Signs the economy is bad: August 4, 2017 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.

 Some folks, among them The Washington Post, are reporting that U.S. job growth did well in July. Now you might get lulled into a sense that things are good, or at least not bad. I am here to reassure you that yes, the economy  is still bad, and there are plenty of signs to prove it. Job numbers? Pshaw. Here are the signs the economy is bad for this week:

• In some sad news, a well regarded sex toy company has closed its doors. As reported by Hey Epiphora, Fucking Sculptures (yes, that is the company name. No, I do not think the name was the issue) is closing its doors due to the bad economy. The company was well known for making fine blown glass dildos. According to the report, the company lasted about four and half years in business. This was an artisanal product, and at $180 a toy, as the blogger points out, not many folks can afford that. As much as The Better Half and I love good sex toys, we are among those who can't just plunk out close to $200 for a sex toy, even if we love and appreciate the craftsmanship and quality (we do have a few glass toys, modest purchases). If the topic interests you, the post also discusses a bit of the sex toy industry and lists a few companies still standing. 
• Let's get back to the usual bad news of the economy. A new report points out something we have known for a while: Black women have it bad in this bad economy. How bad? Well, it turns out they have to work 7 months into 2017 to get paid (and equalize) what men got paid in 2016. Story via BillMoyers.com. 
• Let's see what can we blame Millennials for this week. In the bad economy, more often than not something is the fault of those darn Millennial kids. Kids can't buy homes? Must be all that avocado toast they splurge on. This week, we are blaming Millennials for killing the oil industry. Why? Because old oil workers are retiring or dying off, and those damn slacker kids do not want to work in that filthy, dirty, polluting industry. Apparently stuff like climate change is important to them. Story via In These Times. 
• On the ten years anniversary of a major bridge collapse in Minneapolis, infrastructure in the United States is still crumbling, and there is no solution nor plan in sight to address it. Story  via NPR.
• And speaking of local infrastructure and maintenance on highways and such, some states are tight on money for mowing grass along highways, so they are using goats for the job. Story via The Rural Blog.
• Also via NPR, in what can be described as a not so bright moment, folks in Las Vegas, NV can now get marijuana legally. Naturally the sales and taxes are a boom for the local economy. So, what is bad about that?  Well, tourists visit the place too, and they buy a little pot. Turns out there is no place where they can go and smoke it due to local laws. Not exactly a moment of genius there, and a potential sign of the bad economy if word gets out, and those tourists decide to go elsewhere for their recreational pot needs. 
• In rural areas, small business often have it rough when a Walmart comes into town. Now, if that was not bad enough, it turns out that very often delivery companies that bring those small businesses their merchandise charge them extra to deliver in rural areas. You see, the thing is that, unlike the U.S. Postal Service (which people love to rag on) that has a mission and commitment to go into all parts of the nation, including rural areas, delivery companies like UPS and FedEx dislike going into rural areas because they are not as profitable to them. Thus they charge extra to go there (or at times, they may hand off the last leg to the USPS for a delivery even). Story via The Rural Blog. 
• However, in a follow up, FedEx is backing down from extra delivery surcharges during the holidays (read between Black Friday and Christmas) for residential customers (though some restrictions may apply). This is mostly to undercut UPS who said they will be charging those customers that surcharge for the holidays. Story via Lexington Herald-Leader.
• Think you might need an antibiotic or other medicine? Can't afford to go to a doctor? Lack health insurance? Well, in the bad economy, people without means need to get creative, so fish antibiotics are a new option for people needing a medication but on a tight budget. Yes, I mean literally the antibiotics you might put in your fish tank if you had one. Story via Boing Boing.  
• This story is in Spanish, so I apologize to my non-Spanish reading friends, but it is an important one. It is a common story that various companies and employers go to Puerto Rico to hire labor to work in the U.S. Sometimes, those employers are less than ethical (they are actually exploitative), such as the case of fish canneries in Alaska exploiting Puerto Ricans they imported to work. It was so bad the state of Alaska even launched an OSHA investigation. Story via El Nuevo Dia. 
• And in other news from the U.S. colony (this one is in English), they are announcing employee furloughs, at least two days off a month for public employees. Story via Caribbean Business. 
• More signs that coal is not coming back no matter how much con men politicians like Kentucky's Mitch McConnell howl about the "War on Coal." CSX, the big train transport company, is not buying any more freight cars for coal. The reason? The company's new president as of this post stated simple that "fossil fuels are dead." That is pretty much the gist of it. If a guy whose company has made a fortune transporting coal sees the writing on the wall, there is your sign. Story via The Rural Blog.
• In other trends, seems the adult coloring book trend is starting to die out too. This story came out this past week just in time for National Coloring Book Day, which was held on August 2. Woo hoo! Story via Vox. 
• Now, if you want to keep up with the trend, and you want to go all out fancy, maybe this $30,000 adult coloring book is for you. Story via Atlas Obscura.
• In higher education, a new study finds that at least 13 percent of community college students face hunger and/or food insecurity. Story via Inside Higher Ed. 
• Another study found that kids from rural areas may eventually earn higher incomes as adults. The catch? They have to leave those rural areas in order to find jobs with those higher incomes. Story via The Rural Blog. 
• And one more study related to rural areas: turns out that SNAP, the nutritional assistance program (you know, one of those programs the poor use that the Party of Stupid wants to cut because they'd rather those poor people starved), plays a very large role in keeping grocery stores in business. Seriously, SNAP funds that poor people use to buy food and (some) groceries are a significant revenue for grocery stores, especially in rural areas. The irony of course is that a lot of those SNAP recipients in rural areas, like here in Kentucky, went right ahead and voted for the Pendejo In Chief and the Party of Stupid. Story via The Daily Yonder.  
• Here is a trend that someone is finally noticing, besides me, that FAIR dubs as "perseverance porn." Basically it refers to those sappy human interest stories of some guy who walks 20 miles in 30 feet of snow to get to a menial job despite having no shoes or proper winter gear, then people take pity and crowdsource to buy him a car. More often than not these and other such stories are nothing more than poor shaming bullshit tales. Read the story and get the details. 

This week we have a couple of ridiculous items:

• Dunkin Donuts is trying to pull what Kentucky Fried Chicken did a while back when it became KFC. Dunkin Donuts is hoping you will sort of and kind of forget they sell donuts (because those are junk food), and you will remember more that they sell coffee (including those abominable "coffee drinks" that are more sugar loaded milkshakes, a.k.a. junk food). How? They are dropping "Donuts" from Dunkin Donuts name to become just plain Dunkin. Story via  The Week.
• As you may have noticed, many restaurants, specially chains, pride themselves on selling giant portions of food abominations at a somewhat accessible cost (well, accessible to some). This is the kind of food that you need to "check with your waiter for a list of nearby cardiac care units." Now some people get all high and mighty and whine arguing, "hey, don't eat it every day; it is just a treat." But if said treat could potentially send you to an ER, or at least the nearest toilet due to excess, well, that could be a problem. Well, to reasonable people. To most Americans, hey, that plate is not big enough, put that thing on a trough. And how do you know who are the best of the best in these kind of restaurants? Well, you can check the recent winners of the 2017 Xtreme Eating Awards. Story via Alternet.

In job openings:

• Looking for work? NASA (yea, the space guys) are looking for  a planetary protection officer. Pay is good, and you make sure you get to protect the Earth from the scum of the universe. Story via The Washington Post. 

To wrap up the week, sadly the Pendejo In Chief offers a couple of signs the economy is bad:

• I mentioned previously how the Secret Service was setting up a post in Trump Tower. Well, apparently he, or his "organization," drives a hard bargain since the Secret Service decided to not take the lease and set up shop there after all. Story via  NPR. 
• Finally, find out how the Pendejo In Chief may be ruining book sales. Story via The New Republic. This story I did find interesting as a reader and librarian, and I think a few folks might too.