Trash

The never-ending Bush recession is producing still more casualties. It seems that the Maine companies that burn waste to produce electricity are having trouble getting enough trash to operate at full capacity. People aren't buying as much, so there's less packaging to discard, or they are holding on to stuff longer, or both. To combat this un-American activity (and fulfill their delivery contracts), the companies are resorting to mining landfills, or importing trash from other states.

At least there's an irony here that most sufferers from the recession can't enjoy. Trash is not so treasured. The country has slipped from its peak-trash pinnacle, and that is good. Isn't it?

In the waste-to-energy business, there's a direct relationship between input and output. In most other businesses, this is no longer the case. Many companies are making record profits this year, as the banks did last year, but still have not re-hired the people they axed in the depths of the recession. So fewer people are producing more goods. There's no irony here whatsoever, just the tragedy of the unemployed, discarded like packaging, and of the employed, pushed to the burning point, both quite disposable.