Signs the economy is bad: April 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.

It may be Friday the 13th, but this is just another Friday, another bunch of signs to tell you the economy is bad. Let's have a look.

Let's start with some news from back  in the U.S. colony:

• Puerto Rico is closing a quarter of its public schools. The government wants to blame Hurricane Maria, but as a former boss of mine used to say, "that dog don't hunt." Story via Grist. So what may be the real reason: ". . .the disaster is being used as scapegoat allowing officials to sell off rather than repair public services on the island" I am honestly starting to believe a  theory a friend of mine suggested. It sounded a bit like conspiracy theory, but not anymore. Anyhow, idea is that actions like these are all part of gentrifying island so the locals leave, then the rich swoop in, buy the land and all the other assets dirt cheap, then make a rich people's exclusive paradise. 
• Puerto Rico is also dismantling its own official statistics agency. Story via Boing Boing. I mean, numbers are hard, and who the hell needs statistics anyhow? Not like you use them to make decisions or anything. Again, just part of privatizing everything to turn it over to the wealthy absentee overlords. 
• Meanwhile, back in Puerto Rico as well, some dialysis patients need to take a 12-hour plane journey to get their dialysis. Story via The Atlantic.

Meanwhile, in rural news. Most of these are basically those yokel white farmers suddenly scared that the  Pendejo In Chief is, lo and behold, doing what he said he was going to do. So now, for some reason, the media feels a need to go on safari and ask them how they "feel" and worry about the future. For one, I say fuck 'em. Yes, I said it. They went right ahead and voted for the Party of Stupid despite every warming, evidence, facts, and information available that it would be detrimental and lethal because, hey, the guy is a man who will do what he says. Yea, he will drain that swamp, and besides, there were her e-mails. So way I see, this is just consequences. Stop whining. You got what you asked for. (Thing is in the end us liberals will likely give them the helping hand anyhow when we get the chance because it is what we do. Unlike them, who thought nothing of tossing everyone else under the bus, we still find some compassion someplace. But in the meantime, oh well.).

• The Daily Yonder reports that rural farmers are wary of a trade conflict with China. Gee, I wonder why. Article is worth a look as it looks at a bit of history and how things like tariffs and embargoes can be connected.
• Another worry is steel tariffs. Why? They can make farming equipment much expensive. Story via The Rural Blog.
• Not that Americans overall give a shit about anything outside of themselves. As long as they get things as cheap as possible, it does not matter who has to be exploited, oppressed, so on to make it happen. Case in point: Americans love cheap meat. Here is how it works: "Americans want cheap meat. That requires low wages. So plants hire undocumented workers. ICE raids the plants. Latino families cry. Schoolteachers are put in the untenable position of either supervising children after hours or sending them home, knowing their parents are missing. People are appalled by the human cost, momentarily. Then employers and workers become more sophisticated at evading detection and the cycle begins again." Story via The Rural Blog. I bet you do not think about any of that  when you are chomping down on  that Big Mac or grilling some steak in your backyard. 
• Another problem in rural areas: a shortage of local reporters. Why is this a problem? According to the story via The Rural Blog, "Fewer reporters means citizens don't have the information they need to make decisions as citizens and hold institutions accountable. They have less information about local candidates, and less reporting has been correlated with lower voter turnout. News outlets have less horsepower to challenge elected officials, and increasingly print stories based on press releases — giving politicians more power to spin the narrative, Waldman and Sennott say." This is also how they end up often on a steady diet of Fox News and shit like InfoWars. 
• Dialysis issues are not just something for Puerto Ricans victims of a hurricane. Rural areas have a large amount of population with diabetes that also needs dialysis. Folks in that situation often rely on ambulance transport to get to their dialysis clinics. This is life or death. Well, I am guessing a few of those folks will be dying off a bit sooner "when a 13 percent cut in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for non-emergency ambulance transportation goes into effect Oct. 1." Basically, if the ambulances do not get paid, no transport. No transport, no dialysis. No dialysis, you get the picture. Story via The Rural Blog. 
• And because things CAN get worse for diabetics in rural areas, it turns out that "rural residents are 17 percent more likely to die from a diabetes-related hospitalization than people who live in large metropolitan areas." This can be due for various reasons ranging from access issues to health care to  just obstinacy of not trusting the health care system (the often heard "I want to be left alone" narrative they love, until they need help. In the end, like it or not, we are all connected somehow). Story via The Rural Blog.
• Let's move on to the big state of Texas, where locals love to tell you how great their state is and how people are rushing to move there because it is oh so wonderful.  Unless you live in a rural area with an oil boom. If you do, good luck traveling around since said boom is pretty much fucking up their roads and infrastructure. And the state, raking billions from said oil boom, is in no rush  to maintain something like piddly rural roads. Oh well. Story via The Texas Tribune.

In news from college and higher education:

• Eastern Michigan University professors are critical of a decision by the university to cut four sports but leaving their loser (financially and athletically) money sucking football team in place. Story via Inside Higher Ed. The comments over there defending the university keeping the football team range from ridiculous to just cluelessly hilarious.  Heaven forbid they have to move to a lower sports league. The horror. 
• Meanwhile, in evidence that not all college students are smart, it is revealed recently that 1 in 5 college students use their financial aid money for stupid gambles like BitCoin and other cryptocurrencies. Story via Inside Higher Ed. What can I say? The stupid is strong in those students.

In other news of the bad economy:

• There is a new evictions database, and no surprise, it has revealed we are in the middle of a deep housing crisis in the United States. Story via NPR. The creator of the database is Matthew Desmond, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. 
• And because exploiting the poor and vulnerable is a proud tradition in the United States, beware the scam of rent-to-own houses. You could be left with no house and lost money. Story via WOSU. 
• Because it is the Bad Economy, women just can't catch a break. The latest way women get the short end of the stick? No matter how good their credentials, degrees, so on, they earn less the moment they have children. Story via The Conversation. 
• In California, wine makers might have to start worrying too because of the  Pendejo In Chief and his tariff war with China. Not just yet, but possibly down the road. Story via The Conversation. 
• A new report indicates a medical doctors' shortage in  the U.S. by 2030. Story via Inside Higher Ed. 
• In a small ray of sunshine, it turns out that home delivered meals, like those of Meals on Wheels, can save health care costs. Story via the Food Politics blog. Too bad the Pendejo In Chief and the Party of Stupid are happy to cut funding for programs that support things like Meals on Wheels. Oh well.

And finally, let's take a peek at how the uber rich are doing:

• If you got some money to burn, and you really like bourbon, perhaps this new special limited edition of bourbon at $2,500 a bottle is your thing. Story via Kentucky.com