But is Martin sulking in the back corner of his bedroom as his possible remaining years pass him by?

FORBES: 4 Insights from an Entrepreneur Fighting for His Life

Copper Mountain started the price war three years ago by offering a season pass allowing four family members to ski for close to the price of one.

FORBES: Slippery Slope

Yet what Japan fails to appreciate is that, as the years pass, its economic ailments are being compounded by skewed demography.

ECONOMIST: The future of Japan

Life expectancy has been rising by two or three years for every ten that pass, despite repeated forecasts that it was about to reach its limit.

ECONOMIST: Ageing in the rich world

In fact, over the past 25 years there has been an approximate 400 percent increase in business revenue earned by pass-through entities.

FORBES: The Hidden 33%: How Mid-Sized Companies Are Hit Hardest By Tax Hikes

Within 10 years the number of people aged over 60 will pass one billion, a report by the UN Population Fund said.

BBC: UN warns over impact of rapidly ageing populations

One of the first actions of the Republican-controlled House was to pass a resolution cutting members' office budgets by 5% for the next two years.

WSJ: Big Payday for Aides of Departing House Members

While the talk prompted by the overall figures is that a 100% pass rate might be achievable within a few years, the WJEC has almost reached that point already.

BBC: Analysis of the results