Brother, can you spare a sign?

I don't know about other cities, but here in Jacksonville, Florida, I have noticed a lot of people on the road side holding advertising signs.

At first, I didn't pay much attention to this phenomenon. However, as time passed I began to have questions about what I was seeing.  Why did businesses need to have these sign wielding people out on the street? Why would anyone in there right mind want to stand on the roadside with a sign.  Surely there were better jobs to be had.  Then it hit me, this was all due to our less than prosperous economy.  Before I detail my hypothesis, let me first say that this is not a political rant.  It is my intent to focus on the situation and not the political debate. I will leave that to suckers and those that are gluttons for punishment.

Lets start with businesses.  Lets face it, the economy sucks.  There are no two ways about it, its just plain bad.  Sales are down and advertising is expensive.   The solution: hire some poor fool to stand on the street corner  smiling, waving, dancing, and acting silly.   All the while holding up a sign.  I've seen this done for every business imaginable: pizza joints, cigarette stores, liquor stores, pawn shops, cellular phone stores,  name it and I've probably seen it.  Come to think of it, the only business I haven't seen use this form of advertisement is a strip club.  Well duh, of course, strip clubs make money in any economic environment.  After al, a strip club provides an escape from ones worries, but at the expense of money he or she probably can't afford to part ways with.  Those G-strings are hungry for five dollar bills!  Lets get back to the signs.  I believe the only reason a person would entertain the thought of holding one of those signs on a street is because he or she has no job.  It's a sign of our times, and an example of our crappy economy, and crappy job market.

Economists have refereed to our economic conditions as "The Great Recession." It reminds me of the great depression of the 1930's.  Any event or happening with the term "Great" in the title has to have a memorable slogan that get passed down through the generations, and learned about in school.   A common phrase that came out of the great depression was "Brother, can you spare a dime?"  Back then a few dimes added up to something to put in ones stomach.  The great recessions has, "Brother, can you spare a sign?"  I imagine holding up one of those signs would earn a person around 20 dollars, and that adds up to something in my stomach.  Man, inflation sucks!  On the bright side, these signs and their holders might very well do what economists have struggled with: forecast an end to the recession.  When we start to see fewer and fewer human advertisements on the street corner, brothers and sisters, we will know there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Until next time, keep your back to the wall and your finger on the safety...........