I stumbled upon a couple articles on Atlantic City's current casino "contraction," here and here, and it sounds like the beach town is losing 5,000 jobs in three days. Which doesn't sound good. I suppose you could say that as a country, where gambling is increasingly legal everywhere citizens are taxed, we may be reaching our saturation point for blackjack tables and slot machines.
But I remember back when Vegas was the only option in town, so to speak, and my childhood neighbors' first cousins went to work as card dealers when the Atlantic City casinos first opened. This was the late seventies, and they were going directly from high school because the casinos offered good union jobs and working as a dealer was an opportunity to earn a decent wage, what is now commonly referred to as a "living wage" and not at all guaranteed for current card and dice workers in riverboat America. I was a kid, not even a teenager, and going to work for a new casino sounded very impressive at the time.
When I think of A.C. casinos, I also think of my father, when he was flush in the mid '80s coming back from Los Angeles with a wallet full of twenty dollar bills to drop on the tables after we ate at a swank Italian place in one of those first casinos. This was all before GMO gas ruined Caesar dressing. So it was mildly amusing that ten years later he trained to work in the "cage," counting chips and making change, at a riverboat casino in Florida for just a buck or two more than minimum wage. As best I remember, his casino career was cut short when some slightly better job showed up soon after.
Update from February 2016: "Report: A.C. jobs, housing in downward spiral"
Alex Kudera’s award-winning novel, Fight for Your Long Day (Atticus Books), was drafted in a walk-in closet during a summer in Seoul, South Korea. Auggie’s Revenge (Beating Windward Press) is his second novel. His numerous short stories include “Frade Killed Ellen” (Dutch Kills Press), “Bombing from Above” (Heavy Feather Review), and “A Thanksgiving” (Eclectica Magazine).
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Over Fifty Billion Served. . .
. . . but no longer in Moscow, at least not for now:
“We will be healthier,” Mr. Aksyonov told reporters in Simferopol, the Crimean capital, according to the Interfax news service. “This food does not suit. Look at people who regularly eat McDonald’s food. Some of them have to turn sideways to squeeze through a door frame.”
According to this CNN video, the now closed Moscow McDonald's opened in 1990 and was once the largest in the world. Here's the famous first customer queue for burgers and fries "fresh" from fast-food freezers and deep friers.
We'll wait and see if this closing leads to a next wave of Russian immigration to the United States, a land where we are all somewhat free to spend our afternoons in any fast-food establishment we please.
“We will be healthier,” Mr. Aksyonov told reporters in Simferopol, the Crimean capital, according to the Interfax news service. “This food does not suit. Look at people who regularly eat McDonald’s food. Some of them have to turn sideways to squeeze through a door frame.”
According to this CNN video, the now closed Moscow McDonald's opened in 1990 and was once the largest in the world. Here's the famous first customer queue for burgers and fries "fresh" from fast-food freezers and deep friers.
We'll wait and see if this closing leads to a next wave of Russian immigration to the United States, a land where we are all somewhat free to spend our afternoons in any fast-food establishment we please.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
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Monday, August 18, 2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Documenting China
Great short film on "Chinese Dreamers" a window into the young and restless. I was glad to write the intro http://t.co/SXTwpWlom1 @ChinaFile
— Evan Osnos (@eosnos) August 12, 2014
MT: "You can't learn anything by repeating the same thing everyday." http://t.co/ih6E0kGqLn #China #Education #ChineseDream #Documentary
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) August 12, 2014
MT: "It's like a war. The slowest runner will get shot." http://t.co/ih6E0kGqLn #China #War #Film #documentary
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) August 12, 2014
MT: "#Knowledge is #fate." http://t.co/ih6E0kGqLn #China #Beijing #Megacity
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) August 12, 2014
MT: "They just mean it's a good job for a #Woman." http://t.co/ih6E0kGqLn #Women #China
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) August 12, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
is the debt half full?
The fact that 35% of Americans owe debt that is delinquent, at least 180 days old, has been flying around the internet lately and included in the headline of this Lynn Stuart Parramore article: "Debtor Nation: 35 Percent of Americans Owe Bills to Collections Agencies."
At the same time, if one acts against the tweeting tendencies of our common era, and actually reads the article, we learn that the median debt of the 35% who owe a debt for more than 180 days is only $1349.
In other words, there are 65% of Americans with no delinquent debt and then another 17.5% with less than $1349. So 82.5% of us, or more than four out of five Americans, have less than $1349 in past-due debt, and frankly that is not so bad.
Among the other fifth, or 17.5%, I imagine, as anyone would who has had significant debt or a close relative with such problems, "the sleepless nights and anxiety that comes from an ability to meet debt obligations" could be very real, though.
At the same time, if one acts against the tweeting tendencies of our common era, and actually reads the article, we learn that the median debt of the 35% who owe a debt for more than 180 days is only $1349.
In other words, there are 65% of Americans with no delinquent debt and then another 17.5% with less than $1349. So 82.5% of us, or more than four out of five Americans, have less than $1349 in past-due debt, and frankly that is not so bad.
Among the other fifth, or 17.5%, I imagine, as anyone would who has had significant debt or a close relative with such problems, "the sleepless nights and anxiety that comes from an ability to meet debt obligations" could be very real, though.
Friday, August 1, 2014
worker participation July 2014
You can follow the link or read below to see that worker participation rose 1/10th of a percent to 62.9, so it is hovering very slightly above the lowest rate recorded in the past ten years. That would be 62.8%, which happens to be what was recorded for 5 of the last 10 months.
I believe this rate refers to the total percentage of Americans over 16 who are counted as being in the workforce, including part-time workers and those who work enough part-time jobs to be counted as working full-time.
So although unemployment rose from 6.1 to 6.2, worker participation also rose from 62.8 and 62.9, which seems to indicate that unemployment is rising because more people are looking for work, which is why we could still see job growth of over 200,000 for the most recent month. At present, I can't substantiate the rumor that every single newly hired worker is being hired in Washington, D.C. to make sure that nothing gets done.
I believe this rate refers to the total percentage of Americans over 16 who are counted as being in the workforce, including part-time workers and those who work enough part-time jobs to be counted as working full-time.
So although unemployment rose from 6.1 to 6.2, worker participation also rose from 62.8 and 62.9, which seems to indicate that unemployment is rising because more people are looking for work, which is why we could still see job growth of over 200,000 for the most recent month. At present, I can't substantiate the rumor that every single newly hired worker is being hired in Washington, D.C. to make sure that nothing gets done.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 66.1 | 66.0 | 66.0 | 65.9 | 66.0 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.0 | 65.8 | 65.9 | 66.0 | 65.9 | |
| 2005 | 65.8 | 65.9 | 65.9 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.2 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.0 | 66.0 | |
| 2006 | 66.0 | 66.1 | 66.2 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.2 | 66.1 | 66.2 | 66.1 | 66.2 | 66.3 | 66.4 | |
| 2007 | 66.4 | 66.3 | 66.2 | 65.9 | 66.0 | 66.0 | 66.0 | 65.8 | 66.0 | 65.8 | 66.0 | 66.0 | |
| 2008 | 66.2 | 66.0 | 66.1 | 65.9 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.1 | 66.0 | 66.0 | 65.9 | 65.8 | |
| 2009 | 65.7 | 65.8 | 65.6 | 65.7 | 65.7 | 65.7 | 65.5 | 65.4 | 65.1 | 65.0 | 65.0 | 64.6 | |
| 2010 | 64.8 | 64.9 | 64.9 | 65.2 | 64.9 | 64.6 | 64.6 | 64.7 | 64.6 | 64.4 | 64.6 | 64.3 | |
| 2011 | 64.2 | 64.2 | 64.2 | 64.2 | 64.2 | 64.0 | 64.0 | 64.1 | 64.2 | 64.1 | 64.1 | 64.0 | |
| 2012 | 63.7 | 63.9 | 63.8 | 63.7 | 63.8 | 63.8 | 63.7 | 63.5 | 63.6 | 63.7 | 63.6 | 63.6 | |
| 2013 | 63.6 | 63.5 | 63.3 | 63.4 | 63.4 | 63.5 | 63.4 | 63.2 | 63.2 | 62.8 | 63.0 | 62.8 | |
| 2014 | 63.0 | 63.0 | 63.2 | 62.8 | 62.8 | 62.8 | 62.9 |
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