The Census Bureau has confirmed the reality of life in the US, i.e. that half of the country is either in or on the verge of poverty. That is reflected by the fact that 47% of the country doesn’t make enough money to owe income taxes.

In a related note the National Association of Realtors is going to be restating their home sales figures for the last couple of years, because the data they were using was ‘fudged’, like everything else associated with the housing market. If half the country is poor, who was responsible for all of the homes sales that they have been reporting?

The number of new claims for unemployment was down this week, but then there are fewer people who have full time jobs and are eligible for unemployment.

In another of his infrequent snark posts, Dr. Cole says that US Congress Abruptly Passes Resolution Against Dogs, and posts a video about a cat in Italy who just inherited €10 million [$16 million US].

Elayne came up with a gift for the hard to please on your list based on the reviews. 😈

Personally, I think Congress is missing an opportunity to help balance the budget. Given their abysmal approval ratings, I think people would pay for an official “Contempt of Congress” citation to hang on their wall, but it must be official and appear in the Congressional Record, not just something outsourced to Asian children and prisoners. They could charge more if you wanted the names of individual Congresscritters included in the citation. They don’t seem to be doing any actual work, so this would be a revenue generator when they were hiding on the floor of their Chamber to avoid the angry constituents in their offices.