What Americans Are Missing

Left: Jose Socrates (Reuters) Right: Smokey the Cat (Gather)

Portugal’s Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned Wednesday night after Parliament rejected his proposed austerity measures for the country, prompting renewed worries about sovereign debt in the Euro Zone. The collapse of Portugal’s government means that it may become the third country in the EU after Greece and Ireland to require a bailout from its neighbors.

I decided after hearing about this to check Yahoo! News’s top stories, just to see what they thought the most important things for their readers to know about were. I used Yahoo! as a source because many people I know look there for news, and because it’s targeted at the “average” American audience.

Portugal was conspicuously absent from their feed. What was so compelling that it took precedence over a brewing international debt crisis? Here were the ten “winning” headlines:

- Mysterious moment during NHL game
- Smart, simple skin care tips for guys
- Is Smokey the loudest cat in the world?
- How Elizabeth Taylor became an icon
- Surprising write-offs the IRS allows
- [Michael] Jordan’s cool promise to his college team
- 119-year-old not recognized as oldest
- How Olsen twins created $1 billion empire
- ‘Uglytecture’ flaunts worst of NYC condos
- High tech cloud will cool World Cup fans

Can we say “penchant for frivolity?”