in somewhat less than epic economic news line, gap closes 175 of its north american stores and lay off about 250 employees.  it’s the state of the economy nowadays with layoffs galore as most companies are calling for “restructuring.”  this is a drop in the bucket of unemployment, but it’s still there. the u.s. employment rate is holding steady at 5.4% nationwide.

in more important news, lifepass has been hacked. email addresses, password reminders and encrypted versions of people’s master passwords have all in some hackers’ possession.  this could lead to identity theft and severely destroying the financial livelihood of some if that is the hackers’ intentions.

greece is still in trouble.  the u.s. stock market has been in a slow decline over the past weeks so far.

and well, it’s time for our morning coffee.  how do you take yours?