For whatever reason, there was only limited reaction to my observation yesterday that the photo used by The Independent newspaper over in the U.K. to illustrate their story of “USA 2008: The Great Depression” dates from 2005 — and that the folks in coats who are standing on line were waiting for better coats from a private charity – not the food stamps that the story referred to, or the generic “aid” claimed in the caption.

A blogger at Maggie’s Farm notes that the figure who looms largest in the photo looks like he is rubbing his hands together for warmth, or “the noble Bob Cratchit figure is holding his poverty-numbed fingers in the universal sign for ‘Please sir, can I have some more porridge?’” Zooming in closer reveals this figure appears to be adjusting something on his mp3 player or portable Walkman.

Those gadgets are much less expensive than they used to be, and I have little doubt that the folks waiting for donated coats are genuinely poor. But it does distance the selected photograph further from the “bread line” image it is supposed to evoke.