Signs of the (economic) times

Clearly the recession has hit Fort St. John, although in not too dramatic a fashion. If one isn't very observant, one might miss it, but it hit me in the forehead a few days ago.

I'd already noticed the number of want ads in the paper falling off sharply. The Friday edition of the Alaska Highway News, a few short months ago, carried pages of job listings, in fact, the want ads pretty much had their own section. But now, we're lucky if there is more than one page of jobs. Ouch.

On Monday, I saw a sight I hadn't exactly seen before. Three men "dumpster diving" in the same dumpster. I've seen people going through the dumpsters before, that's not new. In fact, when we lived in Totem Court apartments, I used to actually put out our pop/beer cans in a separate bag for the regular who came by our bin. Often left it outside the bin, so he didn't have to climb in there. But seeing three guys, at once, going through the same bin, was something I didn't think I'd see.

Wednesday, I saw something else, in practically the same location, which said to me that times must be tough. A busker at PriceMart Foods. Again, buskers are nothing new to me, they were all over the place when I lived Christchurch, but I have never, ever seen one in Fort St. John. For anyone who doesn't know, a busker is someone who sings or plays music (or both) on a city street, hoping for donations. This guy I saw was pretty organized, he had an amplifier and the music was not too bad ... only problem, he didn't have his guitar case open, so the money he'd collected was sitting in a sad little pile on top of the case.

Clearly another sign of the times - I don't know how long he'd been there, but he hadn't collected much. Unfortunately.

On the one hand, I feel bad for this guy - and the three I saw combing through the dumpster - but on the other hand, I'm so grateful that it's not me having to do that. Apart from the fact that I would never have the guts to try busking, I would hate to even imagine the dire straits which would have to befall our family, to drive me to that. Then again, what's a guy to do? If there's no jobs, he's been made redundant (or whatever), and can't find work, he's gotta do something to survive.

I sincerely hope the turnaround our Prime Minister keeps talking about is imminent, but I rather doubt it. If spending is the key to getting out of this mess, its not going to happen any time soon. I, for one, don't want to spend anymore than is absolutely necessary - so how can the governments of North America expect people who are out of work, or worse off economically than us, to spend money?

This is one time, I think the cliched catch-phrase, Catch 22 really does apply.