Sometimes even the local news really IS news - just not in the way that they mean for it to be.

So we're watching the local news the other night - purely by accident, mind you - and one of the top stories is about how, in the midst of a recession and everybody losing their jobs, there are plenty of jobs out there if you know where to look, emphasis on jobs that 'do not require years of education'. Some employers, apparently, are desperate for workers! Three examples were mentioned: the police (a spokesman for the Police Dept at one of the smaller towns out in the county told the reporter: in these hard economic times, we can expect greater demands on the police!!! I'm not even making this up.), plumbers (the local plumbers union hasn't taken applications for two years), and Manpower Inc!

Besides the idiotic propaganda of this 'news' story - there are plenty of jobs if you're smart and not too picky - it was basically an ad for intensified exploitation. (Manpower, like most temp agencies does it directly: they simply keep a big chunk of your wage as a sort of 'finder's fee'.) Of course on another level, it is relatively practical advice: these are the employers who are hiring in your area (sort of).

The big economic news is ignored, of course: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2009/01/27/bank-of-america-hosted-an_ n_161248.html. The big bailout recipients have gone back to living large and busting unions. What will Congress do? What will we expect them to do?