Signs the economy is bad: February 2, 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.

January has pretty much come and gone. Christmas season is by now a long gone memory, but the Bad Economy keeps chugging along in 2018. So let's see what's been happening.

• The latest salvo in the "War on Coal" comes from an energy company CEO who says new renewable energy will be cheaper than coal in the long run. Via Vox.
• Government officials are happy and proud to tell the poor to fuck off. The latest iteration is the USDA chief telling the poor on food stamps to "get a job." Just another typical selfish clueless Party of Stupid bureaucratic asshole. Via Mother Jones.
• Nationally, evictions are up, and a  lot of it is due to gentrification. As usual with stuff like this, no one cares until suddenly it hits "regular" white bread middle class people, then holy shit it's a problem. Via Curbed.com.
• Also nationally, the U.S. is now number one in maternal deaths in the developed world. America: Fuck Yea! Talk about "shithole countries." Via ProPublica. 
• The same kind of shithole country that allows young people to die because they cannot afford a vial of insulin to treat their Type 1 diabetes. Via Truth Out.
• And in California, where though they have laws for almost everything their usury laws pretty much suck. The result is loan sharks of the payday industry are exploiting that to make a killing. Via Boing Boing.
• Yes, debtor's prisons still exist as courts use various dubiously ethical and morally nebulous ways to exploit the poor even more. Violating the rights of the poor in the judicial system is more often than not just business as usual. The article highlights findings from the book Not a Crime to be Poor. Via Truth Out.

And in some news of the Bad Economy that seem a bit more odd and curious:

• Here is a dog that qualified for unemployment benefits. You know things are hard in  the Bad Economy when even Fido can get unemployment.  It sounds funny until you realize there is a more insidious reason behind it: fraud (not from the dog or the dog's owner). Via The Washington Post. 
• Shark conservation charities and conservation charities overall are finding themselves getting  bit extra money these days. Why? It turns out the Pendejo In Chief has a well known hate for sharks. Enough said. Story via the BBC.
• Tired of working in a coal mine?  Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a thick skin? Willing to take a chance? Perhaps you'd like to open a sex shop in a small rural town. Via The Daily Yonder. 
• And speaking of sex shops, the guy who played Barney the Dinosaur has moved on. His new career? He owns a tantric sex shop. Story via VICE.
• In the market for some Elvis memorabilia? You might still be able to find a crumpled paper cup the King allegedly drank out of. It may set you back only $1,750 bucks. This same guy apparently auctioned off before three tablespoons of Elvis' drinking water. Or you can hold out and see if he might also have some toilet paper tissue Elvis may have used to wipe his ass with back in Memphis. Story via VICE.
• Looking for a new place to park your money?  The usual "blue chip" stocks too blah for you? That day trading not thrilling enough? Then maybe you can invest into the world's first publicly traded whiskey fund. Via Atlas Obscura.