A pocket full of mumbles

It's been a while since I wrote one of those depressing posts with the really shitty economic data for working folks...so I figured, it's a gloomy Sunday night, what the fuck, why not tonight?

• Three in four--that's 75% for you republican geniuses--are now living paycheck to paycheck.  If republicans have their way, they'll pass the Ryan budget and make it nine out of ten (90%, same audience).
• From the same link, CEOs now make 273 dollars for every dollar we peons make.  Anybody ever known (anyone with a brain, that is) a CEO whose worth to the company you work for was 273 times your worth?  Didn't think so...
• The first quarter of this year saw the largest wage drop--3.8%--since the government began keeping track of wage increases/decreases 65 years ago.  It won't be long before my (still non-existent) grandkids will be asking me, "Hey, Grandpa, tell us about the days when people used to get raises...."
• A recent CBO report shows that 50% of our tax expenditures go to the top 20% of earners in the U.S., while the bottom 20% (you know, welfare cheats and lazy, no-good-for-nothings) get a mere 8%.  While I'm at it, I can teach my grandchildren how to light torches and carry pitchforks.
• It could be worse for you--you could be a temp worker (unless, of course, you already are).  Back in the day, I believe they called it indentured servitude.  Today, we call it Kelly Services.
• As if it isn't bad enough at one in six Americans in the richest nation in the history of humankind living in poverty, the Census Bureau believes its numbers actually underrepresent the number of poor Americans, and some believe it could be as high as 50%.  I'm not sure there are any words....

Such are the promises of what we used to call the American dream.

Thanks for playing, here's your cheesy parting gift, and have a nice evening.

Peace,
emaycee