grim things
Joblessness Spreads in New York
Unemployment, the leprosy of our time, continues to spread throughout New York, and even the once-secure middle class is not immune. From the WSJ:
Restaurant employee Gregory Ramsden, a 46-year-old renter in the Norwood neighborhood of the north Bronx, has been looking for full-time work since June 2008. He has been teaching classes in English as a second language, but hasn't had enough money to pay the rent on his apartment since July. His landlord has begun eviction proceedings. "I'd take anything. I'd take a job cleaning toilets,' said Mr. Ramsden, who, as a full-time waiter, used to make $50,000 a year, the area's median income."
Even that's gotten competitive: Hundreds of people applied to work at Charmin's seasonal toilets in Times Square this year.
