-Smartphones-to-Sex