The Recession Hits the Panhandlers
2009-01-08 20:50 - General
On my way home from work this evening, I was listening to a few Planet Money podcasts almost back-to-back. One of them was about how many people are now unemployed, or underemployed, because layoffs and cutbacks are so prevalent.
I couldn't help but notice a record. In this single trip home, three completely distinct beggars worked their way through the subway car I was on. Beggars in the subway is one of the more sour points of life in the city. But in my five years here, it's usually days-between-beggars, not beggars-per-day that I could measure. Perhaps it's just the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon at work.
