Signs the economy is bad: July 13, 2018 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 made it to another week. It may be Friday the 13th today, but the bad economy is terrifying no matter what day it is.

In "reasons to avoid flying" news:

• TSA screeners basically just got a free pass to abuse you even more at the airport. Story via Reuters. 
• The FAA just basically passed the buck, told airline passengers they can go fuck themselves, and they could not care less if airlines keep shrinking seats. Story via Inc.
• It could get worse. You could be stuck in a 7 hours flight in a crappy, dirty seat with no cushion. Story via Inc.
• Not even the uber rich can't catch a break. Even luxury airlines are now starting to charge for seat assignments. Story via Travel and Leisure. 

In higher education news:

• Since salaries in college are fairly fixed, especially for faculty who may be lucky enough to be on a tenure line, one way to try to increase it is  by bluffing and saying you got a better job offer elsewhere. Idea is your employer then at least matches the offer so you stay. This is one of those little ugly truths in higher ed that people know about, talk maybe in hushed voices, but is not spoken about otherwise. Until someone has their bluff called and gets caught. Story via Inside Higher Ed.  
• Meanwhile, in First World Problems, some people got their knickers in a bunch of the University of Wyoming's slogan of "the world needs more cowboys." Story via Inside Higher Ed. 
• And we get closer to Thunderdome when the only hope for a college graduate to ever pay off college loans is to win a game show. Story via VICE. 

In assorted corporate fuckery:

•  Amazon is now entering the government procurement business (i.e. supplying stuff like office supplies to government offices) in contracts that are barely audited if at all. Your tax dollars at work. Story via In These Times.
• Pay Pal meanwhile threatened a dead cancer patient to sue for non-payment of some bill or other. The company eventually apologized (barely). Story via Boing Boing.
• Walmart, in its quest to exploit workers as much as possible to keep "low prices always," recently patented new technology to better eavesdrop on their workers. Story via TruthDig.
• In horror of horrors, Costco is taking away their Polish hot dogs from the food court in favor of acai bowls. Story via The Washington Post.

And finally for this week, in miscellaneous signs the economy is bad:

• Did you know that an ER (emergency room) bill in the U.S. can cost as much as $50,000? Story via TruthDig. Let me be clear. If you see me bleeding on a street, just let me bleed out and die.  Believe me, I will be better off than getting that hospital bill later.  
• Turns out farmers make more money by NOT farming. Their latest schtick? Getting paid for oil and mineral rights on their land. However, it does depend a lot on what kind of deal they can strike. Story via The Rural Blog.
• And speaking of farming, thanks to the Pendejo In Chief and his tariff war, there is all sorts of wrangling deals in the soybeans trade as importers buy up cheap soybeans from the U.S. Why are they cheap now? Because China, the biggest buyer, seriously cut back (again, thanks to the Pendejo In Chief's tariffs), so everyone else is swooping in as U.S prices fell. Story via The Rural Blog. 
• Associated Press reports that detaining immigrant children is becoming a big business. 
• In some trivia, did you know  if you eat at Arby's you are more likely to be liberal? Read about the latest study via The Week.
• Another study finds that fast shipping times appeal to last minute shoppers. Via Inc. 
• And to end this week on a high note, the Pendejo In  Chief and the Party of Stupid are declaring that the War on Poverty is over, and apparently it was won. Story via The New York Times. However, no one told the poor people still suffering and about to suffer even more.