ThirstyFish

One of the unofficial rules of street photography is not to take photos of homeless people. It is said that they rarely make meaningful photos which people can relate to. After all, the homeless and the poor are invsible to most of us; Why should their plight concern us when we have our own problems. Many even claim that, their predicament is their own fault.

Just recently, unemployment rate was announced at 5.7 percent. Compared with 10.2 percent in October 2009, that sounds like there's been great improvement. They say, "numbers don't lie"; A two is a two after all? Numbers don't lie - people do.

Gallup is one of the larger organizations that regularly conducts public opinion polls. It's chairman and CEO, Jim Clifton, recently wrote an article titled "The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment". You can read the whole article yourself, but I'm just going to quote one thing: "Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older".

That's right: 56 Percent of the U.S. adult population don't have decent jobs. 4 In 5 millennials are optimistic for future, but half live paycheck to paycheck. So, what happens when you don't get a paycheck? And yes, that great American optimism is infallible. There is no sign whatsoever that jobs shipped to China, Mexico, Bangladesh and other cheaper-labor countries are coming back. There is also no sign that jobs lost to automation and technology are going to be reclaimed. Add to that, talks of scary trade agreements. Fuck optimism! 2 is never 3.