I think of "jobs" as formal employment with income tax withholding and stuff

Which is very first world of you.

I don't think they do credit card debt or braces in Malawi.

But they do them in Jamaica. There's just no so much of bankruptcy "escape." Still not uniquely American, see?

winning the third job in the lottery could be crucial.

Why do you keep calling it winning, and lottery? I'm assuming most people with three jobs have them because they need them, no matter where they live. How far they'll fall without them varies based on personal situation, but few of it are doing it for fun (and I also don't describe paying down debt as 'fun').

would we still like to watch gymnastics if we could see them in freeze frame?

Yes. That picture is awesome, the extension over her legs and the ability to arch her back (extension there too) are jaw dropping. Just because the picture is shocking doesn't mean it isn't beautiful to some (namely me).

Disturbing NY Times Op-Ed about "extraordinary rendition" - or, how the U.S. outsources torture.

I am rendered constantly agog with each revelation that this administration is, well, evil. I don't have any other word to describe this kind of activity, which is clearly not aberrant, but very close to the core of this administration's values.

My boss's dog is pestering me again. I think she wants food. I told her, "I ain't got nuthin' for you." Maybe she didn't believe me. Or maybe I shouldn't have used the double-negative.

I think the most American part of it all is that you could have three jobs with huge corporations, and still not be able to make the rent, because neither WalMart, nor McDonalds, nor City Hospital will give you more than $7/hour, more than 25 hours/week, or health insurance.

Edit: "Most American" in that you are working for entities that presumably have the ability to "take care of you" if they wanted to.

Or maybe I shouldn't have used the double-negative.

This. I find they have a hard enough time with a single negative.

I don't have a formal quantity of sick leave at my job. The department admin keeps track of how much sick time you request, and if you aren't providing doctor's notes and take seven days in a "twelve-month rolling calendar period," the boss Has Words With You. I've gone to the doctor for the flu and food poisoning since, even knowing that all I'd get told is "Rest and fluids," just so I could submit evidence I wasn't slacking.

Vacation pay is 2 weeks/year until employed more than five years. Then it's 3 weeks/year until 15 years of service, where it jumps to four. We have a "use it or lose it" policy on that time. We also get three personal holidays a year most years. We got four this year because they declared New Year's Eve 2004 a 2005 holiday and had to make up the calendrical policy to us all somehow.

Why do you keep calling it winning, and lottery?

I actually edited the post to make it include the word lottery, to make sure I was still talking about what we were talking about. I definitely don't in general think people who have three jobs are lucky -- more like crazy, at least the ones I have met. They never talk about being in debt so it just seems like they like working way too much. The ones who have to work three jobs are screwed -- though still better off than if they couldn't get jobs.

I'm not really an American exceptionalist in my brain, either, but I am in my culture. Bush's attitude about this being the greatest country in the world, built on hard work, is a religious view I no longer subscribe to -- but I can still get caught up singing my favorite hymns, and I can appreciate those who keep the faith.

They never talk about being in debt so it just seems like they like working way too much.

Most people don't. Debt's a dirty little secret in most people's closets.

I definitely don't in general think people who have three jobs are lucky -- more like crazy, at least the ones I have met.

Crazy how? Because they want to make ends meet and three jobs is the only way?

They never talk about being in debt so it just seems like they like working way too much.

In my experience, people who are truly poor, in the below-the-poverty-line sense, don't talk about it. I can't think of anyone who would work 3 jobs for the fun of it.