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It's "dumb" not in the sense that it's a stupid point. I would say that the quoted person merely feels "dumb," as in "small-minded," after the fact. They were f
by rmxt 11y ago
It's "dumb" not in the sense that it's a stupid point. I would say that the quoted person merely feels "dumb," as in "small-minded," after the fact. They were first opposed to it on economic grounds, but as the economic realities became apparent (i.e., it's cheaper to "permanently" fix the issue than to "band-aid" it), I would say that they came around to the moral implications of what it means to help people find some comfort in their lives. Granite countertops and the money that they cost can't change the fact that people live with mental illness or have lived on the streets for years. The metaphoric "granite countertops" are a small price to pay to make the town a better place for all to live, homeless and taxpayer alike.
I don't think that anyone said that you shouldn't put yourself first. I think the bigger point, and the success story from the article, is that sometimes it's actually economically beneficial (to those who pay taxes) for the government to take the apparently more expensive step of giving homeless more permanent housing solutions. If the tax rate stays the same and the ways that the money can be spent can be improved , e.g. $20k on permanent housing per homeless person rather than $100k per person on the street, why not do it?
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoSame reason Mother Theresa build modest homes for the lepers. If you do more others resent it, make noise and the donation chain dries up.
- mason240 11y agoMore likely that they built modest homes because they needed less resources, meaning they could build more of them.
- ryanjshaw 11y agoWhere I live, my taxes go to building people free houses. I have no problem with that and I support the economic argument. Is that really a point of contention for anybody? Perhaps I'm too far removed from the target audience of the article because I still don't understand the granite countertops comment. Where I live there are people waiting for houses for more than 20 years after being promised. I went to help dig trenches once as part of a corporate donation. The stories you hear are heartbreaking. Granite countertops vs normal countertops, in countries with serious inequality is actually a real thing and can mean the difference between somebody waiting another year for a house, and getting one today. The guy's comment was a perfectly valid criticism - shaving 0.1% on a budget may sound like nothing to privileged people, but in a country where 10 million people don't have homes it actually does mean something to 10 thousand people.
- rmxt 11y agoI see your argument more clearly now... I guess it's an unfortunate result of disparities in the poorest living conditions between countries. The poorest x% of people in Canada probably live better than the poorest x% of people in South Africa (the only country I can imagine that fits your stats above). If government officials were putting in granite countertops in housing developments in South Africa, I'd be up in arms too. In Canada, and on a scale as small as Medicine Hat, they can probably afford, both literally and figuratively, to put nice finishes in public/subsidized housing developments. (Especially if that money is earmarked for local purposes and can't be sent elsewhere. I guess "Collect local (taxes), spend local" isn't too bad of a motto.)