"You the plumber printer?", the bar tender asked.

"Yeah, where are the restrooms?"

"Down the hall, on the left side", the bar tender said, "I need six plungers."

"Six?---they told me four", the printer sputtered, "I've gotta go back to the truck and get another spool of resin."

Sitting at my neighborhood bar in a dystopian society on the banks of the Mississippi I sensed the irony that a vestige of plumber ethos embodied in a common printer could serve as the day's chief remembrance of the distant world which had existed prior to the Missouri Printed Gun and Sex Bot Compromise.

Chris Matthews says that the American People are morally humiliated when, in Syria, ISIS burns an allied pilot alive, or in Libya a gang not actually part of the Islamic State (but soi-disant nonetheless), beheads 45 Egyptians for being Christian.

And that's before today's episode in Iraq, where some captured members of the Iraqi government forces were burned alive.

There is not a moment's introspection into the monstrous hubris this entails.  

How does a producer decide whether to employ additional units of a resource? This question is posed in the 6th edition of a textbook titled "Economics: Private and Public Choice". We (the collective labor force) have been reduced to "units of a resource".

Another election cycle is upon us, and the crowded field of Republican candidates are pushing the same truncated arguments from past elections. “It will be different this time." “If we stick to our conservative principles we can't lose.” Tragically, most of the solutions they offer don't address the root cause of many of our socioeconomic problems. The labor force (at all levels) has been relegated to being nothing more than an appendage. That's a systemic problem that no one on the right is going to address.

In theory it would be easy to raise the minimum wage and help millions of people in poverty. There is, however, a consequence that comes with doing this: a small percentage of those who need the most help would be hurt as some jobs would be reduced or eliminated. There's enough Prima facie evidence for us to admit that low wages and depressed living standards are a structural part of our economy. Many industries are dependent on a supply of low skilled and immobile labor. I'm not sure if we can untangle the necessity for human suffering from our economic equation.

Raynard Jackson, Republican Activist

I've always maintained that I've never met a Black conservative who wasn't either ignorant, self-serving, lacked character, or all three. Here's proof of that:

In part two I focused on the psychological war being waged by some inside the black community. I intentionally avoided discussing issues related specifically to black women. The level of disrespect they deal with is deserving of its own discussion. I know black men who have never dated a black woman; they love the women in their family, but look to other races to find a mate. I know black men who show outward animosity, if not contempt, towards black women. I often wonder; If black men don't value black women why should anyone else?

Imagine a world series which was fixed. Not by the players  ("say it ain't so, Joe") but- much more efficiently-  by the umpires.

Which is what was happening in the run up to the Financial Crisis.

That's the conclusion to be drawn from the $1.5 Billion Standard& Poor's settlement.