Signs the economy is bad; October 26, 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 and another look at the bad economy. Let's see what's been going on.

News from the government

• The Pendejo In Chief launched a trade war with the world, particularly with China. It has been a costly war for U.S. farmers, but wait, the Party of Stupid and the Pendejo In Chief offered a big bailout to U.S. farmers who are affected. But as always, there is a catch. The catch? That money could also end up in Chinese hands. Read this story from Alternet and find out how. All that winning, man. 
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that job growth is faltering in rural areas. Story via The Daily Yonder. So when the Party of Stupid wants to brag about all the job creation during their regime (which at this point is mainly riding the coattails of the previous regime), they are conveniently forgetting rural areas, many of which did vote for the current regime.

Education News

•  Another feature on the pains of college loan debt, and basically how it is, as I have often said, a time bomb waiting to go off. In this article, they look at differences over time between folks with college loan debt and those without in terms of things like retirement savings. Story via VICE.
• In Middlebury College, faculty are not happy about the new textbook online ordering system, and they want textbooks back in their campus bookstore.Story via Inside Higher Ed. Reason this story caught my eye is because my college recently went to an online system for student textbooks. In our case, for the first semester of the freshman year, the college does order the books for the students once their schedules are set, so the decision to buy textbooks is made for them. After the first semester, then they become responsible for getting their textbooks. For them, an advantage is the expense gets charged to their student account. 
• Colleges are making more efforts to bring back students who may have dropped out of college without finishing their degrees. Story via  Inside Higher Ed. It may sound altruistic, but in reality a lot of it is an effort to make their retention and completion rates look better. Accrediting bodies like that sort of thing. This is mostly for undergrads. So far, you do not see too many graduate programs making a similar effort. I guess they could not care less and probably see it as just culling their herds.

In other news of the bad economy

• The Daily Yonder highlights that 1/5 of U.S. newspapers have closed in the last 14 years. This is specially troublesome for rural areas, many of which are becoming news deserts. 
• Things are still bad for many Americans facing foreclosure on homes. How bad? More and more of them are turning to crowdfunding to raise money. Story via The Progressive.
• Once more, under "women can't catch a break" in the Bad Economy: 
• Pregnant warehouse workers enjoy very little, if any, workplace protections, especially for strenuous activities. It is so bad some have had miscarriages, and their workplaces could not care less basically. Story via The Week.
• Medical bills in general in the United States are bad. For women with breast cancer, the cancer is bad enough, but the strain from bills and expenses just makes things worse. Story via UPI. 
• Meanwhile, the Kentucky boondoggle known as The Ark Park keeps losing attendance numbers. Naturally, they are trying to spin the story but investigations do show the attendance is dropping. However, as P.Z. Myers  of Pharyngula suggests, don't count them out just yet. 
• In a bit of trivia, you may be buying store private label products and not even know it. Story via Quartz.

How are the uber rich doing this week?

• Some guy with serious money to burn build a $500K or so house. Now, you may say that is no big deal, but keep in mind he build the house not for himself. It is a mansion for his dog. Find the video here. Via Wimp.com.
• Saudi Arabia also has money to burn. They are now the world's largest importer of weapons and arms. Story via Quartz. That certainly makes their vendors happy, especially their top two vendors: the United States and the United Kingdom. Yuri Orlov may have it right: arms dealers will inherit the Earth.