The Way We Live Now: challenged. But overcoming the challenge, yes? No. "Challenged" is, of course, simply a euphemism for something horrible. But let's not talk about that now. Kitties! What about kitties? Recession kitties?

The latest unemployment figures "Highlight the Challenges for Washington," in this way: they tapped Washington on the shoulder and were like "Excuse me sir, don't mean to bother you, but here's 15 MILLION UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE ON YOUR HEAD, BANG."

This is how America got "challenged." We don't think so good, any more. It's just a mush of thoughts, various visions of Jim Cramer screaming at us about money, and we're not really sure how it all fits together. Our parents are broke? Our pension is nonexistent? We're doomed members of the "sandwich generation?"

What does it all mean?

The truth is we plumb don't know. Everything has been buried in euphemism, or at least in a thick layer of bullshit. Or maybe it's just because we're challenged? We can't quite grasp these sophisticated economic appraisals. We do know we're fucked, though. That's for sure.

Wait, the recession is hurting kitties, too? Why won't the government deal with this, first?

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