Things sure do change.  Several years ago the personnel working the freeway off ramps in Long Beach, California, were immigrants from Mexico.  They were selling oranges and roses to working stiffs on the way home from their cubicle jobs.

These days you’ll find recent college graduates, who haven’t broken into the professional world, strumming guitars for pocket change.  Obviously, it’s plain bad luck to graduate from college, with a bunch of student loan debt, at the very moment a 60 year economic expansion runs out of gas.  But if the economy sputters long enough, people will take to doing strange and dangerous things for money.

About a decade ago, while visiting several in laws – and outlaws – in Mexico City, we witnessed some remarkable street corner performances.  While at a stop light, for example, one shirtless lunatic wandered out in front of the car with broken glass wrapped in a towel.  He then quickly laid the towel and the broken glass on the asphalt street and rolled around on it. Continue reading →