Economic Recovery? For Whom?

I heard a woman in the grocery store this morning saying that she didn’t have enough money to buy gas to get to work next week. That’s because regular gas now costs $3.99 per gallon. In June of 2009, consumer reports stated, “The national gasoline average is now about a $1.42 below the price this time last year.”

This means that since the recession ended, the price of gas rose 280%. This is hurting those who can least afford it: the working poor.

It’s time to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, open up domestic drilling and work on alternative sources of energy that are at least two to three decades in the future.

Although recent indicators of spending are up, savings dropped. This indicates the numbers do not reflect a strong recovery. These high gas prices have the potential to create a drag on the economy’s meager recovery. The number below indicate how pathetic this so-called recovery has been for the ordinary people.

June 2005 employment: 141,638 civilians employed

March 2007 employment: 146,254 civilians employed

June 2009 employment: 140,196 civilians employed (end of recession)

February 2012 employment: 142,065 civilians employed

(Source Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Don’t these pathetic job numbers reflect the need for economic policy changes to help the ordinary worker?

Abused Animal Abused Children - A Huge Societal Problem

It's about time we all started acting like human beings and reined in this atrocious behavior that's carried out by too many people. Where to begin presents a dilemma because it's so wide spread. If you can, help a child. If you can adopt a stray.

The End of Starbucks?

Today, I discovered another reason to cut down on visits to Starbucks. They discontinued the coffee I like the most: Verona. It had a deep, rich flavor. It was made for a real coffee drinker. Instead, they introduced panther piss coffee, the Blonde line. I made the mistake of tasting one of them a few weeks ago. It tasted like used, tepid dishwater from a dirty sink in the basement of a funeral home.

Shame on Howard Schultz.

Hachi: A Dogs Tale

I don't find too many films to recommend to others, but this film with Richard Gere and Joan Allen is a delightful way to spend some free time. The setting and story seemed nearly perfect.