Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
I guess what’s new in Bess Levin’s report is that, in an effort to comply with the Presidential Records Act, aides had to retrieve the documents Donald Trump clogged White House toilets with.[1] Which would be a more persuasive explanation for Trump’s complaint about toilets requiring multiple flushes.[2]
Bess Levin, “Report: Trump’s Habit of Clogging Toilets With Government Documents Even Grosser Than Previously Thought,” Vanity Fair, February 13, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/donald-trump-toilet-clogging-documents-details
Work
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
And I can’t even get one job:[3]
Rather, [workers with two full-time jobs] told Monster, they’re doubling up only because their main job isn’t providing enough money to make ends meet. Additionally, almost half said they’re worried their current job will lay them off, and they’re seeking another as a backup plan. That’s probably a reaction to the current state of the economy, which has been gripped by inflation, a looming recession, and layoff fears, despite the fact that layoff rates are currently below pre-pandemic norms.[4]
But we might be getting closer to a real reason so many employers hate remote work so much: They could be afraid their workers are moonlighting. That cuts a couple ways. First, obviously, somebody working two jobs is less likely to perform well. But also, what Fortune calls a “backup plan” for potential layoffs[5] also undermines the power that bosses have over workers.
Jane Thier, “Overemployment is here: Nearly half of workers have more than one full-time job,” Fortune, February 13, 2023, https://fortune.com/2023/02/13/overemployed-workers-juggling-full-time-jobs/
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
Based on what I saw yesterday, it would be safe to say that Uber has indeed not responded to the Pittsburgh driver strike over the weekend.[6] I actually lost nearly $50 yesterday when operating costs are taken into account.
Fig. 2. Graph of estimated daily average net income (in blue, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance) by month since January 2022, what the federal minimum wage would be for a six-and-a-half hour day had it kept pace with productivity[7] (in orange), and the federal poverty line[8] (in red), created by author, February 10, 2023, updated daily.
I covered territory yesterday I’d never seen before. I took one rider from Mars (never be surprised by Pennsylvania place names) to somewhere, it turns out, northeast of Butler. I didn’t realize I was past Butler; after dropping them off, I continued east, looking for Pennsylvania Route 8, which I could take south, back through Butler and civilization. Next thing I knew, I was in Armstrong County. I turned south on what seemed like it would be a promising road and pretty efficiently found my way to Route 28, which is the route I would have hooked up with after a long traversal on Route 8 through territory where rides would have been more likely. And soon enough I was back on familiar territory.
When I asked another passenger what they were being charged (a little over $50) and compared it to the amount Uber had promised me (about $16), Uber was taking well over two thirds of the fare. This particular trip put me well southeast of Washington, a city south of Pittsburgh. I nicked a corner of Greene County getting them where they were going.
Don’t get me wrong: Rural Pennsylvania is lovely. But folks don’t even hope for Ubers there and it was a lot of miles for not a lot of money. Yet there is nothing else for me to do but to continue. “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other,” a couple people have encouraged, one foot in front of the other closer toward an unthinkable doom. Yesterday’s results make that a cruel thing to say.
- [1]Bess Levin, “Report: Trump’s Habit of Clogging Toilets With Government Documents Even Grosser Than Previously Thought,” Vanity Fair, February 13, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/02/donald-trump-toilet-clogging-documents-details↩
- [2]Bess Levin, “Trump’s Toilet Obsession Just Took a Dark Turn,” Vanity Fair, February 10, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/02/donald-trump-clogged-toilets↩
- [3]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
- [4]Jane Thier, “Overemployment is here: Nearly half of workers have more than one full-time job,” Fortune, February 13, 2023, https://fortune.com/2023/02/13/overemployed-workers-juggling-full-time-jobs/↩
- [5]Jane Thier, “Overemployment is here: Nearly half of workers have more than one full-time job,” Fortune, February 13, 2023, https://fortune.com/2023/02/13/overemployed-workers-juggling-full-time-jobs/↩
- [6]Marcie Cipriani, “Local rideshare drivers stop accepting rides for 48 hours to protest work conditions,” WTAE, February 10, 2023, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-rideshare-drivers-lyft-uber-work-conditions/42830261; Liz Kilmer, “Uber, Lyft drivers announce strike across Pittsburgh region,” WPXI, February 10, 2023, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/uber-lyft-drivers-announce-strike-across-pittsburgh-region/T7SE5T7GHJB7VOD4LG3J4VF34A/↩
- [7]Dean Baker, “Correction: The $23 an Hour Minimum Wage,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, March 16, 2022, https://cepr.net/the-26-an-hour-minimum-wage/↩
- [8]U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Federal poverty level (FPL),” n.d., https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/↩