You may wonder why congressmen and senators seem to be so out of touch with the reality that middle and lower class Citizens face each and every day. In fact, you may wonder why they seem to completely ignore any message you try to get to them via email, phone calls, or even smoke signals. Nothing seems to work.

From what I observe of Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), she is a recluse to the middle and lower classes. I have never seen her do a "town hall meeting" like Congressman Jay Inslee frequently does. I also find that when she visits a city within Washington State, she is more likely to be visiting with the Chamber of Commerce than a local labor council.

And now for some sarcasm with a ring of truth, brought to you by Screaming Frog Productions:

How many job ads for highly educated professionals are permatemp and have skills requirement lists as long as your arm?

This book, White Collar Sweatshop: The Deterioriation of Work and Its Rewards in Corporate America - Jill Andresky Fraser, published in 2001, goes into great detail on the labor arbitrage of professional careers into the United States.

New durable goods orders and new single-family home sales both fell sharply in February as recession worsens challenging the Presidential candidates

Two economic reports from the Census Bureau today reflect the deepening recession and an urgent need for the Presidential candidates to get serious about how they will address what could be a long and severe recession with lasting consequences.

Even with prices rising sharply, the nominal value of new orders for durable manufacturing goods fell another -1.7% in February after plunging by -4.7% in January. Nominal values of new durable orders is now down -8.6% since last July to the lowest levels since March 2007.

Consumer expectations are the worst since Dec. 1973 -- in the midst of Watergate and first OPEC oil price hikes

The Conference Board reported today that the expectations component of its closely-watched Index of Consumer Confidence plunged further in March to the lowest levels in 35 years – to December 1973. The overall index which measures both expectations and views on current conditions also plunged again in March to the lowest levels in five years, the eve of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. (see attached graphic of overall index)

Today’s report shows almost four times as many consumers now expect fewer jobs over the next six months as expect more jobs. More than three times as many expect business conditions to worsen rather than to improve and only 14.9% expect their incomes to rise in the next six months.

When you bite down into that hamburger, do you know what's in it?   Well, the new mystery meat is the massive financial black box _{(what's inside is anyone's guess!)} world of derivatives and credit default swaps.

Finally, the New York Times writes a detailed article, What Created This Monster, and exposes even world leading economists do not know what derivatives are or in most cases, the details of how they work.

These products are virtually hidden from investors, analysts and regulators, even though they have emerged as one of Wall Street’s most outsized profit engines. They don’t trade openly on public exchanges, and financial services firms disclose few details about them