Twenty-eight percent of American homes are “underwater” in value, according to real estate website Zillow.com.
Even the crap they make in China isn’t going to be cheap for much longer as wages for Chinese workers begin to rise. How long before the capitalists abandon China and move all their factories to Africa?
One of the most evocative explanations of wealth inequality I have ever read:
Imagine people’s height being proportional to their income, so that someone with an average income is of average height. Now imagine that the entire adult population of America is walking past you in a single hour, in ascending order of income.
The first passers-by, the owners of loss-making businesses, are invisible: their heads are below ground. Then come the jobless and the working poor, who are midgets. After half an hour the strollers are still only waist-high, since America’s median income is only half the mean. It takes nearly 45 minutes before normal-sized people appear. But then, in the final minutes, giants thunder by. With six minutes to go they are 12 feet tall. When the 400 highest earners walk by, right at the end, each is more than two miles tall.
The hypocrisy of Western foreign policy: Libya 2010 vs Libya 2011
Congress has authorized the President to go to war against anyone, anywhere, for any reason forever. Dennis Kucinich is one of the few members of Congress who opposes the measure. Oh, and the Senate is slated to re-authorize the PATRIOT Act today, with the only voice of opposition being Teabagger Rand Paul.
It’s not your imagination: Facebook is deliberately designed for morons.
Niemoller revisited:
First, they came for the manufacturing workers, but I didn’t speak out for them, cos jeez, I was, what, three years old at the time? Something to do with Reagan I heard, and those guys were unionised bums anyway, making America un-competitive, they deserved to lose their jobs.
Then they came for the call centre jobs, but I didn’t speak out for them because, hey, I was in high school, and sure it was irritating for my Mom and Dad when they were trying to get something done over the phone and the guy was following some jackass script, but hey – lower premiums!
Then they came for the service jobs, but I didn’t speak out for them because I was in college, I was studying hard and anyway it was pretty neat to be ab le to order at the drive-in around the corner from Yale and have my order taken by some guy in Buttfuck, Idaho who used to be a farmer or a machinist or some shit like that.
Then, they came for the software and publishing and insurance and project management jobs and I didn’t speak out because man, I’m so glad I went for a really high-value career like law, I mean, can you imagine if I’d done a liberal arts degree? These loans will be worth it in the end when all those sociology and English grads are serving me lattes.
Finally, they came for the law jobs and they used software and they moved everybody to Omaha to save on rent, and nobody spoke for me, because, y’know, everybody just wants to keep their jobs man, who’s going to cry for an Ivy League guy who can’t get a job?
— MetaFilter contributor “HappyDave”
