INTERESTING TIMES

Today on MoveOn they're soliciting for signatures on a petition to make Walmart pay its workers better. Moveon says it's an outrage that Wallyworld employees have to use public services for healthcare because can't afford better. What isn't mentioned is that they spent what they had on vehicles and fuel, guns, alcohol and cigarettes, mobile phones and flatscreens. And a roof over their head.

Minimum wage is law. No company can hire you over the table for anything less. Walmart can pay minimum wage and if people apply for and accept that job, they have made a deal with that company. If they don't like it, they can quit, get another job. If there isn't another job, they can start their own business, or be useful to a family business or take care of an aging elder. They can run for office, start a protest, try and change the minimum wage. There is no shame in doing these things. The shame is in doing nothing. I just don't know how far from nothing this petition is. Having a grievance is not the same as having a solution.

When the economy contracts, families get closer. The resources that we do have get shared with those we care about. The death rate went down in the Great Depression, perhaps for this reason.

I can't get on board with political efforts to increase "jobs" because what "jobs" means is working for large corporations which will strike the best deal they can get for everything including manpower. It's the game, and winning for the 1% means never having to worry about a job. The worker never wins. The worker is a cog in a machine that cares nothing about him and will replace him the moment he begins to crack. The safety net may ease his passage a bit, but it is easy to get caught in.

To be trapped in the safety net is to lose your self respect, to become depressed, to want to die. This may be why so many white American men commit suicide. Middle-aged white guys commit suicide more than anybody else. Perhaps the veterans are driving that statistic.

Surging above $1 trillion, U.S. student loan debt has surpassed credit card and auto-loan debt. This debt explosion jeopardizes the fragile recovery, increases the burden on taxpayers and possibly sets the stage for a new economic crisis.

SOURCE
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/04/nations_student_loan_debts_thr.html

The Democratic minority on the House Education Committee and Workforce Committee released new figures showing that more than seven million students will incur an additional $6.3 billion in repayment costs for the 2012-2013 school year if student loan interest rates double on July 1.

It's generational. I'm not the only one. This makes me feel better. We live in Interesting Times indeed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/many-gen-x-women-overworked-and-in-debt-take-a-pass-on-parenthood/2011/10/13/gIQA6dHdiL_story.html

Such a sad song... Suz, can you play this one?

It just poured rain. The streets are full of water and petals. The kitten just walked by, meowing. I'm sitting on the floor in the nook by the window. I worked my last security shift of the quarter tonight. It was nice, just hanging out at school with nothing much going on. Good conversations. This is why I like working security. When it's your job to just sit by a door, people may come talk to you. And you have time to talk with them. It's very reaffirming. I feel fairly isolated much of the time. It's not easy to get people to have a substantive conversation about anything. There's so much militancy out there, people are so sure they are right that they don't care to entertain other points of view. They don't want to take the time to develop their own point of view. I am lucky to have intelligent, curious, openminded people in my life.
( braindump )