Last month was the wettest May on record since 1948. That is a long time ago. And there might even be some among us, certainly small in number, who went through that month trying to figure out why it was strangely familiar. They may have experienced this feeling as deja vu, but it was, in fact, 1948. They were only a child then. It seemed to rain every day in May. Where was the spring? They were stuck at home. They chewed gum. Truman was their president. All of that time, forgotten like tears in the rain.

The dreaded bird flu has been found in a number of Seattle and Bellevue ducks and geese. These wild birds love our parks, and the temporary ponds that form after a long and rainy period. The geese are particularly fond of an area that connects the UW's Rainier Vista with the Burke-Gilman Trail and the University of Washington Station. KIRO 7 reports:

"Ducks with the bird flu were found on May 22, 2022, at Green Lake Park in Seattle, Bellevue Downtown Park and Volunteer Park in Seattle. Anyone who may have touched or came within 6 feet of ducks at the parks is asked to call Public Health at 206-296-4774."

My god, all of that is finally is over. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. And, yes, the creep won.

Another day, another mass shooting in America. This one claimed four lives and happened in a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Uvalde cops lied about that school door. It was not propped open. The teacher did not give the killer a hall pass. The present thinking is that the door closed but did not lock. The cops have to come up with another story to cover their ass. 

No hope for you mate, because "one-third of Americans making $250,000 live paycheck-to-paycheck." Or maybe the meaning of living "paycheck-to-paycheck" has gone through a radical transformation. Either way, you are fucked.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is now warning America of an economic "hurricane" that's drawing its power from the war in Ukraine and from the Federal Reserve's decision to make money expensive, thereby tightening its supply. Dimon's hurricane has already hit the speculative markets. The conventional economy is next. What to make of this? Simply this: Dimon and his class are unhappy with the current economy, which has a strong a job market with lots of openings and high resignation rates. This kind of economic climate actually points in an anti-capitalist direction.

What must always be kept in mind is the more an economy benefits the wage-earning classes, the less capitalist it is. Even small business owners are not capitalists. Workers and small businesses operate at the market level of society, not the capitalist one. If these class distinctions are appreciated, then much about capitalism becomes clear. Dimon's class operates in the attic of the social order, and the last thing it wants is an economy that gives the lower sorts actual class power. The best way to explode this state of affairs would be an economic hurricane that only the capitalist class could survive in one piece. 

20th Century Polish economist Michael Kalecki wrote this in 1943:

"We have considered the political reasons for the opposition to the policy of creating employment by government spending. But even if this opposition were overcome—as it may well be under the pressure of the masses—the maintenance of full employment would cause social and political changes which would give a new impetus to the opposition of the business leaders. Indeed, under a regime of permanent full employment, the 'sack' would cease to play its role as a disciplinary measure. The social position of the boss would be undermined, and the self-assurance and class-consciousness of the working class would grow."

For more on that attic, which is a concept David Harvey borrows from the the 20th Century French historian Fernand Braudel, listen the podcast: "Capital in the Attic."

Joe Jackson, who is in town tomorrow,  June 2, made one of the best pop tunes of the 1980s. "Steppin' Out":