Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
More than 30,000 kids age out of foster care every year. Where do they go next? Under current conditions, about 250,000 people leave the military each year. Many end up on the street. More than 600,000 people are released from our jails and prisons each year. How likely are we to hire them or rent them an apartment? Job loss, falling out of family favor, and the onset of health issues are as relevant to homelessness as they are to bankruptcy. The whole situation here is quite complex and not susceptible to any easy remedy.
The causes of homelessness are indeed complex and varied. Temporary homelessness is by definition of short duration. It can occur for a huge variety of causes including, financial issues such as job loss, women and families fleeing abusive situations, death of a family member, health issues and medical bills. Certainly this would qualify as complex and not susceptible to an easy remedy. Fortunately, there are a host of governmental and private agencies who can provide help including Medicaid, shelters, welfare, and child protective services to mention just a few.
What we are more likely to see on the streets are those who are chronically homeless. Some are homeless entirely by choice. This would include young kids from financially stable families who have decided to drop out. Many congregate in cities and locations that are attractive for that choice. Visit Portland, Oregon, if you have any doubts about the extent of that factor. SAMHSA (federal govt agency for substance and mental health) reports that close to 70% of the chronically homeless are substance abusers and/or mentally ill. In the past we have often viewed substance abuse as a choice, rather than a health issue. Either way there are limited treatments and minimal positive outcomes. I think our treatment of the mentally ill is really reprehensible. Society saved money and closed down the vast majority of the treatment centers and mental hospitals. Sure some were abusive but we provided no viable alternatives for those who need help.
The article says only 2.6 million of the 96 million adults are not working. That is not that bad is it?
And it is much better than the 1950s. I wonder why it is so low in 1950.
It also tries to make a point about long term unemployed. If those people are still unemployed it would factor into the unemployment percentage. If the percentage is low does that not mean there is not much long term unemployed anymore?
We have been in DEPRESSION since 2001 and our Government together with the FED has been masking this FACT by printing money, devaluating our currency and manipulating interest rates. 16 years of manipulations and NO REAL economic growth. No wonder homeless population and crime is on the rise. The entire economic recovery is a FRAUD and SCAM. There is no real economic growth and it can never be one unless we allow interest rates to rise and we destroy our bad debt that we desperately protect since 2001.
We have 20 trillion dollars in debt, we are broke as a nation, we spent all that money to stall but not to avoid deflation or depression. We spend our children and grandchildren money to buy cushion and comfort for few years. But, we still need to go thru depression and destroy all this bad debts that we have. Otherwise real economic growth will NEVER return.
We did have a depression from 2007-12 (years debatable). One factor keeping it from becoming a Great one was the stimulus effect of war. I say not for a few years.
In order to be in a depression, you have to be in a horrible recession. Since the recession ended in 2009, we were not in a depression for the years you mentioned.
The difference is that in the Great Depression, and again in the recession of 2008, almost everyone was affected. Currently there is a high number of people on assistance, but they are limited to certain geographic areas, while in others, such as here on the west coast, the economy is thriving. In our state (WA) for example, welfare recipients are way down, it was over 100,000 people in 1995, steadily decreasing until 2007, then over 60,000 in 2010-11, but now down to 42,000.
That's not tremendously different from the 1930s. My grandparents were refugees from the Dust Bowl in 1937. They came west for jobs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
