1/ Serious article about how their is a barbell effect in our economy........at one end of the barbell are the top earners, with a rapidly growing number of working poor at the other end. In the middle is the middle class being ruthlessly squeezed, with accelerating fallout from the middle to the bottom. The much vaunted jobs being created are McJobs for the working poor.....
I have to say this is a depressing story, but you need to read it in self-defence.....
McEconomy: Is America's Middle Class Doomed to Low-Wage Jobs and a Poor Standard of Living?
Increasing numbers of people are flipping burgers, answering telephones, engaged in child care, mopping hallways, and in other low-wage lines of work.
May 8, 2011 |
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Think of it as a parable for these grim economic times. On April 19th, McDonald's launched its first-ever national hiring day, signing up 62,000 new workers at stores throughout the country. For some context, that's more jobs created by one company in a single day than the net job creation of the entire U.S. economy in 2009. And if that boggles the mind, consider how many workers applied to local McDonald's franchises that day and left empty-handed: 938,000 of them. With a 6.2% acceptance rate in its spring hiring blitz, McDonald’s was more selective than the Princeton, Stanford, or Yale University admission offices.
It shouldn’t be surprising that a million souls flocked to McDonald's hoping for a steady paycheck, when nearly 14 million Americans are out of work and nearly a million more are too discouraged even to look for a job. At this point, it apparently made no difference to them that the fast-food industry pays some of the lowest wages around: on average, $8.89 an hour, or barely half the $15.95 hourly average across all American industries.
On an annual basis, the average fast-food worker takes home $20,800, less than half the national average of $43,400. McDonald's appears to pay even worse, at least with its newest hires. In the press release for its national hiring day, the multi-billion-dollar company said it would spend $518 million on the newest round of hires, or $8,354 a head. Hence the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of "McJob" as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement."
Of course, if you read only the headlines, you might think that the jobs picture was improving. The economy added 1.3 million private-sector jobs between February 2010 and January 2011, and the headline unemployment rate edged downward, from 9.8% to 8.8%, between November of last year and March. Itinched upward in April, to 9%, but tempering that increase was the news that the economy added 244,000 jobs last month (not including those 62,000 McJobs), beating economists' expectations.
Under this somewhat sunnier news, however, runs a far darker undercurrent. Yes, jobs are being created, but what kinds of jobs paying what kinds of wages? Can those jobs sustain a modest lifestyle and pay the bills? Or are we living through a McJobs recovery?
2/ Newt. Newt? Isn't the name enough to put people off voting for him? A seasoned journalist explains why Newt Gingrich may run, but he won't ever succeed. For political junkies.....[you know who you are]......
He’s out to win the White House. But as Michael Tomasky explains, Newt’s campaign is merely comic relief. Plus, Eve Conant on Newt’s dirty polluter money.
I don’t know much in this life. I can’t tell you who’s going to win the NBA championship or when the Pakistani ISI will become a bulwark against extremism or what year Keith Richards’ lungs will finally cry uncle. But I do know this: Newt Gingrich will never be president of the United States.
It will of course be fun to watch him run. Following Gingrich is a form of entertainment—he’s an all-around vaudevillian of political theatre. Journalists have a soft spot for him, even avowedly liberal ones like me, because if nothing else he is sui generis. I met him in 1992 when I was down in Atlanta for that year’s vice-presidential debate, the one remembered if at all for Admiral James Stockdale’s amusing self-interrogation (“What am I doing here?”). Gingrich was in a pretty tough House race that year, but he took ample time out of an October afternoon to shoot the breeze with me, a reporter at the time for the Village Voice, of all disreputable things. He was trying to sell me on the idea that the Republican Party was going to compete seriously for the black vote over the next decade. I was young. He was, or seemed, sincere. I bought the whole package.
3/ Beyonce has a new video "Move your Body", inspired by the First Lady's fight against obesity in kids.....nice, lots of dancing and of course kids......
Or, more accurate: A new Beyoncé video is here. While the world still awaits the visual accompaniment to her divisive new single, "Girls (Who Run the World)," Bey has released an endearingly goofy clip for "Move Your Body," the tweaked, fitness-promoting version of "Get Me Bodied" she did as part of the Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth–loving first lady's campaign against childhood obesity. That means: smiles, children, a cafeteria, finger snapping, the running man, the dougie, the solemn disembodied intonations of Swizz Beats, and the irrepressible charm of Beyoncé Knowles. Good job, Michelle Obama: As far as tactics for tricking children into being healthy go, convincing them that it's what Beyoncé wants them to do is pretty genius. Childhood obesity, your days are numbered!
4/ More Newt....the always entertaining Matt Taibbi on how he can't wait to cover the Presidential race with Newt as the front runner......
Was pleased to learn this afternoon that Newt Gingrich is formally announcing his run for the White House. I literally cannot wait to get back to covering the insane reality show that is the presidential race, especially since the Republicans seem determined to run the most entertaining collection of mutants seen on earth since Tod Browning’s classic Freaks.
5/ Some of Jon Stewart's best clips are where he goes after Fox News, and this is one of these. His main target today was Slanthead [Hannity]......excellent......
Two clips, one 3 minutes, one 5 minutes.....
The subject of Wednesday night's "Daily Show" brought out an interesting new talent in Jon Stewart, aside from his already impeccable talent for finding hypocrisy on Fox News. The network's outrage (particularly Sean Hannity's) over Chicago rapperCommon visiting the White House to read poetryTuesday got Stewart so fired up, he ended his segment with a freestyle rap about it.
To back up, Hannity and company on Fox News expressed their extreme displeasure this week with vegetarian, Grammy-winning Common going to the event because of his "misogynist" and "violent" lyrics. Too bad they didn't read all the lyrics to the songs they were criticizing, or they would have seen how he talks about those things as a way of calling for peace. For this Stewart also became outraged, but for all the right reasons:
6/ How even one of our most basic rights as citizens are rigged in Florida - very good Scott Maxwell column on how the Republicans have made it harder to vote.....and why.....
And so early voting thrived — until last week anyway, when modern-day Republicans decided they'd had quite enough.
The problem, you see, was that early voting tended to favor Democrats — often working people who wanted to vote on a weekend. Also because of the simple fact that Florida has more Democrats than Republicans.
And that simply wouldn't do.
So GOP legislators decided to attack early voting. And voter registration. Any part of democracy that didn't benefit their party.
They shortened early voting from 14 days down to eight. They made it harder for people who have moved in the past year or changed their names to cast ballots on Election Day. And they successfully put groups that register new voters, like the League of Women Voters, out of business.
Even Republican elections supervisors were puzzled by the attack. "I'm not sure the system was, in any fashion, broken," said Seminole's Michael Ertel.
It wasn't.
But to concoct a reason, Republicans came up with two bizarre excuses.
First, they claimed early voting led to fraud — even though they couldn't actually offer proof.
7/ Musical dog video of the day.....amusing little 1 minute clip.....
8/ As we all predicted our corrupt Legislature was unable to deal with these local "Internet Casinos" in this session...beyond pathetic....
State lawmakers spent hours this past session debating everything from whether to bring full-blown Las Vegas casinos to the state or whether greyhound tracks should be allowed to drop racing.
And a disagreement over whether a budget conforming bill allowed pari-mutuels to set up machines similar to slot machines helped derail the smooth end of the session.
But legislators spent little time dealing with Internet cafes despite the fact that the facilities are mushrooming across the state amid murky legal questions.
The cafes are becoming a common scene in strip-malls and inconspicuous buildings. It is estimated that anywhere from 350-1,000 are currently in Florida and the number is quickly growing.
An Internet café usually consists of 15-30 computers on lined fold-out tables along the walls in a sparse open room. Customers buy internet time and are given a “sweepstakes” number. The customer then sits at computers that display a slot-machine style wheel and see if their number is a winner. Because the number is predetermined, the internet cafes are run under sweepstakes laws and are not considered gaming operations.
Supporters argue it is just simple entertainment, often noting that portions of revenue from the cafes are transferred to various non-profit organizations.
But the most important debate is over whether or not they are legal. Because the cafes operate under the state’s sweepstakes laws, they are not overseen by a state agency, nor are they taxed.
The Legislature failed this past session to clarify the law as to whether or not the internet cafes are legal. In 2011, legislation was proposed to ban the cafes, and other legislation proposed to simply regulate them. Yet neither went anywhere in the House and the Senate didn’t even bring up any of the bills.
9/ Time for the Black Eyed Peas "I've Got a Feeling" again....say what you like about the images of Fergie, Will.I.Am and our youth in full war cry there's a great raw energy to this video.......yes it brings images of the Roman Empire in decline, but get over it.....
10/ Haven't heard much from the St. Johns Water Management District lately, but don't worry - they are up to their usual tricks. As usual they are giving the big polluters and consumers whatever they want even though it's degrading the environment and in the meantime telling us we can't water our lawns. They just granted the giant utility company JEA permission to pump 165 million gallons a day from the aquifer. For free. No charge. Gratis.
So when you are paying the $100 plus monthly water usage charges to your city, thank the SJWMD for their sterling service to the people of Florida.
Is any institution, state body or any branch of government in Florida that is under the control, even indirectly, of our political "leaders" not corrupt? Doing the bidding of "the boys" for whatever makes [or saves] them money......
The St. Johns River Water Management District Tuesday night approved a permit that would allow Jacksonville utility JEA to withdraw up to 163 million gallons of groundwater daily in the next 20 years.
Environmentalists have concerns about the impact of allowing the utility to suck more water out of the ground, but the District says that it comes with conditions intended to minimize its impact on wetlands and waterways in surrounding counties. The case highlights the concerns over the effects of groundwater pumping on already-depleted aquifers, especially by electric utilities, which are some of Florida’s largest consumers of water. #
11/ Own a home in Florida? Are you required to have insurance? Business-friendly [i.e. paid off] Rick Scott may approve a bill that should double your premium in 5 years.....happy you voted for him?
Homeowners, some already hit with double-digit property insurance rate hikes in recent years, could see premiums more than double in five years. They also could lose their right to file claims for late-surfacing damage or suffer more home damage while they save up to make repairs.
Those are possible outcomes predicted by some homeowners, local leaders and a major home builders group from the sweeping property insurance bill that hit Gov. Rick Scott's desk Wednesday. The governor has until May 26 to decide whether to sign it into law or veto it.
Supporters of the bill, including insurers, say the bill could strengthen the state's property insurance market and draw more private insurers to Florida — a key goal for Scott and other state leaders who want policyholders to have more insurance options. Many homeowners in South Florida have only the option of insuring their homes with state-backed Citizens Property Insurance.
Insurers report premiums are not keeping pace with their costs, including expenses for sinkhole claims.
Opponents say the bill reverses changes that were made when problems surfaced after the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes: Premiums doubled and tripled in some cases, and homeowners had trouble finding contractors willing to repair their homes if they could not pay the costs upfront.
12/ Movie Review - "Bridesmaids" with Kristen Wiig.....partial review below, but it sounds like a very good movie....
Great trailer .....
And so Annie screws up again and again, giving parties that fail and insults that don’t. Along with the other bridesmaids — an excellent Melissa McCarthy and the very fine Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper — Lillian and Annie laugh, cry, hurl and board a plane to Vegas to test the bonds of friendship en route to a hangover of their own. There’s a guy on the side, too (Chris O’Dowd), but he’s so nice that cranky, complaining Annie almost doesn’t notice. A lanky-limbed blonde who evokes Meg Ryan stretched along Olive Oyl lines, Ms. Wiig keeps her features jumping and sometimes bunching. She’s a funny, pretty woman, but she’s also a comedian, and she’s wonderfully confident about playing not nice.
It would be easy to oversell “Bridesmaids,” though probably easier if also foolish to do the reverse. It isn’t a radical movie (even if Ms. McCarthy’s character comes close); it’s formally unadventurous; and there isn’t much to look at beyond all these female faces. Yet these are great faces, and the movie is smart about a lot of things, including the vital importance of female friendships. And it’s nice to see so many actresses taking up space while making fun of something besides other women. Perhaps the biggest, most pleasurable surprise is that “Bridesmaids” doesn’t treat Annie’s single status as a dire character flaw worthy of triage: she’s simply going through a rough patch and has to figure things out, as in real life.
Ms. Wiig, a longtime cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” and Ms. Mumolo, a veteran of the Los Angeles comedy troupe the Groundlings, know what female moviegoers want: honest laughs with, and not solely about, women. Contra Christopher Hitchens and his 2007 assertion in Vanity Fair that women are not funny, they offer irrefutable proof that along with producing and starring in a hit TV series (thank you, Tina Fey), women can go aggressive laugh to aggressive-and-absurd laugh with men. All they need, beyond talent and timing, a decent director and better lines, is a chance. It helps if the director has a clue, and if everyone involved sees women not just as bosoms with legs, but as bosoms with legs and brains.
Bridesmaids trailer.....2 minutes....
Todays video - a DDD favourite "The best seatbelt commercial ever made", actually maybe one of the best commercials period.
Todays parenting joke
Vaseline survey
A man doing market research knocked on a door and was
greeted by a young woman with three small children running
around at her feet. He says, 'I'm doing some research for Vaseline.
Have you ever used the product?'
She says, 'Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.'
'And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?'
'We use it for sex.'
The researcher was a little taken back. 'Usually people lie
to me and say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you tell me
exactly how you use it for sex?'
The woman says, 'I don't mind telling you at all...
My husband and I put it on the
door knob and it keeps the kids out.'
And you thought it was gonna be a dirty joke...!
greeted by a young woman with three small children running
around at her feet. He says, 'I'm doing some research for Vaseline.
Have you ever used the product?'
She says, 'Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.'
'And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?'
'We use it for sex.'
The researcher was a little taken back. 'Usually people lie
to me and say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you tell me
exactly how you use it for sex?'
The woman says, 'I don't mind telling you at all...
My husband and I put it on the
door knob and it keeps the kids out.'
And you thought it was gonna be a dirty joke...!
Shame on you
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