I'm Afraid We Are Going To See a Lot More Of This
by James Glaser
February 2, 2011

This past weekend Wanda and I headed down to Saint Augustine to watch her seven year grandson's basketball game. Being a grandmother, she just had to see her grandson play. I enjoyed the game, too. Joey hustled the whole game and even made a basket right near the end.

After the game we went out to lunch with Wanda's son, and we even got in a bit of antique shopping. Saint Augustine is not only the oldest city in the United States, it has a pretty nice area downtown filled with rare book stores and antique shops. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time.

However, there was one thing that marred the day—that was seeing so many homeless people panhandling along the streets. We saw both men and women with signs saying "Homeless" or just "God Bless". These people did not look dirty or unkempt. In fact they looked embarrassed and seemed to not want to make eye contact.

It is sad, but I believe we are going to see more and more of this. I don't know what else to call it except begging here is the richest country in the world. Yes, we extended the jobless benefits for the unemployed, but if you were working for yourself, you couldn't file for unemployment benefits in the first place, and many of those people have been without work for a couple of years now. It doesn't take long for you to lose everything if you have nothing coming in at all.

So, as Washington sits around and ponders what they should be doing, more and more Americans are forced to hit the streets, and we are going to see more and more of them asking for help because they have no where else to turn.

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