09:36 – I’m old enough to remember the time when newspapers did actual journalism rather than just reprinting government press releases. I thought about that this morning while I was scanning the morning paper. There was an article that reported unemployment in the Winston-Salem area was at 5%. Yeah, right. Time was when a newspaper would have pointed out that the government 5% number was entirely bogus. Not only does it not include those who are so discouraged that they’ve given up looking for work, but it counts any job as a job. The simple truth is that the country has lost millions upon millions of good middle-class jobs over the last couple of decades, and replaced them with crap service jobs. If a machinist making $60,000/year loses that job and goes back to work in a minimum-wage retail job, the government considers that a wash. One job lost and one job gained. We should try that on them, making all government jobs start at minimum wage, with a cap no higher than the average wage earned by people with jobs in private businesses.
More science kit stuff today. Barbara assembled a batch of small parts bags for chemistry kits yesterday, and is working on another batch as I write this. We also have chemical bottles to label and fill, and I have purchase orders to cut.
Walmart has some of their Ball canning jars on sale. Their website lists a two-pack of Ball wide-mouth quart jars with lids and rims for $18.95, or $0.79 each. I added three of those to my shopping cart, which was enough to get over $50 for free shipping. But when I tried to place the order, instead of going to the page that confirms shipping address it took me to a page that said I could pick them up at the Elkin Walmart Supercenter. I wasn’t about to make a 60 mile round trip, so I canceled the order.