The Way We Live Now: Jusssssssst squeaking by. Everything is a close call. We're dodging from government regulators, we're scraping up rent money, we're snoozing through school. Of course, we're bankrupt anyhow. But we like the chase.

Will ya look at this: "U.S. Cracks Down on ‘Contractors' as a Tax Dodge." Ha, it's so weird because our company used to have hurrrrghhhhhhhhheeeeeeeehhhhhhh............

Moving on. Squeaking by cleanly, is what we're saying. Cleanly! Take your grandparents, the retirees, for example. You haven't talked to them in a while, have you? No. Here's a little clue as to what they're doing: rambling from broke park to broke park, offering their handyperson services in return for being able to park their humble camper in a corner somewhere, hopefully safe from wild raccoons and roaming bandits. It's the new "retirement!"

Just getting by. Let's say, just hypothetically, you had the misfortune to be enrolled in school in New Jersey. We would hope that you were at a rich school, because the wealth gap for schools there is huge. "Nearly one in five public schools in New Jersey has almost no poor students." We applaud them for doing a great job in not having poor kids!

At least they're squeaking on by, somehow. It could be worse; you could live in one of the many US cities that are, like many of their citizens, on the verge of bankruptcy. Harrisburg! Pittsburgh! San Diego! Vallejo! And even The OC! All are bankrupt or close to it, but guess what: They don't let it "get them down." They still get up in the morning, curse out the IRS, and idly wonder if anyone has flown a plane into an IRS office today. They do what they need to do. Just get by.
[Pic: Flickr]