5 ms·

One of the richest and largest polities on earth doesn't have the resources to guarantee basic sanitaion for all residents.

StillBored 9y ago
No, its because in theory we have religious organizations providing that service in exchange for large tax breaks... http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-make-71-billion-a-year-tax-the-churches http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-make-71... I'm perfectly ok with churches getting tax breaks as long as they can prove to be doing more good in the community they they are saving on all that prime real estate that generally sits vacant 6 days a week. If churches were forced to have 24-hour open door policies, then homeless people would always have a place to sleep and use the restroom. But of course we can't have "bums" wandering around church property, lets call the state/police to arrest them.
zeveb 9y ago
One of the richest and largest polities on earth has a large number of mentally-ill people who would befoul basic sanitation facilities were they given access to them.
prostoalex 9y ago
The definition of rich is "having a great deal of money or assets", California's tight budget doesn't leave much room for a large reserve - what comes in gets spent the same year, and it's always a mystery whether or not the state will be solvent next year.
- crdoconnor 9y ago
  Thank prop 13 for that.
  - prostoalex 9y ago
    Or high-speed rail. Or unreasonable pension obligations.
    - crdoconnor 9y ago
      Just prop 13. If a less well off Europe can handle all 3 so can the richest state in the richest country.
      - prostoalex 9y ago
        While statutory property tax increases are exclusive to California, homeless populations are not.
        crdoconnor 9y ago
        Being so spectacularly wealthy and having such a large homelessness problem at the same time is unique to California though. Hence "wealth distribution" problem, not "not having enough wealth" problem.
        prostoalex 9y ago
        Again, what number are you looking at to call California wealthy? California state budget revenues are $4,366 per capita, which is fairly low-end. North Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon are all in solid five digits a head. California's is richer than Georgia's $2,320 per capita for sure, but if it were a person in a company of 49 other friends, it would be a low-income friend always trying to borrow money.
        crdoconnor 9y ago
        A GDP of $2.6 trillion, highest in the US and 14% of the US total. Deliberate starvation of state and city budgets doesn't stop California from being the richest state.

StillBored 9y ago

No, its because in theory we have religious organizations providing that service in exchange for large tax breaks... http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-make-71-billion-a-year-tax-the-churches http://bigthink.com/21st-century-spirituality/how-to-make-71... I'm perfectly ok with churches getting tax breaks as long as they can prove to be doing more good in the community they they are saving on all that prime real estate that generally sits vacant 6 days a week. If churches were forced to have 24-hour open door policies, then homeless people would always have a place to sleep and use the restroom. But of course we can't have "bums" wandering around church property, lets call the state/police to arrest them.

zeveb 9y ago

One of the richest and largest polities on earth has a large number of mentally-ill people who would befoul basic sanitation facilities were they given access to them.

prostoalex 9y ago

The definition of rich is "having a great deal of money or assets", California's tight budget doesn't leave much room for a large reserve - what comes in gets spent the same year, and it's always a mystery whether or not the state will be solvent next year.

crdoconnor 9y ago
Thank prop 13 for that.
- prostoalex 9y ago
  Or high-speed rail. Or unreasonable pension obligations.
  - crdoconnor 9y ago
    Just prop 13. If a less well off Europe can handle all 3 so can the richest state in the richest country.
    - prostoalex 9y ago
      While statutory property tax increases are exclusive to California, homeless populations are not.
      - crdoconnor 9y ago
        Being so spectacularly wealthy and having such a large homelessness problem at the same time is unique to California though. Hence "wealth distribution" problem, not "not having enough wealth" problem.
        prostoalex 9y ago
        Again, what number are you looking at to call California wealthy? California state budget revenues are $4,366 per capita, which is fairly low-end. North Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, Kentucky, Minnesota and Oregon are all in solid five digits a head. California's is richer than Georgia's $2,320 per capita for sure, but if it were a person in a company of 49 other friends, it would be a low-income friend always trying to borrow money.
        crdoconnor 9y ago
        A GDP of $2.6 trillion, highest in the US and 14% of the US total. Deliberate starvation of state and city budgets doesn't stop California from being the richest state.