Another cold morning. At least the temps are above 0* though not by much. The shopping and errands yesterday wore us out. We are still a bit tired today wishing the last of these colds would go away--soon.

I will try to work my way through the seed catalogs but I feel so far behind. I had planned to have the orders in already but this crappy cold intervened. I started editing my "wish" list--all those seeds that sounded interesting but on closer look wouldn't do at all for my small space. But I hadn't received all of the catalogs at the point where I started the list so it is time for another whack at the project.


"The Elephant In Our Midst" is an excellent title for this piece. I won't bother getting the book. I have read a lot of similar information for a long time. Some years ago I dissected the promise of "globalization" and found it wanting. The key premise (that everyone would benefit from the process with more money and more goods at better prices) was false from the get-go. Middle class incomes stagnated, jobs paying middle class wages disappeared, and we got cheap quality goods at dear prices. Definitely not a good exchange. That the wages of the middle and even low percentile workers in Asia and Africa went up fantastically doesn't surprise me. Those were paid for with our lost wages and opportunities. Those in the West who benefitted "bigly" are the ones who have been telling us the economy is doing well--and for them, it is. For the rest of us the pie is shrinking and the knives are coming out as people try to defend their positions and, perhaps, carve a piece off someone else's share.