Here's what we're following this morning (after watching the Nic Cage pachinko ad, that is):

Hey kids! Wanna graduate from a Chinese college? Then you have to work at Foxconn and make Apple products. - The Guardian

About 50% of Irish households have refused to pay a new property tax - Financial Times | All politics is local; everything must start somewhere.

Pensions find that riskier funds fail to pay off - New York Times | So much for that hypothetical 8% YOY return that they need to make everything work for future withdrawals.

Greece is set to default on foreign-law bonds on May 15, 2012 - Zero Hedge/Bloomberg

The good news and the bad news about Social Security - Bruce Krasting | Inflation and 10k new SS recipients a day don't help.

Is China's growth bad news for western countries? - VoxEU

Obamacare and rising health insurance premiums - Washington Post | Be wary of a single data point from EITHER party.

Teachers under growing pressure to inflate exam results - The Telegraph | How about we return to a time when everyone doesn't receive a participation trophy or when a lack of studying has serious consequences?

Shut up and start acting like an introvert - Wired | Big surprise that face-to-face brainstorming and teamwork often lead to INFERIOR decision-making.

On stress and our fear of change - Charles Hugh Smith | The piece before this was excellent, too, which discusses the phony "economic recovery" and increased stress.