Return of the Squeegee Man
Perhaps one of the most evocative signs that the U.S. economy is heading for a lost decade is the return of aggressive window-washing panhandlers known as “squeegee men.” A common sight in New York City during the economic recession of the 1980s, they all but vanished as the city prospered and incomes rose. But as chronic unemployment reaches alarming levels, men armed with buckets of dirty water and squeegees have returned to pester drivers at stoplights. A
New York Daily News reporter spotted a crew of five in New York’s busy Times Square on September 18th.
