Nationwide Wal-Mart Strike enters its 7th Month

Wal-Mart stores remain shuttered in the United States and Canada for the 210th day as the United Service Workers of North America refuses to budge on their strike demands. Talks between the USWNA and Wal-Mart executives failed last week after 17 days of non-stop negotiations, with the union refusing to budge from their demands to raise average wages to $25 an hour and a 32-hour work week, along with having Sundays off for all employees.

With no future talks on the horizon, Wal-Mart share prices fell to a new record low yesterday, dropping 28% to 41 cents a share.

-----

USWNA on the verge of organizing McDonald's and Burger King

With ballots still being counted as of last night, the USWNA appears to win yet another sweeping victory, with 82% of the votes for organization, and 14% against. Bob Stevenson, the President of the USWNA reports that "we will initiate a strike action within 48 hours after all ballots are counted, and our members are committed to joining their brethren in achieving a living wage for all service workers in the United States and Canada."

-----

The US Supreme Court Strikes Down Seed Patents

In a crushing blow to the Monsanto Corporation, the Supreme Court has struck down patent law in regards to seed patents, the majority opinion stating that "Nature cannot be patented, nor profiteers be allowed to control what farmers can and cannot plant."

Monsanto stock closed down 98% yesterday to 11 cents a share. Company executives are expected to announce plans for a Chapter 7 filing in two days.

-----

US School Year to be shortened to 150 Days Nationwide

Amid cheers of children nationwide, the President announced a shortened school year, beginning with the 2017-18 school year to enable cash-strapped school districts to keep schools open. Educators nationwide applaud this move, stating that "some school is better than no school for our nation's children."

-----

Birthrate Falls to a New Low

The Great Baby Drought continues, with birthrates falling to .9 children per family as of 2020. Factors for this dramatic decline are attributed to the ongoing depression and the perceived lack of future opportunities for the nation's children due to grim forecasts that the economy may very well "contract forever".

Experts expect that the rate of childbirth will continue its fall, reaching a low of .4 children per family by the year 2035, leading to a dramatic demographic shift of the population towards the aged in the decades to come.

"US School Year to be shortened to 150 Days Nationwide"

Why would that be a good thing?

It'd be good for the kids that don't have to go to school so much...LOL.

Besides, it'd give parents the opportunity to teach kids on their own, as well as encouraging greater numbers of stay-at-home parents, which would surely ease the unemployment problem. Not to mention the need to reduce property taxes as much as possible due to economically difficult times.

It's difficult enough for families to get by with two incomes. Forcing them to scramble for education and supervision for their children while they're at work is just going to add extra pain to the situation. For most people, homeschooling is a luxury they can't afford. I'm all for homeschooling, even as a teacher, but not everyone is lucky enough to have helpful, functional extended families, with things like two sets of retired grandparents in the same town willing to homeschool the grandchildren.

I object to this assertion. People tend to set their lifestyle standard to their top end earning power for their family; and then that becomes, "getting by". Whether that is $40k or $400k; people still get themselves in a position where they feel they will lose everything and be doooomed if they started making half that.

As someone who's never had two income streams in their family, I can say my house is fine, my car is fine, there's food in the fridge and cabinets, and the associated blizzard of children's toys thats that is not uncommon in a home without maid service! Dual income families in similar lines of work as mine live just as close to the edge of their earnings as we do, they just have bigger houses, more expensive or newer cars, etc. If they lost an income source, they'd have to change their lifestyle to fit the new income, but it would still be much more than just "getting by".

It'd boggle the minds of a billion people on this Earth right now if an American with a car and air conditioner uttered the phrase, "just getting by".

Me too!

I was involved with an unsuccessful ecovillage group once, and asked someone why nothing much had happened in several years. The answer, "Everyone has been too busy just surviving."

That seems so arrogant, when, to people in Iraq, "just surviving" means "I didn't get killed yesterday," when, to someone in Somalia, "just getting by" means "I had something to eat yesterday."

There is a lot of fat in most people's budgets, if they were only motivated to find it. Start by down-sizing to a smaller house and an older car. Outside of the house, pay cash for everything, and pay down that house as fast as possible. Pretty soon, one salary is no longer necessary. Start planting food. Pretty soon, half the other salary is no longer necessary.

This is the way of the future, folks. Sell the big-screen TV today, while there's still a market. Use the money to buy seeds and garden tools.

I agree on the two incomes question. You just have to decide to do it and then make your life fit your financial situation. Get rid of a car payment, pay off some debt, eat lower on the food chain, maybe buy a cheaper house and buy less and you can find yourself where you need to be.

I am in the lower 50% of wage earners (nationally), I have too much debt, too big a house, am too far from work and spend too much money and my wife is still able to stay home and homeschool the kids while we are paying off debt and adding to savings every month.

Of course we have no car payments beyond repairs, insurance and fuel.

We do not buy (many) processed foods.

We do not buy milk (but we do buy hay and had to buy fencing materials and build a barn).

We spend more on co-op veggies and fruit... but we also collect fruit that would otherwise go to waste in our neighbors yards and process it for winter use and use a root cellar.

The only meat we buy is sausage. The rest we either raise (only cost is feed) or hunt (license and a round or two).

You can do it, you just have to decide to and then organize your life so it can happen.

ran into a gal I went to high school with (30+ years ago) She was real snarky to me, emailed my sister and said I saw so-and-so, she was pretty snitty. My sister emailed me back, she's under a lot of stress (she owns a string of floor covering businesses in Austin). She's very, very wealthy. Anyway, my sister said she's worrying because she has to lay off a lot of employees that don't deserve it. And that sums up every'ones mindset I know, *I deserve this*. I pointed out to my sister that not everyone needs shag carpet (I don't recall ever seeing shag carpet when I lived in the Philippines) just like we got along just fine without Build-a-Bear.

Income Tax Repealed FOREVER

Obama Resigns in shame

Cold Fusion Experiment Proven Viable

I have to pile on.

The quoted material above is exactly what the corporations want you to think.

The end of the American family began when it became acceptable to dump kids in day-care in order to earn two salaries - to buy even more crap.

If there is one thing I would want to say to every young couple starting out, it would be - "don't have children if you can't live with one parent at home."

Said more nicely, "if you want to have children, organize your lives so that you can afford your desired standard of living on one salary."




That quote I find offensive. While I'm glad that a servant in the public idiot factories and a, I assume, card carrying member of the destructive teacher's union sees the benefit of homeschooling, I object to the bizarre comment that "extended families" and "retired grandparents" are relevant in the least. Any mother or father who has the love and will to homeschool can do a fine job of it.


If you want to compare your home school results to the results of the idiot factories, then it becomes remarkably simple to do "well." If you did nothing more than turn off the TV and Internet, and put a bunch of broadly selected, age-appropriate texts in front of your kids, you'd easily beat the idiot factory averages.

The first thing that needs to happen, of course, is that tax money needs to be shunted away from the idiot factories. The thing stopping that is the teacher's union, which is evil. Teachers put teachers first, not kids.

The concept that people making 50-80k a year on two salaries are "just getting by" is completely laughable.

The sad part is, people who falsely believe that they are currently just getting by have no concept of how good they have it.

They'll find out soon enough.

Live modestly. Live lean. Live simply.

I don't think that would work as well as a lot of people here do.

One of the reasons I threw that in there is to illustrate the point of people and governments having to make some very difficult choices. As the economy contracts, and property tax revenues inevitably decline, cuts are going to have to be made, and public education will be no exception.

In the last Depression, some school districts went to a 5-month calendar , and when kids did go to school, it was much more basic than what kids have today. And yet those kids grew up and became the adults of the mid-20th century...not a bad time at all for this country.

And yes, I think there will be a great deal more 1-income families in the future, not to mention having grandma and grandpappy occupying the spare room. The age of daycare and latch-key children will be soon coming to a close, no doubt about that.

Excellent. I would add:

US Supreme Court reverses position on Commerce Clause, while strictly construing the Constitution's enumerated powers under Art. I, Section 8, thereby invalidating 95% of federal programs.

Congress passes mandatory balanced-budget amendment.

Oil Industry Braces for Drop in U.S. Thirst for Gasoline

Whoops, that was a past headline.

National mowed yard acreage cut in half Lawnmower manufactures begging for bailout money