Posted on 04/19/2015 4:40:50 PM PDT by Libloather
On Reddit, hes /u/huckstah, an administrator on /r/vagabond, a subreddit with nearly 10,000 membersmany of them identify as homelesswho trade skills and stories. On the road and the rails, hes Huck, and even after we speak twice by cellphone, he tells me hed prefer I dont print his real name. People say, Well, you chose to become homeless. But thats wrong, he says. Huck says hes been a hobo for upward of 11 years and started hopping trains and hitching rides at 18. I did not choose to become homeless. If you want to say I chose to become homeless and sleep on the streets, really all I have to say is f--- you. Youve never experienced it.
Or maybe you have experienced it, thanks to the recent Great Recession that caused a spike in homelessnessespecially for familieswith its tidal wave of foreclosures. And if you have, theres a good chance you were probably one of the many homeless with a mobile device, a sight that has become increasingly common. The ubiquity of cheap phones and even cheaper data has prompted even longtime homeless to join the growing ranks of people with a cell connection but no house. The day I started on the road, I had a flip phone, an iPod, a TomTom GPS, an atlas, a laptop, and free Wi-Fi wasn't very easy to find, says a medic whos been a hobo for four years and asks me to identify him as Nuke. (I have a pretty decent amount of training and experience in treating combat trauma.) He now lives out of a 91 Ford pickup and says, I have a smartphone, a laptop, and free Wi-Fi is everywhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
An injection of hipsters into the urban camper population will lead to more meticulously maintained beards among the hobos, if nothing else.
‘Homeless Hipsters’, after mom and dad in ‘Cul-de-Saccia’ get the astronomical bill from Abercrombie & Fitch, Ikea, Pabst, and Starbucks.
And what do you want to be when you grow up?
A squatter.
I don’t think many want it; I think a lot that was available for previous generations isn’t even an option for many y oung people today. Why would they ever attempt to start a family or buy a home if their salaries have been effectively capped in the low five figures? The generational strife will grow as these young people are taxed to death to pay for bennies for retirees that won’t be available to them until they are 95 years old...
When Obama was first elected, unemployment was going up and the MSM gushed that Obama was HELPING PEOPLE FIND MORE FREE TIME, SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY.
Disgusting.
Maybe they’ll spin this as Obama acting as innovative rail travel agent..?
Why can’t these people just live 6 to a room while working off the books like good mexican illegal immigrants?
I think a lot of them do; that is one of the few alternatives to living in their parents’ basements. FWIW, I don’t blame young people for not “leaving the nest” (though I did 20 years ago); all the power to them if it helps them financially (and is OK with the parents).
Employers treat employees differently if they think they have them over a barrel; if this lets these young people walk away from a bad job situation, then good for them.
Yes, remember “funemployment” (which was just “unemployment when a Dem is president”)?
That right there is something to be concerned over.
But let's remember that government has no qualms "negotiating" taxes over the barrel of a gun. (Remember Waco? That was kicked off because the BATF read the tax-law one way, while the Branch Davidians read it another way — the whole issue could have, and should have, been taken care of in court…)
Hard to believe a medic couldn’t find a job somewhere in the country.
Here is that hard hitting Obama coverage that our beloved media is famous for.
For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-funemployment4-2009jun04-story.html#page=1
Hobos never lived in mom’s basement
That is the Dems’ target audience for upcoming elections; young people of all ethnicities working the “new normal” sh!tty jobs...
I remember that crap well; it only disappeared from the news because unemployment benefits ran out for so many...
Would you prefer they live in the gutter and exposed to horrible weather?
This country isn’t what it used to be; even a skilled American can end up passed over for an illegal or visa holding ‘immigrant.’
Welfare, social security disability, aid to dependent women & children, ...
Some of these folks can make $40,000 a year.
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