Well, we made it through another week. A lot of stories this week, so let's get started.
- Apparently the trades (vocational kinds of work, blue collar, you get the idea) are looking for a few good women. Not many young men are going into trades, and the experienced men are retiring or dying off. So ladies, this may be a good time for you if you persevere, learn a trade, and by the way, can pass a drug test. Story via The Rural Blog.
- Christians in the U.S. love to meddle in politics, and they get away with a tax exemption. Well, given they are costing the rest of us $71 billion annually in revenue, I say it is high time to tax them. Story via Counter Current News.
- Why does airline travel suck? At the end of the day, it is pure greed and fuckery, pure and simple. Even back in the 19th century, they had it figured out. They just use the cattle (oops low end paying customers) as examples to scare the ones who spend more to keep spending more lest they end up like the rest of the cattle. Story via Inc.
- And to prove the point further, American Airlines is planning to reduce legroom again. Story via Jezebel.
- Here is something to depress regular people. Turns out the best-paid interns in the U.S. get paid more than the median worker. Suddenly, that movie with De Niro playing an intern as a senior makes sense. Story via The Week.
- Let's see how much more Americans and their politicians can screw over college grads with college loans. Next move? If you can't pay your college loan, they take your house as well as suing you. I keep saying, even if the "experts" don't believe it, student loan debt is the next time bomb waiting to go off. Story via NPR.
- NPR also goes back to look at the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico and how it lost its home food production (in large measure due to American plunder and colonialism). It seems it is making a comeback, though it seems it is more for hipsters and those of means than for the common people.
- Turns out if you are poor and live in a rural area that it is more likely you are stuck getting your teeth extracted because it is cheaper than trying to actually fix whatever the issue is. Story via The Rural Blog.
- Opoid addiction and distribution are a problem in poor areas of the U.S. like Portsmouth, Ohio. However, it is not just there. I can attest Eastern Kentucky is also quite notorious for its drug addiction problems. Story via The Guardian.
- On some positive news, Rush Limbaugh's radio syndicator is on the way to bankruptcy. Story via News Corpse. We can only hope. With that, the recent ousting of Bill O'Reilly from Fox News and the passing of Roger Ailes, hey, things might, just might, start to look up. Additional links via The New York Times.
- Via Esquire, things keep getting worse in Appalachia, where at times they might stop mountaintop removal mining, for instance, but then they use that land to build up private prisons. And on it goes.
- In other good news, remember that county in Kentucky where they gave Christians tax breaks to build that Noah's Ark boondoggle? Well, the county is drowning in debt now. Story via The Rural Blog.
- Sometimes you want to buy a book and support your favorite author. But in the bad economy that is not always possible. Via Lit Reactor, here are 13 ways to support authors without spending money. The list is not perfect, but it has some good ideas. Only thing I have mixed feelings on is their suggestion to review on Amazon and Goodreads (which is by the way owned now by Amazon). Amazon reviews overall are notoriously unreliable and easily gamed, so at least for me as a reviewer, I would not want my content there (though I will disclose if a publisher or author requests I leave a review there, I will).
- Libraries have not been faring well in the bad economy:
- Via KPBS, San Diego libraries are facing a lot of layoffs.
- Via AM New York, New York City libraries are plagued with leaks, mold, and other structural problems.
- In the end, if you are poor, the odds are very much against you. It could take you at least 20 years to try to get out of poverty, assuming nothing goes wrong. Good luck with that. Story via The Atlantic.
Next, let's have a look at how the uber rich are doing. They've their ups and downs this week:
- The big story this week is avocado toast. Some Australian millionaire who while rich is fairly clueless decided to tell Millennials to stop buying fancy avocado toast so they could maybe save some money and buy a home eventually. Apparently, avocado toast in his view is for just the wealthy like him, so the peons need to stop it already. Story via The Guardian. Naturally, the story has drawn a few responses:
- This nice young Millennial lady responded in The Guardian. No, her generation did not invent or become oh so enamored of avocados.
- Here is another open letter responding from GQ Magazine.
- And since the economy is bad, GQ has decided to be helpful by providing a recipe on how to make your own avocado toast. That way you can save some money, put some away for that house, AND still eat your avocado toast.
- The US naval and military industrial complex should do well under the administration of the Pendejo In Chief. They would be looking at a $400 billion cost to expand over 30 years. Knowing the Party of Stupid, this likely means cuts in social safety nets, education, health care, domestic infrastructure, you name it. Hey, think positive. That means jobs for ship builders, weapons systems makers, etc. so Americans can have the best and latest to keep bombing other nations. Via Reuters.
- On the other hand, the militaries in other parts of the world might not be so fortunate to have money for big expansions Heck, even Americans want to do their military on the cheap. Funding the biggest and latest in aircraft carriers is good. Paying for ground troops in out of the way places like Iraq and Afghanistan is not so good. So Americans and some others outsource with private military contractors (a.k.a. mercenaries). Mercenaries, being a business, want to recruit and get employees (a.k.a. soldiers) on the cheap, and they are finding that former child soldiers make great recruits. Hey, they started learning the trade of war early on, and now as adults they have desirable skills, and the companies can pay them less. Via Al Jazeera.
- In fashion world news:
- You can pay $425 dollars to get some fake mud jeans. Any old poor schmuck can get a pair of jeans muddy while working hard. But you gotta pay if you want to be rich and get that fake, fancy look of pseudo worker with dirty jeans. Story via Boing Boing.
- You can also buy a very fancy boomerang from Chanel so you can play while wearing your nice pseudo-muddy jeans. Also via Boing Boing.
- The Pendeja Princess's (Ivanka) clothing line has not been doing as well as some anticipated. In fact, to move it, the company that sells and distributes the brand has been relabeling it hoping to trick people into buying it in discount retailers. Via Crooks and Liars.
- The two major dialysis companies are raking in millions while barely providing decent conditions for the patients who use their services. John Oliver did an excellent expose on this. Story, with video, via TruthDig.
- Wedding planners and the wedding industry will continue to do well. Weddings have gotten more expensive and extravagant in the last decade, and people keep paying for them. Story via USA Today.
- Like drinking cold coffee, but not want to brew it like a common plebeian? Need to do it on the go? Here is a $24 portable iced coffee maker. Via Kinja
- And finally, millionaires are once again whining how hard they have it, and they got Wise Bread to explain why being a millionaire is overrated. Oh boo hoo, cry me a river. I will be happy to take some of their money so they do not feel so burdened.
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