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News & ArtsFriday, November 13, 2009
Economy What? We Have a Homelessness Problem?
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 12:27 PM
From the Guardian:
A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.
Funny that W. was blocking a UN investigator—I guess he knew she was going to break the bad news. For example:
Los Angeles, which is described as the homeless capital of America, has endured an 18-fold increase in housing foreclosures. Evictions from owned and rented homes have risen about tenfold, with 62,400 people forced out last year in Los Angeles county.Welfare payments are not enough to meet the rent, let alone food and other necessities. A single person on welfare living in Los Angeles receives $221 (£133) a month — an amount that hasn't changed in a decade. The rent for one room is typically nearly double that.
The US state department has one month to respond. What could they possibly say? "Sorry"?
1
We've always had bums in America! They are part of our visual landscape and necessary so we can show them to our kids and warn them of the consequences of a liberal arts education.
Besides, don't the Europeans realize that they kept all the smart people and only sent us their bums and religious crazies?
Besides, don't the Europeans realize that they kept all the smart people and only sent us their bums and religious crazies?
2
Why has The Stranger ignored the whole unemployment extension fiasco? The Stranger is just as guilty as George W. for ignoring people in need being forced out of their homes. Hundreds of thousands of the unemployed exhausted their unemployment benefits starting in August and the Senate Republicans stalled the extension bill for months. While it finally passed just last week (after Democrats forced the issue three times) it will be a while before anyone actually sees a check while the gov gets the system in place. Republicans purposely want things to get really really bad and stalled this bill anyway they could BUT eventually they almost all voted for it since 7000 Americans exhaust unemployment every day. The Republicans want things to get really bad so they can see Palin in office in 2012. If you go on to any of the Congressional Legislation chat boards you will see hundreds of thousands of upset comments about the unemployment bill from people on the brink of committing suicide. Yet The Stranger has sat on their hands this whole time since September.
3
We could respond with some sensible solutions, like the following:
1) Fully fund mental health care for severely mentally ill citizens.
2)Fully fund drug rehabilitation clinics throughout the country
3)Fully fund college tuition and job retraining centers with a focus on green jobs
4) Launch a WPA program to rebuild our country's infrastructure that will provide millions of jobs to those who need them
5)Fully fund outreach programs to LGBT youth who are far more likely to end up on the street than their heterosexual classmates
1) Fully fund mental health care for severely mentally ill citizens.
2)Fully fund drug rehabilitation clinics throughout the country
3)Fully fund college tuition and job retraining centers with a focus on green jobs
4) Launch a WPA program to rebuild our country's infrastructure that will provide millions of jobs to those who need them
5)Fully fund outreach programs to LGBT youth who are far more likely to end up on the street than their heterosexual classmates
6
@4, renting a room--notice they don't say it's for a whole one-bedroom apartment--for $450 isn't unheard of. I charge my roomie less than that, although that is below market rate.
7
Well, if you block a UN investigator from entering your country, you get invaded. Sorry USA, 1-2 million of your people are gonna get slaughtered by the invading USA soldiers.
10
@9 - that's actually sorta the weird thing about LA. Depending on where you live in LA, you could go through life and rarely even notice the homeless problem, I'm sure many people do precisely that.
11
Even worse is a lengthy article in the NY Times today on ROI for Iraq. Few US firms get contracts there and we don't even get the oil.
Bring the troops home, end the war, and let's move on.
Bring the troops home, end the war, and let's move on.
12
I always liked George Carlin's solution for homelessness:
Tear up all the golf courses and cemeteries in the country and build cheap housing for the homeless on the land.
Tear up all the golf courses and cemeteries in the country and build cheap housing for the homeless on the land.
13
So what exactly is the UN going to do about it? Airlift food into the inner cities to help America's homeless? Impose sanctions?
14
"Tear up all the golf courses and cemeteries in the country and build cheap housing for the homeless on the land"
Please, bums are bums. You could take 90% of Seattle bums off the streets tomorrow, sober them up, give them a shave, an apartment and a job working the chip fry and in 6 months you know what you'd find? 95% back on the streets.
Please, bums are bums. You could take 90% of Seattle bums off the streets tomorrow, sober them up, give them a shave, an apartment and a job working the chip fry and in 6 months you know what you'd find? 95% back on the streets.
15
@14 - this is why we need to locate homeless services in their place of origin - the eastside.
I recommend downtown Bellevue.
I recommend downtown Bellevue.
17
"his is why we need to locate homeless services in their place of origin"
they don't need services. I say we export them to Mexico; if men who paddle across the Rio Grande can stand outside Home Depot all day and manage to keep their shit together, I say make 'em citizens.
they don't need services. I say we export them to Mexico; if men who paddle across the Rio Grande can stand outside Home Depot all day and manage to keep their shit together, I say make 'em citizens.
18
Hey! Here's an idea...
How about instead of contributing ~$600,000,000 a year to the UN and ~$37,100,000,000 a year to Foreign Aid Assistance ($10.6 billion private & $26.5 billion government spending) we spend it to at home to end poverty in the USA?
How about instead of contributing ~$600,000,000 a year to the UN and ~$37,100,000,000 a year to Foreign Aid Assistance ($10.6 billion private & $26.5 billion government spending) we spend it to at home to end poverty in the USA?
20
@18 - the US gives less as a percent of GDP in foreign aid than any other first world nation.
Want to help the local economy? Bring the troops home.
Want to help the local economy? Bring the troops home.
21
"but they're not Mexican."
Maybe that will motivate them to get off their asses and find work the way illegals do in this country.
Maybe that will motivate them to get off their asses and find work the way illegals do in this country.
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