Business Items :: 2nd is the New 4th

{ 2009 07 02 }

2nd is the New 4th

Unemployment - As promised, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the preliminary report for June a day early. At this point, we’ve been through this drill enough times. The big message is “things are tough all over.” Lesser messages include “Things aren’t quite so tough if you’re a white woman,” and “Seasonal adjustment looks suspiciously like the result of a best-fit curve.”
If you’re looking for another way to read employment (or lack thereof) data, then you might read this piece from the New Republic, actively discerning between interpretive merit and polemic.

Competition - Somehow, the fact that Independence Day falls on a Saturday means that many of you won’t be at work tomorrow. In fact, given the tardiness of this post, some of you may have already left, and I bet many of you still at work have little intention of doing anything more than providing evidence that you have yet to leave early. With that in mind, I remind everyone to prepare for 94th annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. It is perhaps the seminal event in competitive eating, and certainly the most-celebrated in this country. Regardless, it is annually the subject of one of my most indulgent posts. You anticipate; I’ll stock up on energy drinks.

Indescretion - I generally leave the task of mocking Mark Sanford to Gail Collins, because she does it so well. Nonetheless, given the man’s penchant for refusing to let the story of his own disgrace die, I feel compelled to comment.
Earlier this week, Sanford made some kind of statement about lines he may or may not have crossed, and it was reported in such a way that might make one think he had either admitted to having numerous extramarital affairs or denied ever sealing the deal with his Argentine courtesan. The point that gets lost here is that it doesn’t f*#king matter. Other things that don’t matter would include, without being limited to: his affinity for the Appalachian Trail, the health of his marriage, and ABC’s decision to run all existing episodes of The Unusuals despite having already canceled any forthcoming season. He’s the term-limited governor of a state so backwards that its denizens don’t know whether to be more proud of their history of [attempted] secession or their kinship with Stephen Colbert. Let it go.