Depressing post about depressing stuff

Tonight I clicked on an article about an unemployed woman who has exhausted her benefits. She has a few days left in a motel, and then she will be homeless. When I saw the small cat beside her in the photo, I lost it.

I shouldn't click on shit like this. Mostly I don't click, because it makes me so upset. But it's everywhere.

After developing a giddy fascination with politics during the Clinton years, I spent the Bush years furious. Going to protests, acting out, picking fights. Now, there's something about these times that is almost worse. I was never naive about Obama. I didn't think he would be my dream lefty president, implementing my fantasy policies of free healthcare and reparations for gay people.

But to see 10% unemployment, which is a national fucking emergency -- and they are just letting it happen. It's chilling. We voted for the Democrats, and they won, and things are still terrible because there are structural and institutional problems that can't be fixed with elections. The United States is a country where the majority of the population is in debt with no security, and people who lose their jobs end up on the streets. Banks profit and the rest of us are fucked. That's how it is and we're totally helpless to change it.

Then I get a friendly e-mail from Chase telling me, "Surprise! A hidden fee has been deducted from your account!" and I start ranting and throwing things, and I want to find the nearest branch and set off explosives.*

* Note to the FBI: Not really!