So, back on 27 Feb 16, Andrew Ducker posted this:

( Read more... )

You know that I have been thinking that the current state of capitalism is like that of sheep farmers who used to shear the sheep and sell the wool and shear the sheep again, but who in a fit of greed have skinned the sheep for the luxury sheepskin rug market (because the money-in-hand was so swoon-inducingly satisfying), and are now standing ( Read more... )

So, most people have seen this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU
and become anxious about their own job, or the jobs of their children.

And then today there is this
http://app.tmxmoney.com/news/cpnews/article?locale=EN&newsid=f41984&mobile=falsewhere a young man was crushed to death by a robot.  And, human error or no, it is very scary ( Read more... )

... "Greece" may be on the precipice but the people are already in the pits.  Bank withdrawal limits of 60 Euros a day: 1800 month, then.  I doubt I'd be able to pay my rent, buy my bus pass, bag my lunch, and pay for my electricity and internet with that. There isn't even a place where I can wheelbarrow my coins to pay for electricity & internet ( Read more... )

I am sure stats are available for other provinces and countries, but in Ontario in 1997 one in 40 people was earning minimum wage.  Today it is one in eight:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/15/ontario-wages-earnings-ccpa_n_7587844.html

Who is going to boost the economy by buying all the things?

The Dollarama bubble won't burst yet.

Someone has exactly captured my opinion about stripping the wealth out of the middle class:

http://conuly.dreamwidth.org/2283983.html

in the comments from http://siderea.dreamwidth.org/ .  Here is a massive quote:

"Also, can I just say I am wicked in favor of as many people around me making as much money as possible because I sell things to my ( Read more... )

So.  We know that income inequalities have been increasing since the late 70's (http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/income-inequality.aspx), and it now appears to be part of a cycle (Capital in the 21st C, Thomas Picketty), and is likely to get much worse, and perhaps require horrible violence to arrest.Someone has done some research ( Read more... )

So, this is another one of those new ways of living:
http://business.financialpost.com/executive/careers/why-gen-y-is-eschewing-traditional-career-paths-for-lifestyle-entrepreneurship

I had been writing the post below over a week (dang work anyway), and even though I came to the end I liked, there is a coda of discovery that I wanted to explore ( Read more... )

I don’t believe that people in power are any smarter than people not in power. Therefore I expect them to be greedy and short-sighted, happy to yank the beams out of the structure we all live in as long as there is a profit.

Sometimes this fear gets pretty intense, and I start wondering whether I should be stock piling chickpeas. I’ve even ( Read more... )