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There are ~500k homeless people[1] and 16 million vacant homes[2]. So the average American wouldn't need to take in a homeless person. The homeless people coul

by Brybry 4y ago

There are ~500k homeless people[1] and 16 million vacant homes[2]. So the average American wouldn't need to take in a homeless person. The homeless people could fit in ~3% of the vacant homes. Obviously it's more complicated than that but sometimes capitalism does suck. [1] https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/finding/the-size-and-census-coverage-of-the-us-homeless-population/ https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/finding/the-size-and-census... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/realestate/vacancy-rate-by-state.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/realestate/vacancy-rate-b...

parineum 4y ago
Capitalism has made it so those homeless people are just homeless and not homeless and starving.
- fragmede 4y ago
  In what ways are church run soup kitchens and WIC (aka "food stamps") capitalism?
  - zo1 4y ago
    In GP's example, capitalism has made food production cheaper and less labor intensive so that more people can get it, relatively. But for me, your example is capitalism in the sense that people do it of their own free will. They give up their time and resources to help others without coercion or compulsion. Capitalism is freedom to me, and a natural state that exists outside of the state where people can interact freely with one another. What they do with it is another question entirely. Others, however, equate capitalism with greed and evil though.
    - fragmede 4y ago
      Human nature to help one another doesn't exist because of capitalism though. In tight-knit Amish communities for example, communities come together and help each other out. Or under feudalism, for example, I'm sure people still helped out other people with no coercion from time to time.
  - parineum 4y ago
    Both the cost of the food provided and the free time afforded to the people doing the work are results if capitalism. It's hard to run a soup kitchen with no food or volunteers.
- int_19h 4y ago
  Great. Now that we've got there, can we move on to other goals?

by Brybry 4y ago

parineum 4y ago

Capitalism has made it so those homeless people are just homeless and not homeless and starving.

fragmede 4y ago
In what ways are church run soup kitchens and WIC (aka "food stamps") capitalism?
- zo1 4y ago
  In GP's example, capitalism has made food production cheaper and less labor intensive so that more people can get it, relatively. But for me, your example is capitalism in the sense that people do it of their own free will. They give up their time and resources to help others without coercion or compulsion. Capitalism is freedom to me, and a natural state that exists outside of the state where people can interact freely with one another. What they do with it is another question entirely. Others, however, equate capitalism with greed and evil though.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Human nature to help one another doesn't exist because of capitalism though. In tight-knit Amish communities for example, communities come together and help each other out. Or under feudalism, for example, I'm sure people still helped out other people with no coercion from time to time.
- parineum 4y ago
  Both the cost of the food provided and the free time afforded to the people doing the work are results if capitalism. It's hard to run a soup kitchen with no food or volunteers.
int_19h 4y ago
Great. Now that we've got there, can we move on to other goals?