Nation Still Asking: What About Us?

By Kurt Soller
On Wall Street and in Washington, there have been murmurs that things are looking up, that the recession is (maybe, finally?) over. But in some ways, the story on the streets of America tells a different tale. In New York, the Salvation Army is hitting the streets with their bells and buckets months before Christmas; meanwhile, Rhode Island is becoming an unemployment leader, with economists projecting that a quarter of the state's workers might currently be unemployed. As services like medical clinics, food banks, and neighborhood watches have become even more necessary, other businesses have been unable to serve the people who need them most. All this raises the question of whether the recession is even close to over.