Signs the economy is bad: July 15, 2016 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Signs the Economy is Bad" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is the semi-regular (as in when I have time and/or feel like doing it) feature where I scour the Internet in search of the oh so subtle hints that the economy is bad. Sure, pundits may say things are getting better, but what do they know? And to show not all is bad, once in a while we look at how good the uber rich have it.   

We have a few interesting items this week, so let's have a look.

• The Atlantic has an interesting look at how some ethnic cuisines become food the rich and famous while others become (or remain) peasant cheap food. The article also highlights the book The Ethnic Restaurateur, which I mentioned in my other blog recently among other books I want to read. 
• The Atlantic also asks how the U.S. became one of the worst countries in the developed world for kids under 5. That fact speaks quite a bit to where the United States places its values, and it is not its own children. 
• You thought slavery was abolished in the United States. The U.S. still has plenty of slaves in various labor farms in states like Hawaii, California, and Florida. See the story via Al Jazeera.
• Amazon has a serious Chinese counterfeit products problem, and it is getting worse. Story via CNBC.
• This next story is in Spanish language. It is more news out of Puerto Rico. The latest available findings from census research shows that the Puerto Rican government lost $100 million in revenue due to Puerto Rican migration out of the island in 2014. According to the article from El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico loses 60,000 people annually now due to the bad economy.
• In the July 1st edition of "Signs the Economy is Bad," I pointed to the story that Barnes and Noble, in a quest to get people in and raise some revenue, is moving to sell beer and wine in their stores. Well, apparently that is not enough. B&N continues their quest to be anything except the bookstore they started out as. Recently now, they are adding beauty products and cosmetics in their campus bookstore branches. Story via Racked.