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After visiting the USA in December 2014 I cannot help but wonder why the matter of homeless people is not one of the biggest issues in the country. While you se

by geff82 11y ago

After visiting the USA in December 2014 I cannot help but wonder why the matter of homeless people is not one of the biggest issues in the country. While you see homeless people occasionally here in Europe, streets seemed to be flooded by the homeless. I really wonder why a country so wonderful in many areas can be so agnostic to the problem of homeless people. A developed society should not have that situation nowadays. And while taxes are not the highest in the US, they are not that low that problems like this can't be addressed.

mixmastamyk 11y ago
Because all the money is spent on corruption of various sorts, which is mostly ignored--those folks like getting their money. The media make it clear that any such money spent on humanitarian grounds is not only unavailable but would be wasted even if it was. Indeed, I don't believe in hand-outs, but some investment would be welcome. You can only walk by people shitting in the street or laying face-down on the sidewalk so long before wanting to kill.
- geff82 11y ago
  yes... while I also rather like economy friendly governments, it is pure logic that if you ignore the poor, they will come knocking on your door in one way or the other... Some kind of welfare is good for the rich (they can enjoy their money more without fearing being robbed or kidnapped) and the poor (they can eat and have somewhere to live).
  - mixmastamyk 11y ago
    Yes agreed, I learned this lesson on a backpacking trip thru South America, cheers.
panglott 11y ago
If we don't treat poor people like dirt, how will they have sufficient incentive (i.e., desperation) to accept whatever horrible jobs are available? Such as being on call 24/7 for a part-time job at sub-living wages. But honestly, the problem of homelessness is more closely tied to high housing prices, which in the US is associated with the liberal urban areas. The same liberal urban areas that otherwise pride themselves on being "progressive" are just pricing people out of houses by not building enough housing and "maintaining the character of the neighborhood."

by geff82 11y ago

mixmastamyk 11y ago

Because all the money is spent on corruption of various sorts, which is mostly ignored--those folks like getting their money. The media make it clear that any such money spent on humanitarian grounds is not only unavailable but would be wasted even if it was. Indeed, I don't believe in hand-outs, but some investment would be welcome. You can only walk by people shitting in the street or laying face-down on the sidewalk so long before wanting to kill.

geff82 11y ago
yes... while I also rather like economy friendly governments, it is pure logic that if you ignore the poor, they will come knocking on your door in one way or the other... Some kind of welfare is good for the rich (they can enjoy their money more without fearing being robbed or kidnapped) and the poor (they can eat and have somewhere to live).
- mixmastamyk 11y ago
  Yes agreed, I learned this lesson on a backpacking trip thru South America, cheers.

panglott 11y ago

If we don't treat poor people like dirt, how will they have sufficient incentive (i.e., desperation) to accept whatever horrible jobs are available? Such as being on call 24/7 for a part-time job at sub-living wages. But honestly, the problem of homelessness is more closely tied to high housing prices, which in the US is associated with the liberal urban areas. The same liberal urban areas that otherwise pride themselves on being "progressive" are just pricing people out of houses by not building enough housing and "maintaining the character of the neighborhood."