The Recession: Sleeping In Cars With Dogs

My dog and I walk miles every day covering streets all over San Diego County. I leave my phone at home and just enjoy the scenery and the time with my dog. It's my quiet time. It's also my time to observe.

And I have observed in the last few month a disturbing trend. A growing number of people who seemingly live in their cars. Men mostly but sometimes women. The cars they live in seem all over the board, from newer model Nissan's and Toyota's to old beaters. The back seats full of clothes, fast food uniforms, business suits, memento's and other various items of import. One thing is clear, the cars are now homes.

The first time I noticed it was a man sleeping in a truck. I walked by a white truck when a little brown and white face popped up and looked at me. A little terrier had awakened to see who was walking past his house. His owner was sound asleep under a pile of blankets in the front seat. I thought....well there's a guy dedicated to his job, must be a contractor who got to the site a little early. But there are no jobs in this neighborhood and he's now been sleeping in his truck for 2 months....at least in this neighborhood. I saw him panhandling at a local corner last week.

Friday I walked past a newer Volkswagen. Inside was a man cuddled up with a small black dog, piles of business suits and boxes in the back seat. Job applications piled on the dash board.

The Obama administration wold have us all believe that we are recovering. That America is moving out of the RECESSION. When I see nothing to suggest this is so. I see people living in their cars. I see empty strip malls. I see foreclosed homes. I see desperate people sleeping in their cars with their dogs or children and the few possessions they have left. Not one or two but over the last 6 months...dozens. And those are only the ones I see.

I see food prices rising, gas prices through the roof, RAMPANT under employment. I see empty rental units, empty hotels. Ghost town shopping malls. I see scared people who don't know where their next meal is coming from let alone the pipe dream of a paycheck.

I see a government spending this country into an oblivion we may never come out of. And I see them doing it with a mad glee. High speed rail? Government funded internet? Bailouts? Taxpayer funded mortgages??? Stop the presses Obama, no really, STOP THEM.

Then I see union thugs screaming about their rights. Their right to MY money. Their right to not pay their share. And the media who sympathizes with them. But not the guy in his truck sleeping with his little brown and white dog. Or the young vet sitting on a street corner with his God Bless sign asking for a little change to get some food. Or the chronically under employed like myself.

Mr. Obama you are in way over your head, step aside and let us heal. America is critically wounded and you are the monster who keeps peeling off the scabs.