The collapse in home values (a main source of personal wealth for many), the big drop in the stock market following the economy meltdown, and the long term trend away from traditional pensions have, surprisingly, left a growing majority of adults feeling they don’t have enough saved for retirement.

Just like in 2008, young people overwhelmingly prefer Obama over a Republican President, but the difference is this year young people are not overly enthusiastic about voting.

Several months ago many of the economic indicators were showing improvement, albeit very small and insufficient to make up for the depth of our current crisis. The important thing politically was it at least looked like things were moving in the right direction, which is critical for an incumbent President heading into an election. In the past month, though, there are signs that any growth we were experiencing has potentially stalled.

The Social Security Administration will release its annual report today, projecting how long the Trust Fund will last. But the report must make assumptions about many things that could easily change. For example, Gallup polls show that over 150 million people want to come to America to work. Different immigration policies, full employment policies, maternity leave and many other factors could affect the Social Security projectins.

With today being the unofficial holiday for cannabis in the United States, it is a good time to look back at the advances the marijuana reform movement has made in the past 365 days.

The job approval rating of Congress, while still atrocious, has managed to improve slightly in the last few months according to Gallup. Currently 17% approve of the job Congress is doing and 79% disapprove.

With the general election campaign now unofficially started a string of new national polls shows a close race between President Obama and Mitt Romney. A CBS News/NYT poll has the race completely tied; others show either man slightly leading. It’s likely the poor state of the economy is keeping an unliked Romney in the race.

While obesity is a serious problem that adds to our health care bill, the far greater problem is that we simply pay way more than anyone else for the exact same medications, tests, devices and services. For example, getting an MRI in the United State can cost ten times what it costs in Japan. The data from the International Federation of Health Plans clearly shows that for almost every procedure and medication, Americans on average pay more than anyone else.

At their state convention the Democratic Party of Colorado included marijuana legalization as part of their new party platform. The platform supports Amendment 64, an initiative already on the ballot that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for the use by adults over the age of 21. The support of one of the state’s two major political parties should be an important boost to the campaign going into November.

With tomorrow, April 17, being tax day, Gallup is out with a new poll showing the country evenly divided about the amount of taxes they pay. Roughly half the country, 46%, thinks they play too much, and roughly half the country, 47%, thinks the amount they pay is about right. This may explain why Democrats and the White House are focused on the Buffett rule, not taxes in general.