End Times and Current Events
March 29, 2024, 06:35:25 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." John 5:39 (KJB)
 
  Home Help Search Gallery Staff List Login Register  

Matthew 24:34

Shoutbox
March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
View Shout History
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 6   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Matthew 24:34  (Read 12920 times)
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #30 on: November 05, 2013, 04:15:12 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/kids-give-their-honest-opinions-on-gay-marriage-184642754.html?vp=1
Kids Give Their Honest Opinions on Gay Marriage
11/5/13

Same-sex marriage is a hotly debated topic in the U.S., with more and more states legalizing the unions. Instead of getting the opinions of adults on the topic, a new video asks the most innocent group — kids! The YouTube hit is brought to us by the Fine Brothers, aka Benny and Rafi Fine, who regularly release "React" videos on their page. It starts out with kids ranging in age from 5 to 13 years old watching two same-sex proposal videos that have gone viral, "Spencer's Home Depot Marriage Proposal" and "Seattle+The Washington Bus+Jeanne+Alissa = wedding proposal." Watch as they slowly piece together what is happening in each video:

Next, the Fine Brothers sit down with the youngsters for interviews on the topic of same-sex marriage. All of the children appear to accept the concept of two people of the same sex getting married, except for one boyIn the beginning of the clip, Benny and Rafi explain that the opinions of children can give valuable insight into where our society stands and where we are headed. They think it's important to discuss the topics openly in hopes of a better tomorrow through dialogue and conversation. The video is clocking in at more than a whopping 2 million views,  with comments like "wow, that's the future I want to be."
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #31 on: November 15, 2013, 01:43:28 pm »

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/retirement-thing-past-millennials-164410760.html
Why Millennials May Never Retire
11/14/13

It seems that, every few weeks, a new study or article comes out citing a rise in the average age of retirement. Hard economic times and longer lifespans make the idea of full retirement seem like wishful thinking for people across generations.

For millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, retirement may never be a viable option. The generation that came of age in the tech boom of the 1990s but graduated from college into one of the worst recessions our nation has ever seen is behind financially.

The median debt for a student upon graduation is now $23,000, and more than 7 million college grads are currently estimated to be in default. Eighteen percent of college students are unable to find jobs after graduation. These are crucial setbacks at the beginning of a career and may be impossible to recover from. The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that those who graduate into a recession earn 10% less over a decade of work. Research also shows that 70% of overall wage growth occurs in the first 10 years of a career.

A study by Nerd Wallet finds that college-educated millennials won’t be able to retire until 73, 12 years later than the current average retirement age of 61. According to Personal Capital, millennials will need to save $1.6 million to retire by 65.

“The economy has changed everything at its greatest level,” says Dan Schawbel, author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success. “A lot of the jobs that exist today won’t even exist in five to ten years. People now have to be self-sufficient and accountable for their careers and have multiple streams of income or career-diversification. They can no longer rely on employers.”

Millennials don't necessarily have the option of climbing the corporate ladder until they reach a traditional retirement age. Fifty percent of them don’t even expect to receive Social Security checks in their old age.

“The big trend is that the economy has changed the typical career path,” says Schawbel. “People no longer expect Social Security, or even to retire.”

According to Intuit, more than 40% of the American workforce will be freelancers, contractors or temp workers by 2020.

“It’s becoming easier to start a business or do consulting work because of opportunities online,” says Schawbel. “With this comes custom career paths with part-time work, multiple clients and jobs.”

Millennials also seek passion and meaning in the workplace, and they may not see a career as something they even want to retire from. “This is a generation that’s thinking about all the basic tenets of work, their career and leadership, in such different ways,” says Anne Hubert, senior vice president at Scratch Media, a division of Viacom focused on understanding the millennial mindset.

“They’re thinking about finding their life’s work, their calling," she says. "Eighty-four percent of them believe they’re going to get where they want to in life. So when you’ve organized your career around finding your life’s work, I think the idea of retirement is a totally different thing.

"The whole idea of retirement as this light at the end of the tunnel, well, if you haven’t thought of your career as a tunnel, where are you really heading?”

Hubert claims that millennials will change the paradigm of retirement altogether.

Whether it's because of passion, the economy or a combination of the two, the idea of a typical retirement may soon be extinct.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #32 on: November 29, 2013, 11:25:27 am »

FWIW - this is more damage the "religious right"/"moral majority" did when they were active for from 1980 to when Obama got into office - while they exposed the public school system, at the same time they acted like they would fight this system and win(by getting evolution, etc out of these public schools, and putting back bible reading, prayer, etc in them). So pretty much what they did was deceive their flock into letting their children attend these public schools, thinking everything will be back to normal.

Well, ultimately, look at their rotten fruit - everything just went from bad to worse, and their flock's next generation got brainwashed into these socialist deceptions.(ie-even the so-called "College Republicans" have stood down against abortion and sodomy)

Jeremiah_6:14  They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/millennials-obamacare-big-boost-poll-101500010.html
11/29/13
Millennials Give Obamacare a Big Boost in Poll

Finally, some good news for the Obama administration.

Despite two solid months of technological disasters, significant delays, low enrollment numbers and millions of cancelled insurance policies, the group most crucial to Obamacare’s success hasn’t given up on it yet.

Millennials, ages 18-34, overwhelmingly believe the president’s signature healthcare law will work. That’s according to a new CNN poll released Tuesday that shows seven in 10 young Americans are optimistic about Obamacare’s future.

This is good news for the White House, which is desperately counting on at least 2.7 million of these young people to sign up for health insurance through the exchanges to offset the cost of the law. Since Millennials are typically healthy and rarely rack up expensive medical bills, their monthly premiums would make it cheaper for the federal and state exchanges to affordably insure 4.3 million other Americans.

Though the administration hasn’t revealed how many young Americans nationwide have enrolled in the exchanges so far, the numbers are almost certainly far from where they need to be. That’s because just 106,000 Americans overall had selected policies in October—well below the administration’s original estimate of 500,000.

But since the open enrollment period doesn’t end until March, some advocates suggest Millennials are just waiting until the last minute to sign up for coverage.

“While older and sicker people have good reason to more aggressively try to get covered, the younger, healthier people aren’t likely to exhibit much patience with a balky website, “They’ll probably wait until the last minute,” Young Invincibles’ Natalie Villacorta wrote in a blog post. “They’re likely to put off the mandatory insurance sign up until much closer to the March 2014 deadline.

Advocates routinely point to Massachusetts in 2007, where the enrollment numbers for Bay Staters 35-years-old and younger more than doubled in the final month of open enrollment. The White House anticipates – or at least hopes -- Obamacare enrollments will follow a similar pattern.

**Hmmm...Obamacare was modeled after Romneycare, and it looks like the former is following similar patterns as the latter.

Some experts, however, say comparing the Massachusetts exchange to the federal exchange is unfair, since only a relatively small portion of the state’s population lacked insurance at that time. Also, Massachusetts had a much longer open enrollment period of 15 months, compared to just six months for Obamacare. And the Massachusetts program didn’t suffer from widespread technical problems that prevented people from enrolling. 
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #33 on: December 04, 2013, 02:06:28 pm »

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/milennialls-are-moving-for-health-care-135142344.html
More Than 40% of Millennials Say They Would Move to Save Money on This Expense
12/4/13

If the future success of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) rests largely with the number of young people who sign up--and there's little doubt that it does--then there's finally some good news for the new health insurance program.

"The Affordable Care Act is growing on them," even as more people have become more negative about Obamacare, according to the latest Bankrate.com health insurance survey released Tuesday.

Bankrate.com, a consumer financial website, also found that among all the groups it surveys regularly about Obamacare, 18- to 29-years-olds "were the most likely to say that their health insurance situation is improving" as well as their ability to pay for medical expenses.

"All of this really points to possible success of the law because…we do need the young and presumably more healthy people getting into the insurance pool to balance things out, to help pay for the older people [who] presumably might be more inclined to use health care," Doug Whiteman, insurance analyst at Bankrate.com, tells The Daily Ticker.

Not only are young people generally more healthy than others but they are also more likely to be uninsured. Millennials account for about 40% of the estimated 41 million uninsured in the U.S. according to the White House.
 
Young people are also more likely to relocate to find better and/or cheaper health insurance, according to the Bankrate survey. Forty-two percent of respondents in the 18- to 29-year-old age bracket said that "finding better insurance, possibly with cheaper rates or more options, would be a minor or major reason to move," says Whiteman.

“When it comes to the Affordable Care Act it might be worth your while to move around,” he adds. “The rates in the health care exchanges are literally all over the map. Some states are expanding Medicaid and some states are not.”

And then there’s the HealthCare.gov website which has fixed many of its problems at the front end, but not necessarily at the back end. One hundred thousand people reportedly were able to sign up in November but it’s not clear that they or others who have signed up are officially enrolled with an insurer.

These “significant ‘backend’ issues must also be resolved to ensure that coverage can begin on Jan. 1, 2014,” Karen Ignani, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, told ABC News.

That said, Obama administration officials indicated on Dec. 1 they had met their goal of getting Healthcare.gov running smoothly. The Bankrate.com survey was conducted before that, from Nov. 21 to Nov. 24.
Report Spam   Logged
Kilika
Guest
« Reply #34 on: December 04, 2013, 02:13:59 pm »

Quote
"The Affordable Care Act is growing on them,"

You mean, like a fungus!  Roll Eyes
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: January 06, 2014, 01:19:43 pm »

I'm not saying Obamacare is the mark of the beast or anything, but the more I learn about this, the more it's becoming potentially obvious that this "bill" could likely lead into the NWO, end times MOB system.

It seems like they're targeting the youth the most(not only with this agenda, but also all of the deceptions in these Babel buildings like Vacation Bible School, CCM, etc that are corrupting our youth).

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/family/family-health/obamacare-effect-creating-millennial-precariat-class?page=1
The Obamacare Effect: Creating the Millennial Precariat Class
1/6/14

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Is the Affordable Care Act (ACA) increasing the size of the 'precariat' - especially among Millennials? The early indications are that it is.

For those unfamiliar with the word, "precariat" is a portmanteau of the words "precarious" and "proletariat." It is used to describe those who have little or no job security; these folks very often work at jobs for which they are overqualified.

The depressed economy hit Millennials hard. Unemployment among Millennials exceeds the national average — between 12% and 16% as opposed to the general 7%. It put many in the precariat class.

Obamacare, for all its noble intentions, seems to have made this worse.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey recently said during an interview with a cable news network that Obamacare is hurting his employees. The mandate has created an incentive among employers, he alleges, to hire fewer full time workers.

The plight of Mackey's workers is not unusual. Many employers are changing full time workers to part time to avoid the necessity of coping with the health care mandate. Many companies eliminated health insurance benefits for the same reason. It was cheaper for them to pay the fine for not offering insurance for their employees and letting the employees buy through the exchanges or enroll in Medicaid.

Predictably, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a different opinion of the economic effects of Obamacare. It posted a video on its website quoting a gentleman by the name of Mark Sullivan.

"The Affordable Care Act, for me, was absolutely a job creator," Sullivan says. "I like to call it the entrepreneurial tax credit. I was able to browse through 76 plans and pick one that best fit my needs – which made it easy to figure out what was good for me. I found a plan that was exactly what I wanted. Now, I get to invest more in my business and less into health insurance."

HHS says that tax credits for Sullivan means he will only pay $78 a month for health coverage as of January 1. "Knowing that I have this plan that covers me in case of an accident or problem is incredibly meaningful," he says.

Obamacare advocates tout the November jobs report as proof that the program has not deleteriously affected employment. The report showed unemployment decreasing. But as the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted much of this was the result of furloughed federal workers returning to work. Still private sector employment did increase. So this runs counter to the doomsayers.

But the Obamacare cheerleaders omit that President Barack Obama delayed the employer mandate, so the motivation to go part time was eliminated. Also the BLS divides part time workers into voluntary (those who choose to be part-time) and involuntary (those who cannot find full-time work).

Involuntary part-time workers remain a significant amount of the total.

A San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank study addressed this. It acknowledged that the ACA's impact would not be great. But it did say there would be an impact.

"An alternative interpretation of the persistent high level of involuntary part-time work due to an inability to find full-time work is that it reflects employer anticipation of the 30-hour cutoff for mandatory employee health benefits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010," the report states. "This phenomenon will probably continue, although perhaps at a slower pace due to the recently announced delay in implementation of the employer mandate to 2015."

Others are more definite. They say that Obamacare is creating a precariat class especially for Millennials. Edmund F. Haislmaier, a senior research fellow in health policy studies for the Heritage Foundation, a Washington D.C. think tank, is one of them.

"What is happening is the creation of a serfdom," said Haislmaier. "If you think about it, there are very wealthy people paying the taxes, so they feel good about themselves helping the poor, and then there are the poor. It is the middle class that is forgotten. They are the ones most burdened by the higher taxes and increased regulation. As more of the middle class leave, places like California and New York are beginning to look like Russia before Catherine the Great."
 
Haislmaier also noted that Obamacare encourages employers to keep low wage workers on Medicaid by limiting their pay rates and hours worked. He points out that as long as those workers don't earn too much for Medicaid, their employers not only don't have to pay for their health insurance but also avoid Obamacare's fines for not offering them coverage. The trade-off for the workers is that they can keep their "free" health coverage (Medicaid), and their jobs, so long as their incomes remain low. Thus, a program initially established for the vulnerable poor (children and disabled) becomes a catch-all for low paid, able-bodied workers, half of whom are young adults.

"This means Medicaid is now added to the list of government initiatives that actively discourage economic upward mobility," declared Haislmaier.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #36 on: January 10, 2014, 12:17:04 pm »

The modern-day, Apostate organized "church" system is largely to blame too - b/c of their deceptive messages for years over how "giving 'tithes' will result in 'blessings' from God, especially 'job security'".

Now we're in the worst economy since the Great Depression.

1John 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.


http://www.blacklistednews.com/40_percent_of_jobless_youth_facing_mental_illness_symptoms_with_one-in-three_contemplating_suicide/31670/0/0/0/Y/M.html
40 percent of jobless youth facing mental illness symptoms with one-in-three contemplating suicide
1/2/14

Some jobless youngsters are facing “devastating” symptoms of mental illness, with one in three having comtemplated suicide, a leading youth charity said on Thursday.

The Prince’s Trust said 40 percent of jobless young people have experienced symptoms of mental illness such as suicidal thoughts, feelings of self-loathing and panic attacks.

The study is based on interviews with over 2,100 people aged between 16 and 25.

Young people who have been unemployed in the long-term are also more than twice as likely as their peers to believe they have nothing to live for, the study said.

The charity called for urgent support from the government, health agencies and employers.

Martina Milburn, chief executive of The Prince’s Trust, said: “Unemployment is proven to cause devastating, long-lasting mental health problems among young people. Thousands wake up every day believing that life isn’t worth living, after struggling for years in the dole queue.”

The charity said three quarters of long-term unemployed young people did not have someone to confide in.

Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, commented: “This research proves that unemployment is a public health issue.

“It is one that must be tackled urgently and it is essential that youth unemployment is added to the public health agenda.

Report Spam   Logged
Kilika
Guest
« Reply #37 on: January 10, 2014, 12:38:07 pm »

Quote
The charity called for urgent support from the government, health agencies and employers.

That's not the solution, as the system has already failed them. It's the world. There's no life in it, and those kids have no life in them without Jesus, and that means they have no hope, so they get depressed, and wonder why they should even bother.

The world says, as in the article, that the solution is "mental health" treatment. Well, they say that because the world doesn't believe in God, but rather the hands of man. All the mental health system does is medicate these people, which is a chemical mask of the symptoms, but those drugs do not address the root cause of the symptom of depression and anxiety. And the root cause is spiritual. They walk in darkness because they have no hope. Either they get off track like I did for a time, or they never were grounded and settled in the first place. Either way, the end results are the same when walking after the flesh and not the Spirit; tribulation, chaos, and darkness.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #38 on: January 15, 2014, 10:36:11 am »

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/parents-spending-big-kids-traveling-sports-teams-2D11928994
Parents spending BIG on kids’ traveling sports teams
1/15/14

Over the past 10 years, Alison and Scott Bermack have traveled hundreds of miles — and spent thousands of dollars — to attend gymnastic practices, workouts and tournaments with their son Zachary, now 16.

"It averages around $300 a month year-round for training, and that's not including airfare, hotel rooms and food, uniforms and event fees," said Alison, a 44-year-old freelance writer with two other children.

"Scott is a lawyer, so he pays for most of this," she said. "It's expensive, but our son loves being a gymnast, so that's why we do it."

The Bermacks are part of the explosive youth sports movement, which has become a $7 billion industry in travel alone.

"Youth sports tourism wasn't even a category four years ago, and now it's the fastest-growing segment in travel," said Dave Hollander, professor at New York University's Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports.

"You've got millions of kids involved, parents spending thousands of dollars, and cities building facilities to host events and chase tourism dollars," he said. "It's just huge."

Youth sports are commonly defined as nonschool-related sport activities that include baseball, soccer, lacrosse, rowing, volleyball and gymnastics.

The sports are usually organized through local programs, such as Little League; or groups, such as soccer clubs, that are funded by donations, fees and business sponsorships. They have no single national organizing or oversight body.

It's estimated that at least 35 million kids between 5 and 18 currently play an organized sport each year in the U.S. Of that, 21 million are involved in nonschool youth sports, which have been expanding.

Youth soccer, for example, has risen from 2,388,000 players in 1995 to 3,020,000 in 2012 — with a near-even split between girls and boys.

Parents' task is to come up with the time and money to get their kids to training and tournament events. That could entail driving to the other side of town — or flying across the country.

"We've had to get on planes and travel with the whole family for an event for Zachary," said Alison Bermack, who lives in Montclair, N.J. "It wasn't cheap."

"We did have to cancel a trip to Orlando, Fla., because of the expense," she added.

If he does well in tournaments this year, she added, "we'll likely have to pay for all of us to go to California for nationals. We've put off a lot of other vacations to do all this."

The amounts of money that the Bermacks and other families like them spend is a major incentive for cities and towns nationwide to build youth sports facilities.

"When we started in 2003 we only got two calls a day about sport development projects," said Dev Pathik, founder of the Sports Facilities Advisory, a planning and management firm in Clearwater, Fla.

"But now, because of the youth sports explosion, we get calls every day about projects worth $150 million to $200 million," he said.

One of the projects that SFA is helping to get off the ground is Rocky Top Sports World, in Gatlinburg, Tenn. The $20 million, 86,000-square-foot multisports facility is scheduled to open this summer.

Mayor Mike Warner said the complex will bring big economic benefits, in part because Gatlinburg will offer families something to do besides sit in a hotel room between events.

"There's often a lot of waiting for parents and kids," he said. "So we have new ... restaurants, stores and other local attractions for people. ... We're expecting an economic impact of around $50 million over the next five years."

Asked how Gatlinburg could afford the complex in today's economy, Warner said his city doesn't have budget constraints and issued bonds with the county for additional funds.

"We had a reserve fund and the ability to do this," he said. "And we are a tourist destination. ... Our tourism dollars have remained strong even during the economic downturn."

Pressure on young athletes
The surge in youth sports has a number reasons, from parents' desire to keep kids active to the commercialization of the events as more make their way to TV and the Internet.

There's also intense pressure on young athletes to succeed.

"Kids are told to specialize in a sport and play it year-round," said Hollander at NYU. "The logic is if you play one sport all the time, you'll get better at it. ... That's why more kids are becoming members of youth sport clubs."

That ties into a winning-at-all-costs mentality with a financial goal in mind, he added.

"It's not just about learning teamwork but about money," Hollander said. "Some — not all, of course — but some parents see college scholarships as a reason to get their kids into youth sports."

What's lost in this may be the toll on the kids' health. In 2012, an estimated 1.3 million children sustained a sports-related injury severe enough to send them to a hospital emergency room, according to the nonprofit group Safe Kids Worldwide.

Sprains and strains, fractures, contusions, abrasions and concussions top the list of sports-related ER diagnoses for kids 6 to 19 — at a total cost of $935 million-plus annually
.

"Zachary hurt his knee and shoulder in 2012, [and] that required four months of physical therapy," Alison Bermack said. "Besides being naturally scared for him, it cost us about $90 a week just to walk in the door."

No sign of slowing down
Safety issues and costs aside, the youth sports phenomenon shows no sign of going away.

"I don't see this trending downward," Hollander said. "Check out the local youth sports TV channels in your neighborhood. They are continuing to grow."

"Cities and towns are seeing benefits as these trips to events turn into mini-vacations for families, so their incentive to be a player in this is also growing," he added.

There's little for parents can do to keep their kids from pursing something they love.

Alison Bermack said Zachary is not pushing himself for a scholarship, as he's not even sure he will compete in college, but for love of the sport.

"He once showed me a bruise he got from falling off a pommel horse and said, 'Isn't it cool, Mom?' " she said.

"I was cringing, but this is his passion," she said. "Our pleasure from doing all this comes from seeing him do something he likes."
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #39 on: January 15, 2014, 10:39:20 am »

1Timothy_4:8  For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

1Timothy 6:13  I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
1Ti 6:14  That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Ti 6:15  Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
1Ti 6:16  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
1Ti 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;


Report Spam   Logged
Kilika
Guest
« Reply #40 on: January 16, 2014, 01:52:43 am »

Quote
Youth sports tourism wasn't even a category four years ago, and now it's the fastest-growing segment in travel,"

That's a strange comment. Youth have been traveling around for sports for decades. Girls softball is HUGE for traveling teams. My ex has a daughter that played softball, well, like most of her family, and a couple of the girls were good enough to play on traveling teams, which they eventually did. Girls traveling softball was extremely competitive, and expensive for families that had to follow the teams around for tourneys across the country. I had no idea till we started going to some local tourneys and saw how big it was. Her team was just a small local team, not all of the players had equipment bags to carry their gear, while those traveling teams would show up all with their own matching gear bags, warmup uniforms, their own bats, custom painted batting helmets, etc. I sometimes wondered where they landed their team charter jet!

Basketball, baseball, even football has had a national level "traveling" teams for many years. It's not new, except I guess for the travel industry, who I guess just learned about what has been going on for years.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #41 on: February 01, 2014, 08:56:06 pm »

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/millennials-hit-30-its-economy-not-us-2D11981954?ocid=msnhp&pos=5
Millennials hit 30: It's the economy, not us
2/1/14

Turning 30 used to mean hitting your stride as an official adult. But for many of the country’s millennials, it feels like being stuck in perpetual late adolescence.

Marriage eludes many. Children? Not anytime soon. Most millennials have some sort of job, but for many a career seems unobtainable. A home of their own? Lots of them have had to move back in with mom and dad or shack up with roommates. That’s not the place where many millennials expected or wanted to be as they enter their thirties.

“We have plans that we’re working toward. It’s just so slow,” said Erika Hall Trowell, a 31-year-old living in Phoenix, who after two layoffs and a sharp pay cut figures she and her husband are at least several years behind on their goals.

Of course, some millennials have managed to navigate the early years of adulthood just fine. But for many, 30 is looking a lot like 20 used to as the generation that began with so much promise has fallen behind on nearly every adult milestone.

What happened? One major culprit, say many millennials: The lousy economy.

Even as the economy improves, years of economic malaise have left many millennials unemployed, underemployed or just lower on the career ladder than they had hoped to be at this age. Many are burdened by debt, unable to afford a house and too consumed by uncertainty to meet all the adult milestones yet.

Milllennials including Trowell say they aspire to the same things their parents’ generation had — and bristle when older Americans say they are lazy, or lack drive and ambition.

It’s kind of a disillusionment that we’re facing,” Trowell said. “We were told that you can be anything you want, and now here we are and you can’t find a job.”

Millennials are loosely defined as the generation of adults born in the 1980s; the older ones of the bunch are hitting their 30s now. Experts say they’ve been hit particularly hard by the difficult economy because they have launched their careers at a time when job prospects are so dim.

The unemployment rate for younger workers has generally been higher than for older workers throughout the recession and recovery, and those who are working have likely started off lower on the ladder, and making less money, than they might have in a better economy.

Although they have decades to catch up, economists say a slow start in the working world can have a lifelong impact on a person’s earnings potential.

“My whole outlook is, it’s all very delayed,” said Chris Quinn, 31, a talent manager for a large advertising agency in Chicago, who after years of furloughs and other setbacks finally feels like he is on a path to making big life decisions about things like buying a house and getting married.

For many, even now, it remains tough just to get a job.

About 74 percent of the oldest millennials — those who are currently ages 25 to 32 — were employed in 2013, according to an analysis of government data prepared by Pew Research Center. That’s down from 79 percent who were employed in 2007.

Experts say the problem is compounded for those like Trowell who lack a college education, which is considered a minimum requirement now for many jobs that didn’t require it in the past.

Job losses and pay cuts
Erika Trowell and her husband, Ben, 29, say they expected by now to have already paid off their debts, bought a house, settled into good jobs and perhaps even started raising children.

Instead, the couple is still struggling to whittle down the last of Ben’s student loans plus credit card debt they accrued when times were tougher for them.

Even their wedding was delayed, and downsized, after Erika was laid off in 2008 and their wedding fund went to paying the bills.

Their finances remain tight.

Erika currently makes $12 an hour as an operations secretary for a Phoenix restaurant chain. She said she hasn’t received a raise since starting there in 2009. That’s down from $18 an hour at the job she lost in 2008.

Ben, who has a college degree, makes $15 an hour working as a graphic designer for the same company. But he only works 29 hours and 59 minutes a week, below the 30 hours a week that would require his company to offer him health insurance benefits.

The couple said it’s too pricey to add him to her plan for anything more than vision and dental, but he’s hoping to eventually sign up for Obamacare.

They rent a modest apartment near downtown Phoenix and have been sharing one car since their second vehicle broke down several years ago and repairs proved too costly.

They don’t have cable TV, though they do have Netflix. On weekends, they often visit a favorite used bookstore where they can sell books they’ve read and buy a few new ones with the profits.

They fret about being one health emergency or job loss away from financial ruin.

“If one big thing happens to us we’re not going to be able to handle it,” Erika said.

The couple say they are grateful for many things — their health, their compatibility and at least earning enough to not have to move back in with parents.

Decline in living independently
About 46.6 percent of older millennials ages 25 to 32 were heading their own household as of March 2013, down from 47.9 percent of people in that age range who headed their own home in 2007, according to a Pew analysis of government data.

Some older millennials may be sharing a home with roommates or a romantic partner, but a rising number are staying at their parents’ home. About 16 percent of 25- to 31-year-old millennials were living at home in 2012, according to Pew, up from 13.8 percent in 2007.

“There is this notion that there’s been a change in cultural trends — that it’s more acceptable now to live with Mom and Dad,” said Pew economist Robert Fry. “Possibly, but it’s also very clear that … living with Mom and Dad is related to sort of how you’re faring in the job market.”

Katie Stanton, 26, lives with her parents in Darien, Ill., because her part-time retail job doesn’t pay enough for her to afford to live on her own. Like many millennials, she fumes at the notion that she just wants to rely on her parents, or isn’t trying hard enough to find a career that uses her college degree.

“It’s annoying to hear that because it’s like, ‘You don’t know what I’ve been doing,’” Stanton said. “It’s hard not to get defensive when I hear those arguments.”

Delaying marriage and children
Millennials also are getting married later. In 2013, the median age of a first marriage was 29 for men and 26.6 for women, according to Pew data. That’s up significantly from just 18 years ago, when the median age of first marriage was 26.9 years old for men and 24.5 years old for women.

That’s partly the result of a long-term trend toward later, and less, marriage — but some millennials also say they have put off weddings because of economic concerns.

The recession also may be playing a role in delaying people’s decisions to have kids. The birth rate for women ages 25 to 29 fell steadily between 2008 and 2012, echoing an overall slowdown in births. Experts say it’s common for people to delay having children when the economy slows, but it’s not yet clear whether millennials will make up for lost time later on.

The Trowells are still hopeful that they will end up being able to achieve their version of the American dream: Steady work, a modest home and at least one child. They are trying to be patient.

“It’s taking way longer than I expected,” Erika said.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #42 on: February 01, 2014, 09:01:35 pm »

Quote
Delaying marriage and children
Millennials also are getting married later. In 2013, the median age of a first marriage was 29 for men and 26.6 for women, according to Pew data. That’s up significantly from just 18 years ago, when the median age of first marriage was 26.9 years old for men and 24.5 years old for women.

That’s partly the result of a long-term trend toward later, and less, marriage — but some millennials also say they have put off weddings because of economic concerns.

The recession also may be playing a role in delaying people’s decisions to have kids. The birth rate for women ages 25 to 29 fell steadily between 2008 and 2012, echoing an overall slowdown in births. Experts say it’s common for people to delay having children when the economy slows, but it’s not yet clear whether millennials will make up for lost time later on.

The Trowells are still hopeful that they will end up being able to achieve their version of the American dream: Steady work, a modest home and at least one child. They are trying to be patient.

“It’s taking way longer than I expected,” Erika said.

10 "commandments" on the Georgia Guidestones...

1.Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2.Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3.Unite humanity with a living new language.
4.Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5.Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6.Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7.Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8.Balance personal rights with social duties.
9.Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #43 on: February 01, 2014, 09:04:02 pm »

Quote
The Trowells are still hopeful that they will end up being able to achieve their version of the American dream: Steady work, a modest home and at least one child. They are trying to be patient.

“It’s taking way longer than I expected,” Erika said.

Galatians 3:11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Report Spam   Logged
Kilika
Guest
« Reply #44 on: February 02, 2014, 01:42:58 am »

Quote
“It’s kind of a disillusionment that we’re facing,” Trowell said. “We were told that you can be anything you want, and now here we are and you can’t find a job.”

Yep, you bought into the delusion all right. You just don't realize yet exactly what has happened to you and who did it, but your starting to see how you've been offered one thing, when reality is another, which is the EXACT same scam the devil tried on Jesus.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #45 on: February 11, 2014, 08:29:17 pm »

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/teens-more-stressed-out-adults-survey-shows-n26921
Teens More Stressed-Out Than Adults, Survey Shows
2/11/14

Forget the notion of carefree youth. America’s teens are every bit as stressed as the adults around them — and sometimes even more — according to a new survey that offers a snapshot of adolescent angst.

Teens routinely say that their school-year stress levels are far higher than they think is healthy and their average reported stress exceeds that of adults, according to an annual survey published by the American Psychological Association.

The agency's Stress in America survey found that 30 percent of teens reported feeling sad or depressed because of stress and 31 percent felt overwhelmed. Another 36 percent said that stress makes them tired and 23 percent said they’ve skipped meals because of it.

On average, teens reported their stress level was 5.8 on 10-point scale, compared with 5.1 for adults.

“It is alarming that the teen stress experience is so similar to that of adults,” said Norman B. Anderson, the APA’s chief executive and senior vice president. “In order to break this cycle of stress and unhealthy behaviors as a nation, we need to provide teens with better support and health education, at school and at home, at the community level and in their interactions with health care professionals.”

That’s no surprise to experts who work with teens. They say that the pressures of schoolwork, social life, sports or other activities — combined with a relentless media culture — mean that young people may be more tense than ever before.

“You have to be able to perform at a much higher level than in the past, when I was in high school,” said Dave Forrester, a counselor at Olympia High School in Olympia, Wash. “We have so many choices for kids. They need to grow up a little faster about what they want to do and how they’re going to do it.”

"What I’ve heard is without a doubt a huge increase in the number of our teens coming in with anxiety and depression."

An increased emphasis on make-or-break school testing and sharp focus as early as middle school on future college or career plans can be intense for some kids. Others find that the ordinary struggles of adolescence — friendship, romance, fitting in — are magnified by social media that doesn’t end when classes are over.

“It follows them home,” said Tim Conway, who directs the counseling department at Lakeland Regional High School in Wanaque, N.J. “There is no escape anymore.”

Stress seems to be getting worse for some teens, according to the survey. About 31 percent of kids said their stress level had increased in the past year, twice as many as those who said it went down. And 34 percent said they expected their stress level would rise in the coming year.

That makes sense to Bryce Goldsen, a junior at Bishop Blanchet, a Catholic high school near Seattle. He carries a near-4.0 grade point average, takes advanced placement history and language arts classes, plays varsity tennis, participates in mock trial events and sits on the city's local youth commission.

“Most of my stress comes from the pressure to perform well day in and day out,” he said.

Goldsen says he manages his stress well and uses it as a motivation to do even better. But Conway, the New Jersey counselor, said that growing numbers of kids crack under the pressure.

“What I’ve heard is without a doubt a huge increase in the number of our teens coming in with anxiety and depression,” he said.

"Most of my stress comes from the pressure to perform well day in and day out."

Across the country, Elaine Leader, executive director of Teen Line, a hotline in Los Angeles, reports a similar problem. Her 34-year-old nonprofit agency provides phone counseling and resources to stressed teens ages 13 through 19. Last year, they fielded more than 4,600 phone calls, 4,100 emails and 15,000 texts from California and beyond.

“I’ve seen a lot of stress, particularly in the past few years,” said Leader. “I think it’s gotten worse.”

Despite the growing pressure, most teens reported they don’t believe that stress is a problem in the agency’s Harris Interactive survey of 1,950 adults and 1,018 teens ages 13 to 17 conducted last August. About 54 percent of teens said that their stress level had slight or no impact on their body or physical health, versus 39 percent of adults, and 52 percent said it had little impact on their mental health, compared with 43 percent of adults who felt that way. The

Parents, counselors and other adults can help young people resist stress and learn to manage it better, said Forrester, the school counselor. They can set limits for reasonable sleep and screen time and point their teens toward stress-relieving activities, such as exercise.

They can help kids set realistic priorities for school and outside activities.

“We talk to them about balance. How do you balance what you have on your plate?” he said. “Maybe you don’t need to do three sports.”

Of course, that means that the adults have to take stress seriously, too. The new survey found that 42 percent of adults said their stress level has increased, and 36 percent said it held steady for the past five years.

And when it comes to managing their stress, 1 in 10 adults said they don’t do anything about it at all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #46 on: February 22, 2014, 08:16:37 pm »

http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/22/obamacare-spurring-a-new-generation-of-healthcare-startups/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000591
2/22/14
Obamacare Spurring A New Generation Of Startups

Spurred by the Affordable Care Act, the American healthcare system in 2014 has entered a period of titanic change. The process will be messy and disruptive – it already is. While challenging for consumers of healthcare services, the shifting landscape provides tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs, setting up the potential for an accelerated shift in healthcare delivery in the U.S.

This inflection point for healthcare in part reflects the way the Millennial generation – those born between 1980-2000 – manages information. It is a tech-savvy group, connected and collaborative. They want instant gratification and recognition. And they want – and expect – to have a different kind of interaction with physicians and the healthcare system than their older brethren have historically experienced.

Millennials have at their disposal a new wave of technological tools that track, analyze and respond to their physical condition in real time. Can physicians and the healthcare system deliver this generation what they want from the healthcare system? I believe the answer clearly is “no.” Instead, they will build it themselves.

My theory is that this population segment will drive huge changes in the practice of medicine. I’d expect relatively few to sign up for insurance coverage under the ACA, for instance. But I do think this generation’s entrepreneurs will reimagine and rebuild the country’s sclerotic healthcare system.

Entrepreneurs in this area must start by navigating around some core issues.

Medicine is hyper-local, with providers protected from outsiders by state law. And it is hyper-personal, with strong regulations governing information privacy.

On the other hand, Millennials tend to believe that data access should be ubiquitous and free. They have fewer privacy concerns than the Baby Boomers, living their lives publicly on Facebook and Twitter. Millennials want to hold e-visits with their doctors; they want to text medical providers for quick advice; they want portable insurance, transferable between jobs and across state lines; and they want clear visibility about what they are personally paying for and why. Today, in short, there is a massive divide between what Millennials expect and what the current healthcare system can deliver.

The opportunity here is gargantuan. The U.S. health-care sector generates annual revenue of close to $2.1 trillion a year, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau report. It’s an industry that employs nearly 17 million Americans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). And neither of those figures includes the health insurance industry, which has more than 450,000 employees (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan 2014), and annual revenue of more than $850 billion (Annual Report on the Insurance Industry, 2013). In short, this is an industry practically begging for revolutionary change. And the ACA has lit the fuse.

Let’s take a look at five big entrepreneurial ideas on changing the healthcare landscape. Some of these areas – touching on insurance and patient care – offer the potential to build big businesses. While they may be lacking in some of the pizzazz of social networking or cloud-based software or other buzzy areas, no industry offers a richer environment for disruption.

Information wants to be free – especially when the government has it

Under the leadership of Todd Park, chief technology officer of the U.S., the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has released vast amounts of de-identified Medicare performance data. Dabo Health, a San Francisco-based startup, is taking a big-data approach to mining that information, saving lives in the process. In a recent talk, Park drew a connection between the release of aggregate health information and the approach the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took a decade ago in liberating weather and GPS data. That move sparked an avalanche of innovation from companies like Garmin, Wave, Google Maps and many others.

Rethinking The Insurance Business

While most of the discussion around Obamacare has focused on the role of the large legacy insurers, there’s a need for new players. For instance, there’s Oscar Health, a company that has launched a next-generation health plan that intends to leverage the public exchange market in New York City.

Unencumbered by traditional health plan thinking and structures, Oscar launched a plan that leverages recent advances in big data analytics, alternative site options including telemedicine, and the best in mobile and web user experiences. From the Oscar website, for instance, you can click on a link and receive a call from a board-certified doctor within an hour, 24 hours a day. Everything on the site reflects a kinder, friendlier and more engaging consumer experience. If they can provide competitive pricing, Oscar has a chance to take business from the incumbents.

Building New Primary Care Physician Groups

Just as Obamacare opens the door to new insurers, so does the law create incentive for the creation of new ways to deliver medical care. Case in point: Village Family Practice, an independent primary care physician group based in Houston. The group’s goal is to provide the best possible care at the lowest total cost. The idea is to change medical practice in the U.S. so that consumers will feel good about their experiences – and physicians will be empowered to deliver quality, cost-efficient services.

The ACA, for instance, has provisions covering annual wellness visits and obesity counseling. Diabetes education has been around for years, but few have figured out now to cost effectively provide that service. Village Family Practice has figured it out, and is helping physicians deliver better care to their patients.

Make It Easier To Find The Right Coverage

Several new companies are focused on helping consumers find the right insurer – and the right physician.

Covered*, based in San Francisco, is the first data-driven consumer recommendation engine for health coverage. Likewise, Fuse Insurance, of Cambridge, Mass., has built sophisticated calculators to help consumers find health plans that meet their specific needs.

Help Employers Focus On Prevention And Wellness

The ACA allows large employers to offer workers rewards of up to 50 percent of the cost of coverage for participating in a wellness program and meeting certain health standards. That’s good news for Redbrick Health*, a health engagement and behavior change company. RedBrick combines financial accountability, clinical insight, behavior design, social and game mechanics and powerful data analytics to create a personalized and persuasive experience delivered through web, mobile and live interactions.

Redbrick’s open consumer engagement hub integrates apps, devices and services, and creates a cornerstone for more effective wellness and population health management initiatives delivered through employers as well as employee benefit exchanges.

This is the beginning of the revolution. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs are moving quickly to fix our troubled system, empower people with elegant and engaging tools and disrupt healthcare as we know it today.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #47 on: February 28, 2014, 02:03:02 pm »

http://theweek.com/article/index/257009/why-are-millennials-less-religious-its-not-just-because-of-gay-marriage
Why are Millennials less religious? It's not just because of gay marriage

A younger generation's religious views aren't shaped by a single hot-button issue

2/27/14

It's no secret that young Americans aren't as religious as their elders. A survey released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that part of that rift may be attributed to a perceived anti-gay bias in organized religion.

Among those who have abandoned their childhood religion and are now religiously unaffiliated, one quarter say anti-gay teachings factored into their decision to go faithless. Among Millennials in the religious turned irreligious camp, almost one third said the same.

At first blush, that would appear to suggest clear causation: stuffy old anti-gay religious dogma is spooking all the hip youngsters. But while there is certainly a link between the two, it is an overly simplistic analysis that glosses over a host of reasons that Americans — and particularly younger ones — are losing their religion.

Let's start by digging a little deeper into PRRI's survey results. While 31 percent of Millennial religion-droppers said anti-gay teachings were a factor in their decision, only 14 percent called it a "very important" reason they went faithless. And fully two thirds of Millennials who abandoned religion said their decision had very little or nothing at all to do with religion's position on homosexuals.

So what else is at play here?

Americans have been growing less religious for some time now. About one fifth of the nation is either atheist, agnostic, or religiously unaffiliated, according to a 2012 Pew survey, which categorizes that demographic as the "nones." Young adults are less devout than any other age bracket; nearly a third of them are religiously unaffiliated. Notably, they are also less religious than previous generations were at this point in their lives.

As Pew pointed out, that generational divide isn't the result of just one or even a few factors. Rather, it coincides with a general "softening of religious commitment" in the nation as a whole, with religious institutions holding much less influence in Americans' daily lives.

Americans attend church less, are more likely to doubt the existence of God, and are less likely to take the Bible literally than ever before. What that means for Millennials is that they're growing up in less religious households, and are thus less liable to embrace religion themselves.

At the same time, atheism and agnosticism have gradually become more commonplace and acceptable. Only 18 percent of Americans said they would vote for an atheist presidential candidate in 1958; a majority now say they would do just that. There are promotional atheism billboards all over the country, including one that went up near the site of the Super Bowl this year. There's even a hotline to help people "recover" from religion.

On another front, religion has become increasingly politicized in recent years; its perceived anti-gay bias is just one manifestation of that trend. As political scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell tell it in their book, American Grace, the religious right secured a foothold in modern American politics by railing against abortion, contraception, premarital sex, and other supposedly sinful things including, yes, homosexuality. (The PRRI survey lumps all religions together, but given Christianity's predominance it's worth spotlighting.) That politicization, they argue, then turned nonreligious voters off of the GOP and religion in general. Indeed, religiously unaffiliated voters have been trending more Democratic for the past 30 years, with a spike in the past decade.

**No, I'm not saying the "religious right" did wrong by taking a stand for these issues, but it was HOW they did so, in a VERY polarizing manner to make Christianity look foolish, and plant the seeds of rebellion in the next generation. Pretty much the whole Ted Haggard scandal in 2006 was the final nail in the coffin(which was all by design too).

"While the Republican base has become ever more committed to mixing religion and politics," Putnam and Campbell wrote, "the rest of the country has been moving in the opposite direction."

Returning to Millennials, the religious positions mentioned above are also largely anathema to their prevailing beliefs. Furthermore, the outright hostility to science from some on the right — on global warming, evolution, and even something as seemingly benign as vaccines — only further impugns religion's credibility with younger voters. It should be no surprise then that solid majorities of Millennials describe Christianity as "hypocritical" and "judgmental."

**Even their respective Baby Boomer parents, who were conditioned to buy into the "religious rights" heresies, embraced this "non-judgmental" attitude too, FYI.

To be sure, organized religion's perceived views on and treatment of homosexuals are undoubtedly pushing away some Millennials, who as a group are more supportive of gay marriage than the general public. But that's only a small piece of a much bigger picture.

Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #48 on: March 07, 2014, 10:05:16 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/half-millennials-more-likely-lean-democratic-084021052--election.html
3/7/14
Half of millennials more likely to lean Democratic

Excerpt:

Millennials also haven't bought into the idea that they should go to church or get married early.

Only 36 percent of the millennials said the phrase "a religious person" described them very well, compared with 52 percent of the Gen Xers, 55 percent of the baby boomers and 61 percent of the Silent Generation. And they're significantly less religious than their immediately predecessors, the Gen Xers. When they were the same age, almost half of the Gen Xers — 47 percent — identified themselves as religious.

The 64 percent of the millennials who say that they are not religious "is the highest for any age group we've ever measured," Taylor said.

The millennials were far less inclined toward marriage than the groups that preceded them. Only 26 percent of the millennial adults are married. When they were the same age, 36 percent of the Gen Xers, 48 percent of baby boomers and 65 percent of the Silent Generation were married.

The report also found:

68 percent of young adults favor allowing gay marriage, compared with 55 percent of the Gen Xers, 48 percent of the boomers and 38 percent of those in the Silent Majority.

A majority of the millennials — 55 percent — say people living in the United States illegally should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship.

The Pew study was based on interviews with 1,821 adults by cellphone or landline from Feb. 14-23. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #49 on: March 13, 2014, 11:17:47 pm »

Young Republicans Buck GOP's Stance Against LGBT Marriage Rights
http://news.yahoo.com/young-republicans-buck-gops-stance-against-lgbt-marriage-204909451.html
3/13/14

Score one for the LGBT rights movement: A solid majority of young Republicans now favor same-sex marriage.

According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of Republicans under 30 support marriage rights for gays and lesbians—more than double the percentage of party members over 50 who approve. While the Christian right wing has long made religious objections to homosexuality, younger conservatives aren't echoing those beliefs.

Perhaps Meghan McCain best epitomizes the trend of young Republicans falling in line with national attitudes—overall, 54 percent of Americans approve LGBT people's right to marry, an all-time high, according to the research center.

Our sister network Pivot’s resident young Republican has long been a progressive voice in the GOP, and LGBT rights group GLAAD recently nominated her show, Raising McCain, for outstanding talk show episode for its 25th Annual Media Awards. She dedicated an episode of her show to LGBT issues, providing a platform for outspoken activists such as Wilson Cruz and Wade Davis.

Just last month, McCain went on a tweeting spree, begging Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that would've allowed businesses to deny services to gays and lesbians.

McCain’s not the only one to deviate from her family’s prominent political ties. In 2009, Barbara Bush advocated gay marriage rights in the state of New York.

“I think the general opinion among conservative Americans has shifted,” says Rob Pedersen. He serves as chairman of the Westside Republicans, a Los Angeles–based organization that recruits young conservatives in high schools and colleges.

“I don’t know anyone who isn’t for full civil rights and protection for gay couples," Pedersen says. "This is magnified among young Republicans, who in general have more libertarian attitudes on most social issues.”

Still, he adds, “for many of us, the only issue remaining regarding recognition of gay marriage is balancing it with religious freedom. Marriage has always been a matter of individual state law and should remain so.”
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #50 on: March 26, 2014, 08:17:06 pm »

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/03/millennials-are-ditching-their-television-sets-shifting-to-mobile-to-watch-tv-shows
Millennials Are Ditching Their Television Sets, Shifting To Mobile To Watch TV Shows
3/26/14

A new report suggests bigger isn’t better, when it comes to watching television programming. Deloitte found that Millennials rather watch movies and television shows on computers, smartphones, and tablets. These details were recently published in the firm’s annual Digital Democracy Survey.

Those between the ages of 14 and 24 only watch TV shows on an actual television set 44 percent of the time. Thirty-two percent of the time, TV shows are consumed on a desktop or laptop. Smartphones and tablets make up another 16 percent, while gaming devices are used 8 percent.

This is the first time computers, smartphones, and tablets have eclipsed televisions for any segment of the population, according to Gerald Belson, vice chairman of the firm’s U.S. media and entertainment practice, who spoke to Re/Code.

Not surprisingly, television use increases, the older the age group.

Those aged 25-30, for example, watch TV shows on a television set 53 percent of the time. This compares to 70 percent for Generation Xers (aged 31-47), 88 percent for Baby Boomers (aged 48-66), and 92 percent for those aged 67 and older.

Belson notes “The fact that we have some demographics watching television, but not on TV, is significant.”

As Re/Code concludes:

This shift has profound implications for networks, and Nielsen, which are working find ways to measure TV viewing across multiple screens. Nielsen announced plans to begin incorporating mobile into its traditional ratings with the 2014-15 season.

Personally, I’m not surprised by these findings. People are more mobile than ever before, and this survey reflects this reality.

Which devices do you use to watch TV shows and movies?
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #51 on: March 28, 2014, 07:53:04 pm »

Apparently, there's (much)more than the bad economy over why Millenial's hiring rate is subpar.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101531415?__source=yahoo%7Cfinance%7Cheadline%7Cheadline%7Cstory&par=yahoo&doc=101531415%7CHere%27s%20the%20real%20reason%20mi
Why millennials have a tough time landing jobs

Kelley Holland   | @KKelleyHolland

3/28/14

It's job-hunting season on campuses across the country, and the anemic job market is adding some extra stress to spring for many millennials.

Recent college graduates are facing less unemployment than those without college degrees, but a study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found they are still contending with a nearly 8 percent jobless rate. And 44 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed, meaning they hold jobs that do not require a college degree, according to a separate report by the New York Fed.

But it's not just slow job growth that is hurting millennials' job search prospects. In many ways, hiring managers and others say, they are hurting themselves.

Stories abound of millennials showing up in casual clothes for formal interviews, bringing—and using—their phones during the interview and worse.

Not only that, in a survey of 22- to 26-year-old college graduates by Adecco, a staffing and recruiting company, 8 percent reported that a parent accompanied them on at least one job interview, and 3 percent said a parent actively joined the interview.

"I've had moms call me for interviews," said Dan Black, Americas director of recruiting at EY, the global firm that includes Ernst & Young, though he added that the candidates themselves were uniformly mortified when this happened.

Millennials "have been technology enabled from the minute they were able to crawl, so to speak, so they have a different way of connecting and a different way of engaging," said Kip Wright, a senior vice president with ManpowerGroup, the staffing company. As a result, he said, "they struggle with that traditional interview."

Some of the biggest mistakes recent college graduates make involve interview preparation, or a lack thereof.

In an Adecco survey of hiring managers, 75 percent said millennials' biggest interview mistake was dressing inappropriately, and almost as many said they tended to mess up by posting inappropriate material on social media. Almost two-thirds of respondents said millennials tend to demonstrate a lack of research preparation for interviews. These hiring managers also said they were three times as likely to hire a worker over age 50 as a millennial.

Black said he is often struck by millennials' casual approach. "I've gotten emails saying 'hey, it was gr8 to meet you'" after a recruiting event, he said.

But college students needn't despair. Hiring managers and recruiting experts say millennials also bring skills to their post-college jobs earlier generations lack.

"They know technology front and back. They know how to multitask at a level we can't imagine," Wright said. "If you put them in a conference room when they are trying to solve a problem and let them use their laptops, they will be networking with their own networks and they will collectively come up with solutions that you may never have thought of."

Black is similarly enthusiastic about millennials' capabilities. And Ernst & Young LLP intends to recruit nearly 12,700 professionals in the U.S. in fiscal year 2014, with nearly 7,200 coming from college campuses.

Black contends that employers need to make some adjustments to their expectations in order to work successfully with millennials—and millennials need to do the same.

"We've made lots of changes around the different technology platforms we use," he said. When his firm is training millennials, it offers podcasts and webcasts because "this is how this generation learns."

But 20-something job candidates and employees need to respect the client focus of the business, and adjust their behavior accordingly, he added.

"I can't wear shorts to the office, much as I'd like to. That's an accommodation that the candidate's going to have to make. That's what is accepted and required to do the job."

In other words, millennials: Go get those shoes shined.
Report Spam   Logged
Kilika
Guest
« Reply #52 on: March 29, 2014, 03:25:36 am »

Quote
Black said he is often struck by millennials' casual approach.

Yeah, they couldn't care less. They are too busy texting somebody in strange shorthand, and then whine they can't find a slave job.

Ultimately, many of these kids aren't worth hiring. They are uneducated, inarticulate, and down right disrespectful. My wife sees them come in for interviews all the time, and she's amazed at their bad, indifferent attitudes. More than one has got an attitude with my wife, who is a senior trainer at her job. She effectively is third in command among the clinics medical assistants.

She trains them on the various equipment, that they already are suppose to be trained on from school, but they aren't. She's actually had a person still in school and working in their externship get an attitude because my wife was teaching her how to use an EKG. My wife worked for one of the best cardiologists in the Phoenix area. She knows cardiology, and these kids get an attitude with her?  Roll Eyes When they do that, they either don't get hired, or get fired. My wife has little patience when it comes to mouthy kids trying to tell her how to do her job.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #53 on: April 12, 2014, 12:31:44 pm »

Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #54 on: April 21, 2014, 06:54:45 pm »

Was on the road yesterday, and noticed something for the very first time in my lifetime(and it caught my dad by surprise too) - Not only was it a live digital billboard ad, but they were showing a LIVE interactive score on it for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks' playoff game.

Again, I don't know if they've done this before, but this is the first time I've seen a live interactive sports score on a digital billboard ad(same with my dad).

If this is a very recent thing - just imagine how it will be in the time of Jacob's trouble - how they could very well show the "image of the beast" all over the place, everywhere they go.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Traditional-Digital-Ads-Millennials-Show-Mixed-Feelings/1010747
Traditional or Digital Ads? Millennials Show Mixed Feelings Millennials more influenced by digital ads, but pay more attention to traditional ones
4/15/14

Millennials are known as a digitally savvy group, but does that mean that they view traditional ads as less effective? According to polling by Adroit Digital, many millennials don’t. When the January 2014 study asked US millennial smartphone users about the effectiveness of digital vs. traditional advertising, 36% said that digital ads were more effective; however, the percentage of those who said they were equally effective was close behind, cited by 28% of 18- to 33-year-olds.

But despite what millennials say, digital may be winning the race. While Adroit Digital found that TV ads—a traditional form of advertising—were the most influential in perceiving/valuing a brand among millennials (70% of respondents), digital ad formats beat out the remaining traditional ones. Millennials may view digital ads as most influential, but it takes a special one to catch their attention. A January 2014 study from Goo Technologies conducted by Harris Interactive found that 18- to 34-year-olds were far more likely to ignore online ads, such as banners and those on social media and search engines, than they were traditional TV, radio and newspaper ads. The majority of male and female millennials said they ignored online banner ads, and around two in five males and half of females didn’t pay attention to social media or search engine ads. Millennials were the least likely to ignore TV ads, with about one-quarter of each gender group doing so.



Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #55 on: May 08, 2014, 01:17:11 am »

How Young Christians Today Have Come to Deny Christ Through Their Views on Homosexuality  

By Bill Randles
(Believers in Grace)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

There is a frightening phenomenon that I have observed lately. I have been seeing the unhappy spectacle of young people, between their teens and early thirties, reared in the evangelical subculture, yet denying Christ.

They don’t consciously do it; I have no doubt that they don’t realize they are denying the Savior, but indeed they are, and in many cases with a vehemence!

The watershed for these young people is the acceptance or rejection of homosexuality. Through a distorted concept of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, homosexuals are now considered to be the new victims of oppression; and those who would in any way judge it as evil are now the new bigots. They have erroneously likened themselves to blacks or Jews.

In fact, we have come to the point in our post-Christian, paganized culture, where it is not even enough to “tolerate” homosexuality; the pressure is on to become advocates of it, to champion it; and there is a new freedom for people to hate and demean anyone who would dare call it into question.

The age group I mentioned at the beginning of the article—teens through early thirties—are perhaps vulnerable for a number of reasons:

It is they who have been, for the most part, deliberately propagandized through our public schools to develop “sensitivity” to homosexual issues and to question even their own sexuality long before they have even entered puberty
.

Anti-bullying campaigns and whole school days of self-imposed silence in solidarity with “gay” students have been invented by “gay activists” in order cast homosexuality into a kind of victim status, thus tapping into the natural sympathy and sense of fair play of the young.

Thus, to this generation, interaction with and acceptance of homosexuals is an easy bona fide, a way to assert that “I am compassionate, open minded, unprejudiced and much more loving than the traditional Christian church.”

This is how they deny Christ. In the name of “being loving” and “understanding,” they repudiate the revelation of God given to us through Jewish prophets and Christian apostles, without a second thought.

Our Christian sexual mores are not mere constructs of uptight pastors, priests, or rabbis; they are a revelation from God!

“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh . . . and what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”

Man didn’t originate the above—that is God’s definition of marriage. Jesus cited it as being “from the beginning” the original intent for marriage.

That revelation from heaven caused a moral earthquake in the ancient world, transforming paganism’s exhausted, debauched, rotting societies, offering a wholesome life-affirming alternative. Here is how columnist Dennis Prager, who happens to be a practicing Jew, describes it:

When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah’s prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity.

This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage), and began the arduous task of elevating the status of women.1

But this generation dismisses that for the most part. For the cheap “holier than thou” feeling of compassion, sophistication, and solidarity with an oppressed minority, “Christian” young people align themselves with the cause of homosexual marriage at the expense of those who seek to proclaim the Word of God to this generation.

This is how they deny Jesus and don’t even realize it: they repudiate His teaching on a very important subject, and they side with a world in rebellion against God’s moral order. Not only do they not realize it, in fact they actually believe they are being more merciful and Christlike than other Christians.

Sides are being taken in this culmination of the cosmic struggle between righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, the truth and the Lie, and neutrality is impossible.

I think we need to reach our own young people because they don’t seem ready to stand for Jesus at the point where the world most resists Him.

They are confused about what love is but arrogantly believe they are more sophisticated and compassionate than the whole of the Christian church through the centuries.
 
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2014/newsletter20140505.htm#29
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #56 on: May 31, 2014, 03:49:24 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/millennials-highly-competitive-yearn-noticed-study-131631579.html
Millennials highly competitive, yearn to be noticed: study
5/30/14

(Reuters) - The first generation of people raised in the internet age, so-called millennials, are more competitive than previous generations and yearn to be noticed, according to a study released on Friday.

The report, "The Disruptive Mindset of Millennials Around the Globe," by Dutch research firm Motivaction International, is among the first to capture attitudes of those born between 1980 and 2000 globally, according to the project's research director Martijn Lampert said.

"Millennials are unconventional thinkers and they are open to change, much more so than older generations," Lampert said.

The study sampled more than 48,000 adults between the ages of 18 to 65 in 20 countries with large economies - including the United States, Russia and China. Respondents were asked questions about their motivations, lifestyles and behaviors.

Nearly half of the surveyed millennials indicated that they like being noticed, almost twice as much as the post-war generation, the study showed. The research showed commonality between the age group globally and findings in separate studies on the narcissism of Western millennials, Lampert said.

Millennials were also more competitive than their older peers. Nearly a third said that competing with others, as opposed to working collaboratively, ensures better results, compared to roughly a quarter of respondents from the two prior generations.

The age group's unique mindset, which has already revolutionized the film and digital photography industries, Lampert said, has the power to reshape existing financial services models as well.

The research showed for instance, that millennials are more open than previous generations to online transactions like so-called peer-to-peer lending and more likely to consider using large, non-financial companies like Google for basic financial services.

The findings are to be presented on Friday in San Francisco during a forum featuring start-ups, technology giants like Google, and manufacturing companies.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #57 on: June 18, 2014, 03:43:29 pm »

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/career/employment/what-employers-really-think-millennials?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO
What Employers Really Think of Millennials
6/18/14

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — As the Millennial generation slowly dusts itself off from the ravages of the Great Recession, it's finding a new career issue to contend with: a study by American Express and Millennial Branding shows significant disparities in how employers and young adults view one another. Most notably, the study showed about 50% of employers viewed Millennials as having unrealistic compensation expectations and a poor work ethic. That's a problem for Millennials trying to start careers or advance through the ranks.

The Bad News First

Before we get to the good news, let's rip off the band aid and dispense with the bad first. Though it's always hard to take criticism, experts like Piera Palazzolo, senior vice president of marketing at Dale Carnegie Training, thinks it's important Millennials understand how they're viewed by their employers, so that they can better prepare themselves to counter negative stereotypes. Her views (which overlap with many of the study's findings), suggest three key perceived weaknesses Millenials face in the workplace:

    "Millennials tend to have more unrealistic compensation expectations compared to other generations," says Palazzolo. "Gen Y workers tend to expect that everything happens quickly, leading them to believe that promotions and successful growth in a company happens at a much faster rate than in reality."

    "Operating under this assumption may also lead Millennials to think that their career success isn't necessarily dependent on their hard work and dedication to their job," says Palazzolo.

    "Lastly, Millennials seem to be unaware that their responsibilities go beyond the basic job description," she says. "An employee's job is to make their manager's life easier, meaning they are expected to do more than what they were hired to do."

Now, the Good News

But the news isn't all bad. Among other things, the study notes that employers prize Millennials' adaptability, facility with technology and entrepreneurial attitudes – and that they're willing to nurture these attributes. Palazzolo echoes this sentiment as she describes the top traits employers value in young workers:

    "Millennials are technologically savvy," she says, noting their particular contributions in areas such as social media.

    "Millennials are also adaptable," she says. "The fast pace growth in the digital world means today's younger generation is able to quickly adapt to change. This ability to adjust to new environments and situations is key to workplace success."

    "Young people are multi-taskers," says Palazzolo. "Juggling a number of tasks is the norm for Gen-Y workers and this ability can also help them easily operate and thrive in many industries."

How to Improve on the Employer-Employee Relationship

Differences across the generation gap are nothing new, and there are productive ways to smooth these in the work environment, says Palazzolo. Both Millennials and employers can play a role in helping to create a positive and productive work environment. Palazzolo thinks employers can do quite a bit to encourage Millennial workers, too.

"Employers need to instill a sense of enthusiasm, empowerment, inspiration and confidence," says Palazzolo. "And Gen Y individuals are inspired by having role models that encourage goal achievement, contributing to positive engagement and a better overall workplace environment."

For their part, Millennials should consider some of the study's findings: while the Millennial Branding study lauds young adults for their tech savvy and social media skills, it also notes discrepancies in how employers and employees view its use. Employers, for example, are likelier think employees should limit their use of social media during work and consider altering their personal profiles to meet company guidelines. Likewise, they encourage Gen Y'ers to be more patient for advancement and consider more traditional forms of workplace communication, such as in-person meetings, rather than relying on instant messaging or email for everything.

And just because they're usually older and more traditional doesn't mean employers are heartless dinosaurs without a sense for Gen Y's struggles. Palazzolo empathizes, and notes that 16% of American Millenials are unemployed – a rate far higher than the general populations. She says employers understand this creates some frustration among younger workers and partially explains slower career progression.

Still, understanding what employers want isn't rocket science. The study notes that the three traits employers overwhelmingly want to see in Millennials are simple enough: the ability to prioritize work, teamwork and a positive attitude trump all else.
Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #58 on: June 21, 2014, 03:48:57 pm »

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-industries-that-millennials-are-destroying-2014-06-21
 June 21, 2014, 7:00 a.m. EDT
5 industries that Millennials are destroying
Analysis: The younger generation doesn’t like cars, cable TV or soft drinks


There’s a lot to be said for watching demographic shifts as you craft your long-term investing strategy.

And while Baby Boomer stocks like health care and insurance get a lot of attention, long-term investors should also consider the impact Millennials will have on businesses — and their portfolios.

There are about 80 million Americans who were born between 1980 and 1995. And while much has been made about the challenges for Millennials to get good jobs or contribute to the economy, that is sure to change. As the Boomer population starts its inevitable decline, the power of this age group will grow substantially in the years ahead.

Some of that will be good, as the tech talents of younger Americans are put to work in the economy and as they grow into a powerful consumer class.

But for some stocks, the rise of Millennials is assuredly bad news.

Which picks? Well, here are five specific businesses that Millennials are shunning, which could cause a lot of pain for investors over the long-term if current trends continue.

Cars

Cruising around in my rusty Chevrolet Cavalier with the sunroof open and the radio up was the very definition of freedom to me at 18 years old.

But these days, there’s simply not the interest in cars like there used to be.

Consider that in 2010, a mere 28% of 16-year-olds had driver’s licenses, compared with 44% in 1980, according to another study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.


Car sales in America have rebounded in recent years thanks, in part, to pent-up demand after the Great Recession, but the sad reality is that the U.S. love affair with the automobile may be coming to an end. That’s in large part due to a lack of interest among Millennials who look to live in walkable, urban locations and prefer car-sharing services like ZipCar or ride sharing services like Uber.

A car is just an expensive hassle for the younger generation, as technology equals freedom in 2014.

Sure, U.S. car sales could top 16 million in 2014 to mark the highest level of vehicle sales since 2007. But General Motors GM -0.41% and Ford F -0.66%  are up only about 6% in the past 12 months vs. 18% gains for the broader stock market. So clearly there are concerns about how sustainable this success is.

And as the reluctant drivers in the Millennial generation become a larger share of the car-buying public, the pressure could persist for some time — and after big rebounds since the bailouts of the Great Recession, too much optimism may be baked in to automakers.

Cable TV

It’s unclear where streaming video is headed in the next several years. But it’s clear that the future is likely with Netflix NFLX -0.27%  or Google GOOG +0.26% property YouTube and not an old-guard cable company.

Consider that for the first time ever, the number of pay-TV lines in the U.S. fell last year — with a drop of about 250 million subscriptions over the calendar year. That’s a big number, and a number that seems to be growing at an alarming rate.

Alarming, at least, if you’re a company like Comcast CMCSA -0.38% or Time Warner Cable

Part of the problem is “cord cutting” as folks with cable TV find options on Netflix or other streaming providers at a fair price. But increasingly, traditional cable-TV businesses are going to face the big pressure of Millennials and so-called “ cord nevers ” who haven’t ever had an affinity to cable and see no reason to start anytime soon when so much of their entertainment is consumed via laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Clearly the industry is circling the wagons, with Comcast bidding for Time Warner Cable TWC -0.33% . Similarly, AT&T T +0.08%  is looking to snap up DirecTV DTV -0.31% — not just to bolster its U-Verse pay-TV business but also to help the company transition into a new content delivery company in the Internet age.

There are big pressures ahead for those that can’t evolve with the times. So while investors may like the dividends of some previously reliable telecoms, it’s important not to forget the long-term headwinds for anything related to cable TV.

Brick-and-mortar retail

In the short term, I think retail is in big trouble. But folks blaming bad first-quarter weather are missing the broader long-term pressure of e-commerce that is reshaping the entire sector as more shoppers go online instead of to the mall.

Broadly, online sales continue to outpace brick-and mortar results. Online retail sales grew about 17% in 2013 , with total overall retail sales up only a fraction of that. So it’s no surprise that some of the biggest laggards in retail are stores that simply can’t get their online acts together.

Take specialty-clothing retailer The Buckle BKE -0.93% . This small-cap retailer used to be a growth darling, but now has fallen on very hard times as trendy shoppers look for alternatives on the web. Part of the reason the stock has been soft is a flight from malls, with same-store sales declining 0.9%, but the other element is a lack of online presence to replace that lost revenue. Consider The Buckle online sales totaled a meager $21.4 million last quarter — barely 2% of total sales.

Brick-and-mortar retailers that can’t change with the times and evolve to a digital-sales platform are going to continue to feel the pain as more retail sales go online in the years to come.

Homebuilders

By now, you’ve certainly seen all the stories about why Millennials are a drag on the housing recovery.

The reasons are numerous, but the biggest one-two punch tends to focus on the personal desire to live urbanely and the financial practicalities of less income and a lot of student-loan debt.

Consider that about half of home-buying Millennials lately are asking mom and dad to shoulder their down payments, according to a recent Trulia survey. Others are so spooked by the Great Recession and mountains of student-loan debt that they have no desire to take on a mortgage at all considering other financial concerns.

Homebuilders like PulteGroup PHM -0.10% and Toll Brothers TOL -0.71%  have been under pressure for the last year or so as the rebound in housing has petered out and construction has tapered off. But just imagine what would happen if interest rates tighten and the cost of borrowing climbs even higher!

Millennials don’t want to live in surburbia, and either can’t or won’t take on a mortgage payment. And that trend is not going away.

Soft drinks

Sugary, carbonated beverages like Coca-Cola KO -0.24%  and Pepsi PEP -1.11%  seem like the staple junk food of any young American. But not anymore, thanks to a focus on fighting childhood obesity and a rise of healthier alternatives.

As a result, Millennials drink much less soda (or pop or whatever you want to call it). And that number is declining every year.

A recent Morgan Stanley report illustrates how the shift to energy drinks and sports drinks in the past decade is partially to blame. But while that’s good news for America’s health, it’s very bad news for investors like Warren Buffett, who have always considered Coca-Cola the gold standard of consumer staples.

Sure, Coca-Cola has tried to hedge its bets with lines like its Odwalla juices and Powerade sports-drink lines. But the flagship soda brands of Coke and Sprite are facing real headwinds in the years ahead.

Perhaps companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi can continue to diversify and evolve, both at home and abroad. But investors need to know what they are getting into with these consumer-staples companies that are increasingly less popular with younger Americans.

Report Spam   Logged
Psalm 51:17
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28357


View Profile
« Reply #59 on: July 01, 2014, 11:25:48 pm »

http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/07/millennials-care-more-about-the-world-cup-than-actual-news/373781/
7/1/14
Millennials Care More About the World Cup Than Actual News

The day's top news stories aren't captivating the attentions of most Americans, but news junkies are still more concerned about the VA healthcare scandal and the violence in Iraq than whether America will beat Belgium tonight. According to a new Pew Research survey, people over 30 are at least slighty more likely to follow those stories closely instead of the World Cup. Eighteen to 29 year olds, on the other hand, care more about the cup than anything else and everyone else.



As the graph to the right shows, 18 to 29 year olds' interest in soccer is 9-18 percentage points higher than interest in any of the day's major news stories. The older you go, the more likely people are to be closely following real news.

Some things to consider:

    55 percent of Hispanics follow the World Cup very or fairly closely, compared to 32 percent of whites and blacks.
    The Supreme Court rulings were the least followed story overall, which is hard to imagine after yesterday's Hobby Lobby ruling. But then, the survey was conducted between June 26 and June 29.
    The VA scandal should be getting more coverage. With the exception of young adults obsession with the World Cup, the VA healthcare scandal is still the most popular stories among all age groups, though it has faded from the spotlight.
    Meanwhile, hardly anyone cares about the midterm elections, except for older people.

That last point should set off alarms for Democrats. "The people who are following political issues closely in this poll — wealthier, older Republicans — are also the people who will vote in the upcoming midterms. The people who would rather watch the World Cup ... aren't," writes Jaime Fuller at The Washington Post. "Which leads us to the grand revelation that midterm season is the World Cup for old Republicans." But then, none of that is the World Cup's fault — younger Americans have consistently spent less time following the news.
Report Spam   Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 6   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
Free SMF Hosting - Create your own Forum

Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy