Signs the economy is bad: October 19, 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.

Another week, another look at the Bad Economy. Let's see what has been going on this week.

Big News This Week

The big news this week is Sears finally declaring bankruptcy. I say finally because this once noble company is nothing more than a former shell of itself. It is basically a zombie corpse barely kept alive by its asshole CEO (or former CEO but still big stakeholder) who basically keeps it in debt to scavenge that corpse for any blood left. Let's check out some of the coverage:

• Via Inc., Sears is the latest addition to the list of brick and mortar retailers going bankrupt, and it is something that should be of concern. The author observes that Sears was the Amazon of its time, and that is about right. You could get just about anything there, and in its prime, Sears also had a solid reputation for products like Kenmore and Craftsman tools. Our first washer and dryer long ago were Kenmore, and they lasted a very long time. They just do not make them like that anymore. In the end, the message is that no brand is safe. 
• Via the Los Angeles Times, Lampert swears the company will reorganize and survive. What that really means is he plans to keep it afloat lending it more money so he can keep milking that debt until the bones are really dry. If you paid any attention, you probably find the idea it will survive laughable. 
• And speaking of Lampert, Dealbreaker gives an overview why he will be OK after Sears is long gone. 
• Over at VICE, they point out why the death of Sears, along with the rise of the behemoth Amazon, should scare everyone. I hate Amazon and their disgusting exploitative practices, but then you live in Bumfuck, USA and there is no substantial retail to speak of outside of Walmart, buying certain things online becomes a necessity. In the old days, that would have been a role easily filled by the Sears catalogs. Anyone out there still remember those? I remember fondly their Wish Book around Christmas time. Like many children, it helped me compile my list to Santa in  younger days. I think if Sears had done a better job adapting to the online world they might have fared better. Then again, that was not something that Lampert and his cronies would have been interested in. They just needed to leave the body in a barely living coma to strip it. 

News from the government

Let's see what the government and the stupid politicians in it have been doing to keep up the Bad Economy:

• Not all is bad for the government apparently. The Department of Defense just gave Jeff Bezos and Amazon a big fat $10 billion contract. Story via Telesur. What is the contract for? It is basically for cloud computing because when I think high quality cloud services for the security of the nation, I think Amazon. I feel safer now. I mean, it's not like their service does not go out and take out a bunch of important stuff with it or anything now and then. That other story via CBS News. As the news report points out, "Major cloud-computing outages happen periodically." However, in the 2017 case, it seems that at the time "there’s no fallback." You heard that? No backup. I would like to think they have remedied at least that much, but hey, one never knows. As I said, I am sure we can feel safer. 
• The Party of Stupid went ahead and pushed through a massive tax break for their rich donors and cronies. Despite swearing by McConnell that such a cut would not raise the deficit, that is just what happened. The federal deficit exploded. So now, the stubborn selfish dumbasses decide that they need to cut and take away social security net things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Story via VICE. Because you know, fuck the poor.  I'd be a little more sympathetic except in live in a very red state where the local yokels, despite all the evidence they are about to get royally fucked, go on and vote Party of Stupid anyhow because there is a "War on Coal" going on, and they need to "own those libtards." Well, way I see it, when granny loses her diabetic meds (which she likely gets via Medicaid), a few other fuckbagels lose things like their disability checks (because, you know, maybe they lost their job in a coal mine, which left them in bad shape, and that check from public assistance is all they got), food stamps, so on, oh well. It's what they proudly, willingly, and gladly voted for, and will likely continue to vote for. From the article, "So, to recap: Republicans, who claim to care about how much money the government is spending, effectively spent a bunch of money by giving tax breaks to the wealthy. Now they're demanding that to solve the problem partly created by that giveaway, the government should cut benefit programs aimed at alleviating suffering among the most vulnerable people in society." 
• And the Party of Stupid War on the Poor continues as the party keeps working to get Americans in need off food stamps. Story via Vox. The insidious way they are doing is "work rules" because they think those vulnerable Americans are just mooching bums who need to get a job. The reality is far different, but no one ever said the Party of Stupid cared about reality. The reality, according to research: "Yet the new Brookings report shows what other research has also shown: Very few Americans enrolled in these programs don’t work because they don’t want to (an estimated 1.1 percent of Medicaid users and 0.3 percent of SNAP recipients). Instead, they don’t work because they are elderly, disabled, caring for relatives, or recently lost their job." So, to the Party of Stupid, granny can get off her couch and get to work, the disabled can drag their asses and get a job, those old relatives needing care need to fucking die off already, and if you lost your job and need help, well, fuck you, go get a new one already, you bum. It's the nation we live in folks.
• However, the Party of Stupid does not care about the poor and less fortunate, but they certainly worry if it looks like they will not be able to buy a second home. Case in point. Heidi Cruz, wife to Ted Cruz, was whining that her husband's $174, 000  senatorial salary just does not go far enough and that "we’re not buying a second home anytime soon.” Story via Alternet. Now, don't go thinking that the Cruz family is up the creek. The fact is that Mrs. Cruz is the real breadwinner of the household, and she is whining basically that she has to carry him. How does she make her bread? She is an investment manager at Goldman Sachs. Talk about First World Problems.
• Now, what other things does the government spend money for? Guarding confederate graves. Story via Quartz. That's right, the Veteran's Administration spends, or rather wastes, millions of dollars to protect the graves of loser traitors who rebelled against the duly elected government of the U.S.A. in order to keep their slavery and bigotry. I am sure there are better uses for that money than guarding graves of treasonous men who lost their war against the U.S. 
• Speaking of veterans, U.S. veteran service members often wish or need to continue working in order to make a living or just make a little extra money. Uncle Sam is more than happy to help out in some somewhat questionable and clandestine ways like mercenary work and working as assassins for despots around the world. Found the story via Boing Boing. They got the talent, may as well put it to use. According to the story, "The mercenary squads who carry out targeted assassinations in Yemen on behalf of the autocratic rulers of the UAE are composed of US veterans from elite units like the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, CIA "ground branch" and the special forces of the Maryland Army National Guard, working for the US-based mercenary company Spear Operations Group. Some of the mercenaries are reportedly still US military reservists, others have US top secret clearance." Just another form of American imperialism at work. 

Education News

• Did you know that one in ten public school students in New York City's public schools is homeless? Story via Boing Boing. According to the article, "It's the largest number and proportion of homeless students in the history of homelessness statistics for the New York school system." 
• It does not help public schools that good, experienced teachers are leaving for other more lucrative options. Hey, you gotta eat. One option can be teaching abroad, like this former Oklahoma public school teacher who left to go teach in Abu Dhabi. Story via VICE.
• Meanwhile, in higher education, more evidence that students loans are basically one big generational scam. Story via VICE. 
• And if you thought you could go into public service, like teaching, nursing, or being a cop to get some forgiveness on your college loans, yes, turns out that was another bullshit scam. NPR has an explanation why. Overall, if you ever got student loans, odds are good you are screwed unless you are one of the very lucky few who somehow manage to pay them off, or better yet, never had to take a loan out. 
• As for colleges and universities, well, if things are not going too well, the state does not want to fund you, or you are just not making enough money to operate, you can always sell your campus to the Chinese. The Chinese are very interested in buying U.S. based college campuses. Story via Inside Higher Ed. They have bought or invested in just about anything else, so colleges is not a stretch. 

In other news of the bad economy

We end this week with a roundup of other miscellaneous signs the economy is bad:

• The sordid tale of vulture company Credit Acceptance Corporation, a subprime lender for auto sales that effed up vulnerable people with "alleged deceptive practices, while exposing some of its customers to ceaseless debt" which have led to countless lawsuits and government investigations. Yet they managed to survive and even turned Detroit's courthouse into their own collection agency. Story via Jalopnik. 
• The other big news this week, though not as big, is the assassination of some journalist that criticized the Saudi regime or other. You'd think that would be a big deal, but since Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are bosom buddies, not so much (thus I did not place this under "Big News This Week"). Besides, as Pat Robertson points out, "just because a journalist was tortured and murdered in a Saudi consulate doesn't mean the US should stop treating the country's leaders like beloved royalty. 'We’ve got an arms deal that everybody wanted a piece of,' he told his adoring television audience. Any action against the Saudi royal family would mean losing '$100 billion worth of arms sales.'"Story via Boing Boing. So if you thought that the meek shall inherit the Earth, you are a sucker. In the wise words of Yuri Orlov, "You know who's going to inherit the Earth? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other."
• In other news, newspapers continue to close down. Story via Salon. Recent news report one in five local newspapers have closed down since 2004 in the United States. "According to the report, almost 200 counties in the U.S. have no local paper now, and nearly half have only one, which is more likely than not a weekly, not a daily paper." I happen to live in a town that has a weekly, and a fairly weak one (and fairly biased) at that, but that is about consistent with the findings. 
• Meanwhile, in Latin America, another report reveals that at least 39 million suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Story via Telesur.
• And things could get interesting as the incoming president and administration in Mexico vows to rebuild Mexico's corn agriculture to counter the United States' subsidized grain invasion that decimated Mexican farmers (and drove many to migrate to the U.S.). Story via The Progressive. This looks like a story to keep an eye on. 
• In things to worry about, there is that climate change stuff. Now, many choose not to worry over it, but here is something that may make some folks pay attention: it can threaten your beer supply. Story via Quartz. Yes, climate change could mean less beer, or even no beer. So if trying to save the environment and the planet for the sake of humanity is not your thing, maybe heeding the rally cry of "Save the Beer!" will work.