Humans as Ants

Hey you! Get back to work!
--Modern Times (1936)

They're not creatures you can fight--
they're an elemental--an 'act of God!'
Ten miles long, two miles wide--ants, nothing but ants!
And every single one of them a fiend from hell;
before you can spit three times
they'll eat a full-grown buffalo to the bones
--Leiningen Versus the Ants (1938)
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A fascinating little time-lapse video of life at a 24-hour Walmart. Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" has arrived.

Found via GlobeSt.Com's blog "Counter Culture":

This is what happens at a 24-hour Walmart. It's happening right now. And it will never stop. Things are surprisingly busy at Walmart around 2:30 in the morning. Think of this as an ode to the engine of consumerism. (from Bernstein & Andriulli, created for Fortune magazine.)

Stephen Wilkes - Time-Lapse: A Day at A Walmart Store from BERNSTEIN & ANDRIULLI on Vimeo.

Everyday Less Jobs

--What do you care? What do you care about Black Rock?
--Well, I know this much. The rule of law has left here,
and the guerrillas have taken over
--Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

It's such a fine line between stupid, and clever
--This is Spinal Tap (1984)

_______________

Not a good day for Walmart's Sam's Clubs. Online Real estate magazine GlobeSt.com reports the company is "letting go" more than 11,000 workers nationwide (More Bad Times at Sam’s Club).

"Letting them go" ... it sounds so ethereal, as though it were of their own choice, like releasing someone from a bad marriage. It is not the truth, like when elderly ladies say they've "lost their husbands." He didn't get lost in the frozen food aisle; he's dead. Euphemisms make the thing no better.

"The measure follows an announcement that Walmart will close 10 Sam’s Clubs across the country that are loosing [sic] money. . . Will we see more closures ahead?" (Of course, if they're "loosing" money on hapless customers, that may have been half the problem right there.)

The question of further closures was posed by a publication over-eager to remain optimistic in a tanked economy. The job losses are a very bad sign following the major holiday season.

As New York Times columnists Frank Rich and Bob Herbert said this week, the only issue for President Obama is the economy ("Politically, no other issue counts.") Certainly not some bogus health care behemoth which provides care in name only. (No Mr. Obama, you don't get to be affiliated with the Kennedy's in any way. Pity, after Mr. Clinton had such a nice photo op shaking JFK's hand . . .) I'm afraid the dynasty ends on your watch.

And as blogger BadTux said so clearly here yesterday,

"You got government spending money on a bomb, that gets dropped on some Talib mud hut, oh wow you just spent probably a million dollars (amortizing the price of the aircraft carrier, aircraft, etc.) to demolish a mud hut that cost maybe $50 (for roofing tin) to build, and you don't even have a bomb anymore when you're done -- you literally just blew that money into smithereens."

Discretionary wars, health care tampering . . . it seems like fiddling while Rome burns.

In addressing Obama's seeming lack of ardor over economic perils, today's WaPo plays with St. Augustine's plea to God (Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet"), Fiscal discipline, but not yet:

"(Obama said Saturday) 'I strongly support' legislation for a commission to tackle the nation's fiscal problems. If he does, you've got to wonder where that strong support has been for the past year."

Walmart is the new GM, and when this bellwether of our economic fitness is straining at the seams, doesn't that demand notice?