How lucky?

It seems that in terms of countries going to the wall financially we are doing pretty well.  There is a chance that we may skirt the edges of the depression and just feel down for a while.

But

I have been to the city a few times recently and have been shocked at the number of people (and the first three I saw were all women) going through the rubbish bins ... and worse the big ashtrays connected to the rubbish bins looking for cigarette butts.  There seem to be an increased number of homeless but it is one thing to see people passively begging and quite another to see people actively scavenging.  When I lived in Paris you saw a lot of homeless people especially in the summer as apparently (so I was told) the mental facilities reduce their staff and turn out as many patients as they can.  In Africa and Asia neither beggers nor the homeless are exactly rare but somehow there is more dignity there - perhaps only because I have never seen anybody looking for scragends of cigarettes there.

Perhaps this is becoming the norm and I simply don't get out enough.  But it is very very sad to witness.  And to think once we were the lucky country.