Doggone! - it's either laugh or cry...

[leashedForLife]

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our POTUS appointees are vacuuming D.C. lawyers up like corn-chips, creating a local shortage - Trumpling-Jr is the most-recent to hire legal counsel, & his dad had to hire another when his 1st lawyer had an embarrassing meltdown on social-media [... & who does that sound like?...].

so far, Trumpster-Jr has "recalled" 100-plus foreign representatives from 26 countries that he "forgot" to declare on his Security Clearance application. // I can understand that - after the 1st 20 or 30 clandestine meetings, they all begin to blur together.    He needed help from staff, & his diary, to reconstruct the missing events.

The current Admin is now conducting a "voting integrity investigation" & soliciting information from citizens.  So far, this is my favorite -


other citizen feedback here:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/people-everywhere-are-trashing-trumps-election-integrity-commission/

it's horrifying to hear that Dodd-Frank will be dumped, healthcare will again be for those who can afford it, & the top 10% of the income strata will get tax-breaks. // Meanwhile, i work 2 jobs, 60-hour weeks, & 1 of the 2 pays minimum wage - the agency that i've worked for since April 2014 has never given me a raise, & every CNA / PCA / CHHA who works for them, qualifies for food-stamps to supplement their income. 
I'm thankful that i have a roof over my head, & food - i still haven't managed to re-establish my medical insurance - they dumped me without notice last November.  i didn't even realize i'd been cut-off until i had an appt in January - that was a shock.  Apparently, my 2nd job means "i make too much money" - that i can't afford to sign a lease doesn't seem to matter, the Boston metro area has some of the highest rents per sq-ft in the country.

Working 60-hours just to barely make ends meet isn't something U can do for years on end; i've been working 6 days of 7 since Sept-26, & i'm getting tired.
 - terry


 

 

[arealhuman]

It certainly sounds like a sad state of affairs   I hope things improve for you, I sincerely do.

 

[leashedForLife]

thanks, RealHuman -
i long-ago learned not to say cheerfully, "It can't get any worse...", because however bad things are, life CAN get worse.  There is no such thing as a 'bottom' from which there's no place to go but up; that's a myth, just like that asinine Old Husbands' Tale that "adversity builds character".  If that were true, my character would be sterling-silver...  no, platinum, & would beam blindingly on everyone i meet.
I'm sick & tired of adversity.  It's given me bad memories, nightmares, & plenty of scars, visible physical scars & mental or emotional ones. // I'm ready for a dam*ed long vacation from adversity, a couple of years of regular wages, at a decent scale, with reasonable hours, would suit me just fine.  :huh:   But i don't think i'm gonna get it.

The economic structure of the U-S has changed, & not for the better. More wealth is concentrated in fewer hands than ever-before on U-S history, even during the pre-tax "glory days" of railroad robber-barons, zero job safety, & no hope nor help for those surviving in poverty, born handicapped, or who became sick, were hurt, or simply got too old to work, other than a few charity organizations that despite offering food, a louse-ridden bed, or castoff clothing, still BLAMED THE PERSON for whatever dire straits s/he was in.

The judgement bit hasn't changed; the Protestant ethic held that poverty was a judgement by God, good people would prosper & evil folks would not, so if U weren't prospering, then U musta done something evil to p!ss God off, & these were just deserts.
Nowadays, they may not say, "God has cursed U"  - that's out of fashion; but it's still Ur own dam*ed fault U aren't living in a McMansion & raking in dough from those brilliant investments U made in yer 20s, so why aren't ya? ... Why aren't ya eating out 3 nights of 5, why don't ya have a credit-rating over 720, & why don't U have a nice kitty socked away for retirement?
Why aren't U driving a recent-model SUV, paying-off a 6K square-foot house, & living in the suburbs?

I told my friends in college 2 things - that if i could figure out a way to invest in drinking water, i'd do it now, & that we were the 1st U-S generation who could not reasonably assume we'd do better than our parents. //  Unfortunately, i was right on both counts.
Home ownership is falling; prices are still artificially inflated, despite the 2008 bubble bursting. Houses that would be worth 35K when i was in my late-teens to mid-20s are now  150K or more, & are no better than they were then - location hasn't changed, they don't have ultra-high-end appliances, a bathroom for every bedroom, etc.  They're what's scornfully referred to as 'starter houses' that the buyer is expected to improve, & get the H*** out of in a few years -- at a profit, except the profit part isn't true, anymore.

Wages in U-S have been stagnant in real buying-power since the late-70s / early-80s, depending on where U live; the buying power of any wages below middle management has not even kept up with inflation. Benefits have SHRUNK - pensions are virtually nonexistent for anyone below executive rank.  "Golden parachutes" for CEOs who screw-up are common; living wages for 75% of the work-force?... Ha!
The American dream is officially dead.  U can work till U drop, & many do, & never see "financial security" that lasts longer than each paycheck.

I'm far from alone - but being single with no wage-earning partner, i'm one of millions of women who've been paid less than men doing precisely the same job, with the same skills & experience, the same performance ratings, all my working life. Often, I DID IT BETTER - as did other women; but we weren't paid any bonus for "being better" at it.
The joke was that women had to be twice as good as men, to be considered half as competent. Problem is, it was never a joke; it was pretty accurate.

I've worked since i was 15-YO; i put myself thru college on a Senatorial scholarship & loans that took me ten years to get off my back, & here i am, close to "retirement age", knowing i'll either die while still working full-time, assuming my health doesn't fail me first, or in flat-out penury. // Gender wage-inequity isn't a joke. Women tend to outlive same-age men, but all it means in the U-S is that women are 4 to 10X as likely as men to live their 'golden years' in poverty.
I can't say i'm looking forward to it.