Voices From Street Corners (Vol. 4)

I was around town tending to on-going chores on the eve of 9/11 while I again ran across another family at a street corner. I worked up the courage to walk up to talk to them.

The gentleman was a man who was a painter. He noted that he had no work. He was trying to stay off the streets. He had his wife and children with him as we were talking. What I told him that he was not alone. What I told him was that the construction industry was in a near depression–despite the happy talk from the Media. All I could do was to try and motivate them to realize that they had to have faith and be optimistic. I also told them about the local One Stop Center. I also talked to them about 211.Org to see what other potential help can be given to them.

As I walked away, I began a conversation with another lady who had also walked up with me to talk to the wife. We got to talking and she shared how she was working a temp job and how her husband’s job was also not stable. She noted that she would know Monday whether she had a job to go back to. She talked about, “…it is not what you know…it is who you know…”. She was worried about if she could hang in to their home. All I could do, again, was to encourage her to keep at it and not lose hope.

As I was walking up to my car to drive off, I again thought about the debate going on both at the State and Federal Levels. I was thinking about how the State of California is yet to even have a budget as the Governor was out in Shanghai pushing for supposed investment as the unemployment rate lingers on. It is as the campaign season has begun with charges, counter charges with no end in sight.

There is also the continued debate at the Federal Level about being broke. Many on Main Street get it that the Country is broke. I have been reading up with amusement the back-and-forth over tax cuts, infrastructure spending and other ideas to help jump start the moribund economy. I have been quite interested in what Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana, has been pushing. He has been talking about a 450 Billion Dollar infrastructure plan which goes against the grain of what the Republicans have been pushing.

There is one true reality that all must accept: Not much is going to happen until after the November election. I hope, for the sake of all those “voices from street corners” that I am wrong in this assessment.

The story is yet to have an ending……