Millions of Words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the value of two pictures? Do you add the numbers together? Or do you multiply them? There is no correct answer, of course, as it is merely a philosophical exercise.

That said, I think it would be hard to look at the following images, featured in a post, "Scenes from the Recession," at the Boston Globe's "The Big Picture" blog, and not feel like the equivalent word count is somewhere in the millions.

The state of our global economy: foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, layoffs, abandoned projects, and the people and industries caught in the middle. It can be difficult to capture financial pressures in photographs, but here a few recent glimpses into some of the places and lives affected by what some are calling the "Great Recession". (35 photos total)

Hotel property manager Paul Martinez kicks in a tenant's door after no one answered the knock during an eviction February 26, 2009 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The tenant said that he was laid off from his job in a retail store two months ago and had fallen behind on his rent payments at the low-budget hotel. (John Moore/Getty Images)

2

Sheriff's Deputy Bill Ewell searches an apartment before an eviction team removed the remaining furniture February 26, 2009 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The tenants, who had not paid the rent the previous month, had already left the apartment ahead of the eviction. (John Moore/Getty Images) #

3

Storm clouds hover near unfinished home lots during a break between storms after the dwindling new home sales market brought construction to a halt at a new home development December 16, 2008 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Home construction took its biggest dive in 24 years in November to reach a record low. (David McNew/Getty Images) #

4

Hundreds of people stand in line as they look for jobs at the Miami Dade College Mega Job Fair 2009 on March 4, 2009 in North Miami, Florida. Job fairs are swamped with applicants as the economy continues to tank and many people find themselves unemployed. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

5

Thousands of job-seekers flock to a job fair in Hefei, Anhui province, China on March 1, 2009. At least 20 million of China's 130 million migrant workers have become jobless after tens of thousands of labor-intensive export-oriented factories closed due to the global financial crisis, and job training schemes for migrant workers are springing up around China, Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS/Jianan Yu) #

6

A sign informing readers that Fremont Pontiac GMC is permanently closed is seen on a door at the Newark, Calif. dealership, Tuesday, March 3, 2009. The dealership closed due to economic conditions earlier this year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) #

7

A construction site is seen in Almaty, Kazakhstan on January 27, 2009. Dozens of projects in the construction industry have come to a standstill due to a deepening financial crisis. Kazakhstan expects economic growth to stall further this year as major industries ranging from construction to energy and banking experience lack of financing due to tighter credit conditions. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #

8

A stopped construction site is seen behind an older two-family house occupied by only one family in Almaty, Kazakhstan on March 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov) #

9

A RE/MAX Central bus advertises tours of foreclosed homes March 7, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The real estate group began giving tours for prospective buyers three times a week in February 2008, in an effort to clear inventory of foreclosed properties. They have seen a steady decrease in foreclosure listings since the summer of 2008 in the Las Vegas area. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) #

10

People attend the REDC Foreclosure Home Auction in New York, in this photo taken March 8, 2009. About 1,400 people crowded into New York's first foreclosure auction over the weekend. One family bought a 2,062-square foot home in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York for just $12, 500 or $6 per square foot, according to the New York Post. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton) #

11

The Magen Abraham Synagogue sits at center of this photograph taken on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, surrounded by the gleaming new skyscrapers in Wadi Abou Jmil, Lebanon - formerly Beirut's main Jewish neighborhood. One of Lebanon's sole remaining synagogues, this building was set for a restoration that has the rare blessing of all the factions in this divided country - but the global financial crisis has scuttled the effort for now, leaving the Magen Abraham chained, padlocked, badly damaged and overgrown with weeds. (AP Photo/Grace Kassab) #

12

As new home sales and housing starts hit record lows, empty lots, partially constructed homes and abandoned ones are seen in a subdivision on January 30, 2009 near Homestead, Florida. Prices in November of 2008 declined 8.7 percent from a year earlier, the biggest drop in records going back to 1991, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

13

An empty house lot is seen through the windows of a home where construction work has stopped January 22, 2009 in Miami, Florida. Construction of new homes and apartments fell 15.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 550,000 units. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

14

Thousands of unemployed Chinese graduates flock to a job fair in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province on March 7, 2009. China vowed to help train one million graduates in the next three years to boost their qualifications, and promised loans to business that hire graduates, as unemployment continues to grow. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

15

Brittney Nance holds her head as she works on her laptop in her motel room at the Old Town Inn March 5, 2009 in West Sacramento, California. Brittney and her family were evicted from the house they were renting after her husband, Steve Nance, lost his job. The couple and their three children are living in a budget motel while they save enough money for deposit on a new rental home, but are finding it difficult as they pay nearly $1200 a month for the motel room. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #

16

Brittney Nance and her children Henry, 5, and Izabella, 7, walk through the parking lot of their hotel on the way to the grocery store March 5, 2009 in West Sacramento, California. All five family members live in a small studio sized room with most of their belongings. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) #

17

Dodge SUVs sit parked in the Atlantic Marine Terminal at the port of Baltimore February 18, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland. As the worldwide economic downturn persists and automobile sales continue to slow, more than 57,000 new automobiles sit idle in the port of Maryland. The state of Maryland recently paid $5.26 million for almost 15 acres of additional car storage space near the port, freeing space for more cargo. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) #

 

To see the rest, please click here.

 

Comments

[Marion Shaw]

All I have to say is this: the 'AIG personnel who
took tax payer money to justify bonsuses, for nothing
but failure and fraud, had better give it back;
soon; now; without delay; and with deepest regret.
America is not dead yet; and a lot of people are
going to notice this outrageous fraud. I will not
quote a young American male I know personally, and
should I quote him, the bankers would be headed
abroad, asap. This young man is not alone; and he
is not afraid. We the people. of the United States of
America...................................

[brushes9]

Around 2003 in Atlanta, I was one of the guys coming in behind the sheriff to effect the eviction. We were thinking about the stuff that we might want to keep for ourselves, but my mood quickly changed.

The sheriff wanted us to move fast, so that he could leave. The more ruthless we were the man's possessions, the happier the Sheriff was. We opened the upstairs windows, so that we could dump the stuff down into the pickup truck.

It is not a very good feeling pulling a man's library, desk and computer items rudely from their places and dumping them in a waiting truck. Everything looked like the man had just been there. Only the sheriff looking on reminded me that I wasn't doing something wrong.

We didn't know the man's story. I kept thinking that he may have been in the hospital, or that some other innocent tragedy had fallen on him. I had to remind myself that I was only a cog who didn't make the rules, working for the system and that it was not my fault.

We came back a few weeks later and made some repairs to the house for the owner. A big storm came and forced me and my Mexican buddy into the garage. The lightening was intense and a bolt hit right outside. The taste that you get touching a battery to your tongue filled our mouths. We were riding with the Devil, and it was rock and roll, I tell you.

[roger]

The amazing thing about these pictures is that they make you believe that this is
something recent,just happened out of the blue,BS this has been going on for centuries. I could show you much more horrific photos all taken the past 100 years
Competition exploitation is a deadly game.The individual stress on personal choice is way over done in the US,try co-operation and sharing the wealth
or is that to socialistic for you.

[Sole]

Everything is fine! This man cherry picks photos and expects us to fall in line. His business is doom! Everything is just as it was before (maybe a little slower). We've got a new McDonalds going up, housing is stabilizing. Read Forbes or the WSJ if you want to hear the truth about the economy.Everyone I know is living in their homes with 2-car garages and nothing has changed!
This man is showing us photos of commonplace events.

[Jennifer]

A homeless woman garners sympathy while crying over her lap top computer and pushing an expensive stroller while applying her lip gloss. Only in America!

[HorsetheBob]

"...helps burn the deadwood out of an economy, like a fire in the forest, leaving mainly the healthy and strong to survive."

Great photos of human deadwood burning out of the economy.

Ah, I love that burning smell. It's like Auschwitz in the morning after a large trainful of disabled children the day before.

But let the healthy and strong (i.e. rich, white and connected) survive this burning out, even tho the econmomic fire itself was set (surprise, surprise) by the rich, white and connected.

[roger]

Sole:Everything is not fine ,that's the attitude of the ostrich
with its head in the sand.Sure he cherry picks but did you ever
see a travel agency publish photos of the slums?for some individuals
yes it could be fine but social stress usually catches up with them.
witness the millions of young people killed in wars.For the inquiring
minds FINANCIAL TIME recommends reading 4 great political economist
Adam Smith KARL MARX (he he now there's a new one)Joseph Shumpeter
& John Maynard Kayns

[H Spencer]

I wish to offer $750.00 (cash) for one of those new DODGE SUVs. Whom do I contact?

[ddg]

"According to LEAP/E2020, there are only two options left for the G20 leaders who gather next April 2nd in London: either they rebuild a new international monetary system, creating the conditions for a new global system that involves all the main global players, and reducing the crisis to a maximum of 3 to 5 years; or they strive to prolong the current system, thrusting the world into a decade long tragic crisis starting at the end of 2009."

http://www.leap2020.eu/geab-n-33-is-available!-growing-transatlantic-tensions-on-the-eve-of-the-g20-summit-an-illustration-of-wall-street-s-and_a2940.html