The Economy

I think Carter was dead in the water after the botched hostage rescue in April, regardless of the polls. Results in November bear that out.

I live in flyover country. I buy all the groceries, a lot of the gasoline, pay the bills. I can buy a loaf of bread for $2 and change, just as I have done for years. The store is hiring stockers and checkers, offering $12.50 an hour -- up from $11 last year.

I was making $11 an hour at a small paper in 1989, and it was no great shakes as a salary back then.

As for the inflation numbers, how soon we forget that they are YOY from the 2020 recession -- of course they're going to be higher than the norm, which have been chronically low since 2009. A 3% jump in rent isn't driving that CPI number either -- it's less than half the overall figure.

Fed policy has been shortsighted since 2020 -- it drove the 2008 meltdown as well as the current bubble in homes and on Wall Street. When the bubble pops it won't be pretty, although I think that mortgage writers aren't writing many no-money-down-no-proof-of-income loans anymore. So maybe we'll avoid the mortgage disaster.

As for your elevated opinion that my observations are "simplistic!" I'm reminded of a classic movie scene starring Orson Welles:

 

So, my angry nation
not all inflation
is a Biden creation?

 

Probably bad, in some esoteric way

U.S. government deficit down 17% from same period a year ago

 

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're talking about here, but if when wages go up, the cost of living goes up, does that mean that a living wage is always necessarily going to be out of reach for those on the bottom rung of the ladder?.

 

No, and fuck you very much for asking.

 

Future teachers in NJ work as unpaid Assistant Teachers -- frequently teaching classes -- at schools while also working on their masters. Earlier, as less skilled para-teachers who don't teach classes, they are paid.

Thanks NJEA, but WTF?

 

Earlier this year, I ordered peanut butter from a third party seller. I did not know they were infamous for misaddressing their packages. So I got a statement from Fedex that the package had been delivered to the address that was on the label, which happened to be not mine. I sent this statement to Amazon, who told me it would take them three weeks to investigate it. Then I left a pretty scathing review of the seller, who had not responded to my questions. A day later, I got an email from the seller telling me that Amazon had given them permission to ask me to change my feedback as it was very important to small businesses, blah, blah blah. Do you know what they did not address? What got them the bad feedback in the first place. They have a continual trail of bad reviews. Mine was lined through and Amazon added it was not the seller's fault. I guess the label gnomes sent my package to the wrong address.

So how hard is it to get Amazon to correct a misdelivery? I found out three weeks later when I discovered a stack of boxes with somebody else's name and address on my front porch. I tried the chat thingie, which I'd usually had better luck with in the past. No dice. They would only address my orders and refused to get me an agent. I was directed to call the toll free number. I reached someone who could barely pronounce the words on her pull down menu, much less handle anything that wasn't spelled out for her on her little flip book. She asked me for my name and my email address, which I gave her. Then she asked for my billing information. I explained that all I wanted to do was to have them pick up the packages and take them to the right address. Did she want the information on the label?

"NOOOH MAHM! Gee mee your billing address an uhcoont noombur!"

"Look, all I want to do is get these packages to the right place, which isn't my front porch.

She answered with a long sigh and rapidly banged something on her desk.

"NOOH! MAHM!" This chick with the high baby voice was absolutely screaming because I didn't know my lines and wouldn't give her my billing information.

"No, I am not comfortable giving you my billing information. I just need..."

"NOOH MAHM! YOU DON CALL ME FOR THAT!"

I hung up, called the police, and explained my situation. They helped me find her number and told me if she expressed any misgivings, to call them back and they would take the packages to the recipient.

Coda 1.) The recipient turned out to be very nice. Her kids drove over and got the loot because she was in the next town over. She told me last year she ordered her kids a Playstation and the picture showed it was delivered across the street. Amazon instructed her to go ask around the neighborhood. Of course, the family who got it never saw the box. Those boxes on my porch contained most of this year's presents.

Coda 2.) The couple who got my peanut butter had never seen unhomogenized peanut butter before and thought it was spoiled. They threw it away. I saw this unfold on Next Door.

And finally: Before anyone gets upset at me. I am dyslexic and a first-generation American on my paternal side, so I am only too aware of how difficult English can be for non-native speakers. That over-caffeinated, adder-suckled banshee needed her head handed to her.

In the 80s and 90s I knew people who surfed various training programs all summer. They got paid to watch training videos and take tests and then they would move on to another tourist attraction or call center.

 

I have to say I got on chat with Amazon, they sent me another book with different delivery (expedited UPS instead of standard USPS), and it arrived in three days.