What I can't understand is ...
why anyone who might want a job cannot find one these days.
OK I realize that's a bit harsh but in our current economy it seems pretty hard for me to fathom why there are so many guys shaking cups in our downtown when I have contractors who cannot find enough laborers for some jobsites and I'm not talking skilled positions. On one of my last projects I had a cleaning contractor who could not keep his contract because he couldn't keep enough crews manned to finish floors on time so I know the jobs are out there if a guy doesn’t mind pushing a broom (or a vacuum cleaner).
When I first started working downtown over 8 years ago there were only a few "homeless Joe's" sitting on street corners begging change and those that did were direct enough to actually approach you. There are a few that I have given the change in my pocket to over the years. In fact one of them is sitting on "his" corner every weekday. He is casually friendly, a Korean War veteran who lives in one of the shelters downtown. He will take anything you offer and always responds with a "God bless you" even when you have only a few dimes.
Now there are dozens of them congregating downtown, most of them sullenly shake a BK cup at you and glare if you don't have anything for them. If you do give them anything they only look at you with a glazed expression of "why didn’t you give me more?"
Why am I bringing this up? After all shouldn't I empty all of my pocket change or pull bills from my wallet for them? Isn’t it "Christian" for me to support them without asking questions?
I don't believe so. I do give when the spirit moves me to and I have to admit to feeling some guilt when I have some spare change that I don't share. I guess because I am fearing that I will only see more and more of them but they increase I fully expect that they will be more recently without work because I am beginning to think that we are about to see the end of the biggest economic expansion in our nation's history.
With the incoming Democrat congress I am preparing myself to surrender more of my paycheck to the ever increasing maw that is our federal government. I do not believe that they will be any more prudent than the outgoing Republicans were in spending the tax income and over the next two years I fully expect them to demand more and more. The hew and cry over the disparity of the rich and the poor is already being ratcheted up on the various media outlets. Thomas Sowell over at National Review http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWE4ZTU1MTNiYjAxMzlkNGQ1YzgyZDQyNDU3MGE5NTQ=
comments about how this is becoming a “dangerous obsession”. One quote stuck out, “Today’s “progressives” want to expand political control of incomes even more. They call it “social justice” but you could call it Rumpelstiltskin and it would still mean politicians deciding how much money each of us can be allowed to have. “
I only hope that in 2 years we come to our corporate senses and send some real conservatives (ones who will pledge to stick to a budget and decrease the size of the government).
That’s enough for now. I feel somewhat better having gotten that from my system.
OK I realize that's a bit harsh but in our current economy it seems pretty hard for me to fathom why there are so many guys shaking cups in our downtown when I have contractors who cannot find enough laborers for some jobsites and I'm not talking skilled positions. On one of my last projects I had a cleaning contractor who could not keep his contract because he couldn't keep enough crews manned to finish floors on time so I know the jobs are out there if a guy doesn’t mind pushing a broom (or a vacuum cleaner).
When I first started working downtown over 8 years ago there were only a few "homeless Joe's" sitting on street corners begging change and those that did were direct enough to actually approach you. There are a few that I have given the change in my pocket to over the years. In fact one of them is sitting on "his" corner every weekday. He is casually friendly, a Korean War veteran who lives in one of the shelters downtown. He will take anything you offer and always responds with a "God bless you" even when you have only a few dimes.
Now there are dozens of them congregating downtown, most of them sullenly shake a BK cup at you and glare if you don't have anything for them. If you do give them anything they only look at you with a glazed expression of "why didn’t you give me more?"
Why am I bringing this up? After all shouldn't I empty all of my pocket change or pull bills from my wallet for them? Isn’t it "Christian" for me to support them without asking questions?
I don't believe so. I do give when the spirit moves me to and I have to admit to feeling some guilt when I have some spare change that I don't share. I guess because I am fearing that I will only see more and more of them but they increase I fully expect that they will be more recently without work because I am beginning to think that we are about to see the end of the biggest economic expansion in our nation's history.
With the incoming Democrat congress I am preparing myself to surrender more of my paycheck to the ever increasing maw that is our federal government. I do not believe that they will be any more prudent than the outgoing Republicans were in spending the tax income and over the next two years I fully expect them to demand more and more. The hew and cry over the disparity of the rich and the poor is already being ratcheted up on the various media outlets. Thomas Sowell over at National Review http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWE4ZTU1MTNiYjAxMzlkNGQ1YzgyZDQyNDU3MGE5NTQ=
comments about how this is becoming a “dangerous obsession”. One quote stuck out, “Today’s “progressives” want to expand political control of incomes even more. They call it “social justice” but you could call it Rumpelstiltskin and it would still mean politicians deciding how much money each of us can be allowed to have. “
I only hope that in 2 years we come to our corporate senses and send some real conservatives (ones who will pledge to stick to a budget and decrease the size of the government).
That’s enough for now. I feel somewhat better having gotten that from my system.
posted by King Tiger at 12:07 PM
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