Let’s all pop some bubbly and celebrate.

Soon after trading began, the S.&P. crossed the 1,800-point mark for the first time, and the Dow industrial average surpassed 16,000 points for the first time.

Wahooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Wait, let’s look over the Sunday New York Times and see if we can’t find the single most embarrassing quote we can find about America. Hey, found it!

“I’ve also been told point-blank to my face, ‘We don’t hire the unemployed.'”

Let’s pour another flute and see what Congress is up to.

Raising the minimum wage “makes it harder for unskilled workers to gain the labor market experience and on-the-job training that would raise their productivity and future pay,” wrote the economist Stephen Bronars, of Welch Consulting and a professor at Georgetown recently. “Unskilled workers are less attractive with a higher minimum wage because they produce less per hour and their hiring diverts more senior workers from revenue producing activities to training and supervision.

“Exactly how many people does the average academic economist employ? 

[Note:  Let me add an observation.  Who in their right mind regards training and supervision as unproductive activities?  You know there’s a problem when training and supervision are regarded as “diversions from revenue producing activities” rather than as essential elements of running a competent organization.  OK, back to Pierce…]

Bottle’s almost empty. What else is going on out there?

For single mother Laurinda Darosa of Dorchester, it has been difficult adjusting to unemployment after a heart operation. Before the cut, she, her 21-year-old daughter, and 11-year-old son relied on $66 in assistance to help them buy food. Now, nearly cut in half, Darosa’s monthly stipend is $37, causing her to budget “day by day” for food in a neighborhood where a gallon of milk at Shaw’s costs $2.99. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it,” she said. “Everything is so expensive.”

Should have expanded the old investment portfolio when you had the chance.

And, finally, there’s an update from the modern heirs to the legacy of commodity traders Scrooge & Marley.

Wal-Mart has been criticized for paying low wages to its 2.2 million employees. Last week, 50 people were arrested after protesting the retailer’s pay at a store in Los Angeles. Wal-Mart turned a profit of $15.7 billion last year. 

This is not sustainable in viable self-government. It simply is not. Either we change or our democracy does.