Who you calling snake people?

People 55 and older own 53 percent of U.S. owner-occupied houses, the biggest share since the government started collecting data in 1900, according to real estate website Trulia. That’s up from 43 percent a decade ago. Those ages 18 to 34 possess just 11 percent. At that age, baby boomers had homes at almost twice that level.

Uber is trying to unload its costly U.S. subprime car-leasing program. The ride-hailing company’s board determined Xchange Leasing, a wholly owned subsidiary, is unsustainable and should be sold or consolidated into a smaller unit within Uber. The move is a sharp departure for Uber, which launched the program two years ago, buoyed by a $1 billion credit facility provided by Goldman Sachs.

South African President Jacob Zuma survived a no-confidence motion in parliament, ensuring that he’ll maintain his grip on power until at least the end of the year. The motion was defeated by 198 votes to 177, which could backfire on the African National Congress, the majority party, as it prepares to contest elections in 2019 with Zuma’s public approval rating running at an all-time low.

Google fired the employee who wrote an internal memo blasting the company’s diversity policies. James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” The imbroglio at Google is the latest in a long string of incidents concerning gender bias and diversity in Silicon Valley.

Americans are dying younger, saving corporations billions. If people don’t end up living as long as they were projected to just a few years ago, their employers ultimately won’t have to pay them as much in pension and other lifelong retirement benefits. In the past two years, at least 12 large companies, from Verizon to General Motors, have said recent slips in mortality improvement have led them to reduce estimates for how much they could owe retirees.

Republicans are discussing a mix of temporary and permanent tax changes, in a kind of tax overhaul compromise that won't add to the federal deficit. Mixing and matching proposals – making some permanent and others temporary – could be a potential workaround for GOP leaders who want to use a budgetary process known as reconciliation to prevent Senate Democrats from blocking tax legislation.

Over his short tenure, Brian Presser delivered laundry to Middle Eastern princesses and fetched lobsters out of wishing wells. He also listened to colleagues delight in the oddities of their jobs, from fielding requests for Viagra to comforting a weeping woman over spilled blueberries. Serving the world’s rich and famous, it turns out, plumbs the depths of an alternative universe.