Lovely Fucking Morning

[filkertom]

From Yahoo News:

• Unemployment rate rises to four-year high of 5.7 percent
• GM posts $15.5 billion loss as truck and SUV sales plummet
• Scientist commits suicide before arrest for anthrax mailings
• Gunman opens fire on Wis. swimmers, killing 3
• Mother of missing Mass. girl issues plea for her safe return
• Wal-Mart reportedly urges managers to lobby against Obama
• Spears' lawyer: No restraining order for former sidekick

(The Wal*Mart thing was the one that really got me. See, the reasoning is, if Dems win, they'll change the laws to make it easier for Wal*Mart employees to unionize... and, in a perfectly natural and reasonable progression, Wal*Mart employees will see the pittances W*M has deigned to throw them eaten up in union dues. Fucking monsters.)

Gaaaaaaah.

Hope your day, and weekend, are looking all right...?

Comments

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Back when I was in university in 1980 6% unemployment was normal and represented the normal churn of people changing jobs. I guess that the change might be that good jobs are harder to get now and people do not change jobs as often as they used to.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, remember that it's actually worse than that. There are nowhere near as many manufacturing jobs as there used to be. Same with IT. (Although the corporations don't seem to mind the profits of outsourcing, go fig.) And lots of people aren't reported as "unemployed" anymore, because they've literally given up looking for work.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

I guess that the change might be that good jobs are harder to get now and people do not change jobs as often as they used to.

As the roommate of someone who's been job hunting for over 6 months now, I fully agree with the first part of your statemen. But I read somewhere that it's now normal for people to get a new job every 4 to 5 years as they chase better benefits, better salaries, or their job interests just change. Company loyalty ain't what it used to be, what with the export of jobs overseas and the rising cost of living.

But on the flip side, because jobs are harder and harder to get, people are stuck in jobs that make them miserable, make unreasonable demands, ask more and more effort for less compensation...and they have to put up with it, because if they don't, hey, there's a stack of 50 resumes that they can go through at any time and find someone who will.

Wal*Mart

[gtpooh.livejournal.com]

See, the reasoning is, if Dems win, they'll change the laws to make it easier for Wal*Mart employees to unionize... and, in a perfectly natural and reasonable progression, Wal*Mart employees will see the pittances W*M has deigned to throw them eaten up in union dues.

But to take the 20 something, stupid, my parents put me through school and I have everything so you must have chosen to be poor, Libertarian male. "But the free market will eventually help the Wal*Mart employee because they can choose not to work there and Wal*Mart will have to change."

BAH! Need more coffee. I'm serious. When I renew my registration I'm leaving the Libertarian party. I don't care if Penn Gillette, one of the sexiest men on the planet, is a Libertarian.

Re: Wal*Mart

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

The free market has failed.

It's a much longer essay than I'm qualified to write, although I'll take a look over the weekend and find citations. But, really. For decades, the fucking Repub old-money scum and corporations have been telling us how The Free Market Would Solve Everything. And then, earlier this year, the economy turns to shit -- or at least the evidence finally could be hidden no longer -- and The Only Possible Solution Is Government Bailout... For The Corporations.

Fuck them all with rusty chainsaws. If there is a hell, may they rot in it.

A Better Day

[tarsa.livejournal.com]

Actually got some sleep last night.
I was awake (and out of bed) before 9am.
The new puppy didn't leave me any nasty surprises. *lol*
My bloodsugar is reasonable.
Volkswagen is investing 1.4 billion in a new North American plant only 15 miles away from me (Chattanooga) that will be running in three years.
But most of all...the coffee is almost done brewing!

The madness is not confined to the US

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

"Police have identified the man who witnesses say stabbed and beheaded a passenger aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada."

Re: The madness is not confined to the US

[jss]

Yeah, I saw that too: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395781,00.html

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Thank havens I'm hiding out at the Dublin Irish Fest this weekend, assuming I escape from work without losing my mind. Last year it was 97 degrees...this year it's supposed to be 83 and thunderstorming. I'll take the mud, LOL!

Rain -- Don't Count on It!

[loriruadh.livejournal.com]

I'm headed for the Irish Festival tonight as well -- and EVERY time they've forcasted "scattered showers" this week we haven't had a drop of rain. I'm getting tired of watering the garden and I'm not looking forward to seeing our water bill...

Tom, if you haven't swung by Firedoglake today, do so. Emptywheel's got a neat post up on the disintegration of Cheney's firewall. Reads like something out of Tom Clany's universe.

[shannachie.livejournal.com]

Concerning Walmart, I am still jumping with glee about the fact that they tried their thing in Germany, ran their heads against our union laws, lost every court case against their employees insisting on their rights as given by law, and closed down again and left because they could not wheedle the German court system.

I have heard that some people miss Cherry Coke, though. it was pretty much the only place where you could get it. :-)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, then, maybe you could pass this (http://www.importladen.de/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=cherry+coke&sid=n3e8jjiaorh5fp037e48srj8gvcvi6gn&x=0&y=0&search_in_description=1) along.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Ironically, while GM has been losing $1 billion per week, the latest profit report from ExxonMobil (another world record) has them making $1 billion (profit, not revenue) per week. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you! :-P

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I work for GM (parts driver) and don't invest in Exxon because the profit margin is too low.
8.5% profit is not enough with the debt load they carry.

[jss]

I have no idea what I'm doing this weekend; I don't know wjhat's on the calendar at home. I need to clean the bathrooms and kitchen, fold laundry, vacuum and dust the house, and file the paperwork in the home office. I should do more hunting for a satisfactory dining room set, since eating on the coffee table is growing old. I should also run to Heller's for the stuff that neither the Meijer's nor the Kroger's near me carry that I want and am out of, and as long as I'm there I'll probably restock on the perishables.

I also need to figure out where my polling place is for the Tuesday primaries. And that reminds me, I need to check with $boss about me getting a day off, either with or without pay, to be an election judge here like I was in Minnesota. I've got the paperwork, I just need to file it with the City.

[netpositive.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of bad and difficult out there... but there are also many people loving family and friends, and working and playing, and raising kids, and going dancing and making music, and doing myriad other good things. It's just not as visible on the "global news" scale. I count my many blessings and am trying to do what I can to help others without draining myself in the process.

(That having been said, I am continuing to refuse to either shop or invest in Wal-Mart, as does an otherwise fairly conservative -- and cheap -- friend of mine. Now if we could just convince the other 1-2 billion or so....)

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

As far as Walmart goes this is the same company that tried to sue a woman to their money back from paying for her health care costs. A woman who had been injured so baddly in a car accident that she doesn't remember her eldest son died in Iraq so every time she's told it's like the first time she's hearing it.

It's high time that their employees were allowed to unionize, because it's patently offensive the way that the employees there are treated.

My week

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I found out this week that i am going to have to move by Sept. 30. That's kind of a bad thing. I am going to my family reunion this weekend. That's kind of a good thing. I'm stilll not working. That's a continuing bad thing. I'm basically healthy and starting to lose a little weight. That's a continuing good thing. There's an echo in here . . . in here . . . in here . . .

Re: My week

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read about that. Unfortunately, subrogation is pretty well established as legal, and is found in the small print of most if not all insurance policies.

[ginevra007.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with the post but with all the unhappy news I wanted to give you a smile. After all you have given us so many with your songs.

Its the alpaca-lips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gZ0x8AVaBI

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

My weekend looks hot. Hot is what it does in Memphis in August.

This is Lughnasa, so there's church this weekend. The problem with being pagan is that church is outdoors, regardless of weather. 20 degrees? Sure, let's wake Mother Earth at Imbolc. 110? sure, we're celebrating the first harvest at Lughnasa.

I'm still on the sick-list at work until I get hearing aids. That's on today's agenda.

Finished a short story, the royalties of which go to Marriage Equality. Gay werewolves getting married in Arkham MA, FTW.

And come next Tuesday, I'll have been married 19 years.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Well, look at it this way. Wal*Mart campaigning against Obama is bit like having Lex Luthor say Superman's a heel...

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Would anyone who shops at Wal•Mart be intelligent enough to want to vote Obama in the first place?

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Actually, most intelligent people in the USA have had their jobs disappear overseas, and have therefore become poor, and therefore have to shop at Walmart.

(also, if you go to Walmart's website, you'll see they're redesigning their logo so that it's just spelled "Walmart" now...no dash or capital M)

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Me and my family are off to Denver this weekend. I got talked into going on a plane, which is bad, but Denver is where Worldcon will be, and that's beyond friggin' awesome.

They even gave me a concert. Two if you count the Bujold-centric one. I'm still getting over that one.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Except it's not the Dems making the jobs go away or raising prices. It's Walmart who CHOOSES to either close down or raise prices. They're the ones responsible.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Well my company is letting every out half a day early. For me, that's noon (15 minutes away). I'm starting my vigilante hero RPG campaign tonight so I need to get some extra rest. I'm going to improvise for the most part after planting the plot seed. I'm taking a story from the local news, a Catholic preacher stole $112,000 from his church funds and lost it gambling (true story). Well one of my characters is an ex-Marine turned Catholic preacher and is put in charge of a parish in the bad part of town. Well the funds stolen were earmarked for his church and gambling casino is an illegal den in Chinatown. Guess who has to get the money back...

I'm leaving my current job next Wed. This is my last Friday here. My new job is much closer to home and I can drive instead of taking the train. Plus I get a nice salary increase. My first day is Aug 11th.

Call me an optimist

[pickledcritter.livejournal.com]

Re: the unemployment figure.
Yes it's up, but the *good* news is that it is nowhere near as bad as was projected:

"Payroll cuts weren’t as deep as the 72,000 predicted by economists, however. And, job losses for both May and June were smaller than previously reported."

Yeah, I know that's like saying "Hey, he got the shit beat out of him, but look - there aren't as many bones broken as we'd predicted", but I'm just wired to always look for those diamonds in the pile of Arkansas shit (http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/) - otherwise I'd think I'd be too depressed to function...

Re: Call me an optimist

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Yes it's up, but the *good* news is that it is nowhere near as bad as was projected:

Indeed. At this point the argument I'm having with a friend is whether we're heading for "Carter in the 70's" recession or "Hoover in the 30's" depression. I'm more optimistic than he is.

[rabidfangurl.livejournal.com]

In further depressing and infuriating news:

Homeland Security is now detaining laptops, electronic devices, books, and "pocket litter" at the border. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080103030.html)

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to use the option of simply renting a laptop if I ever hit the US, glomming on to an unsecured WAP, and downloading a copy of my home apps and data off the net onto an encrypted partition. Then simply upload any changes I want to make and wipe the lappy before handing it back.

Seriously, though, DHS needs to be taken out to the paddock and shot, along with all the rest of the security theater.

All I can say is:

[saganth.livejournal.com]

A "walking along the beach while you're slitting your wrist" song,
A "wiggle your toes in the sand while you're shaking your fist" song,
A "Life, you're too hard on me, kindly cease and desist" song,
A song about gloom, despair, and pain for a bright, sunny day...

[fredhuggins.livejournal.com]

You think all THAT'S bad? Have you heard about the guy in Manitoba who BEHEADED A GUY on a bus?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/expats/expats_news/article1499922.ece

HOW FUCKING OFTEN DOES ANYONE GET BEHEADED ANYMORE?

Spike Lee was on to something...the heat really DOES make people crazy...