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The conservatives of the board are just thinking there is no real problem, because by gosh, if only those homeless people had been properly motivated maybe they would not have died.
I mean..apparently death was not sufficient motivation.
No, the conservatives are thinking that the economy must not be doing as well as the liberals keep telling us it is. This is evidence that the economy is still in the toilet. You don't have this kind of homeless problem when the economy is doing well. It's telling when you've run out of shelters and warming/cooling stations to handle the multitude of homeless. What it says is your economy sucks because so many have become homeless.
The min wage in WA state is high. It will not afford you a comfy life in Seattle, but it will buy you a heck of a lot on the eastern side of the state. Again, if you are living with the absolute bare minimum, and you still can't make it, relocate. It doesn't have to be forever, but if you are able bodied, instead of making your children live in a tent, relocate. Find where your money goes further.
There's jobs out there. May not be what people want. May be a minimum wage job, but again, minimum wage in WA is one of the highest in the nation. It doesn't mean that you can't live anywhere else in WA state other than Seattle. I would question why these people don't leave Seattle before I feel any sympathy. There has to be a dang good reason why they would opt to live in a tent instead of gather their earnings and move just a few hours east to have a roof over their heads, and their childrens' heads.
I appreciate your initiative in talking to the homeless and finding out why they got where they were. But I disagree that people can readily leave Seattle and move across the state to find a job. The state minimum wage in Washington is $9.47 an hour. A homeless person would face many challenges in securing a job. They would have to have the money for bus fare to get across the state and once they arrived, they most likely don't have a valid ID card, no resume, no permanent address and most likely no clothes suitable for an interview. Even fast food places are picky when it comes to hiring a person who has either a criminal history or no verifiable background at all. And there is the problem of fewer jobs being available in cheaper parts of the state, if there was a demand for employees wages would probably be higher, as they are in Seattle. So chances are they would still be homeless, just in another part of the state.
These are complex problems with equally complex solutions. I really think that the only viable solution is a housing first program such as the one in Salt Lake City. Once people have permanent housing case workers and identify those who are able to work and those who need other services and provide individualized assistance.
No, the conservatives are thinking that the economy must not be doing as well as the liberals keep telling us it is. This is evidence that the economy is still in the toilet. You don't have this kind of homeless problem when the economy is doing well. It's telling when you've run out of shelters and warming/cooling stations to handle the multitude of homeless. What it says is your economy sucks because so many have become homeless.
The economy is doing just fine, it's just that the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few people at the very top. To change that would require an extensive redistribution of wealth, something the Obama administration has not proposed, and if they did they would be attacked for that. So it's pretty much damned if you do and damned if you don't.
The conservatives of the board are just thinking there is no real problem, because by gosh, if only those homeless people had been properly motivated maybe they would not have died.
I mean..apparently death was not sufficient motivation.
Yeah which is why they are 100% for mass illegal immigration....More unskilled masses is what we need.
No, the conservatives are thinking that the economy must not be doing as well as the liberals keep telling us it is. This is evidence that the economy is still in the toilet. You don't have this kind of homeless problem when the economy is doing well. It's telling when you've run out of shelters and warming/cooling stations to handle the multitude of homeless. What it says is your economy sucks because so many have become homeless.
The reason why the economy is doing poorly is because conservatives are just as stupid as the liberals. There is not enough buying power in the lower ranks of society because of the post bubble debt deflation and rent seeking. They are too stupid to realize the leisure class dumps their cash into a toll booth investment , not a capital investment.
We send how many billions upon billions of dollars to other nations every year, and yet the best we can do for own own homeless is tent cities? Our politicians can shove it!
The reason why the economy is doing poorly is because conservatives are just as stupid as the liberals. There is not enough buying power in the lower ranks of society because of the post bubble debt deflation and rent seeking. They are too stupid to realize the leisure class dumps their cash into a toll booth investment , not a capital investment.
Why are republicans and democrats so stupid?
Because neither party gives a crap about the citizens! Politics is nothing but a DIVERSION aimed at the masses, with the sole purpose to keep the focus off the real issues and exactly like religion....to keep the masses from rioting.
My husband and I were talking about this the other day. The US lacks a real social safety net because it's assumed that everyone has family or friends they can be helped by if needed. Even with older generations buying houses and as those houses constantly increase in value far more rapidly than wages do, it's considered okay because families pass homes down to their children, right? Parents save for college, right?
There are many resources for people whose parents are also poor and can't help them.
But if your parents aren't dirt poor, but still leave you to fend for yourself at the soonest legal opportunity, you're screwed. My husband and everyone he knows was helped out a lot by their parents well into adulthood. Many of them got houses passed down to them. Most people I know have also benefitted this way.
I didn't, I was on my own on at 17, with no warning (my parents always told me I could stay with them during university, and on my high school graduation day, they told me it was time to be an adult and leave ASAP). Thankfully I had been working since 14, and saved up enough for my first semester of university tuition and move in expenses with a roommate while looking for under the table gigs to get by since nobody would hire a 17 year old legally. There were many times where I was so worried about making rent that I went digging through people's garbage cans on the street for food. I never got involved with prostitution, but I won't lie, I was certainly tempted, and even actually spoke with an 'agency' but then realized what a bad idea that would be, and never showed up to the 'audition'.
Later on, I've worked with the homeless population with a nonprofit, and got to know many of them. The vast majority of them were also thrown out into the streets at a young age, even more sadly because many of them were thrown out for being gay or pregnant by their very Christian families. Others were in a similar boat to me, kicked out at legal age because they thought that they should be 100% independent effective immediately.
The only reason I never ended up homeless was because of luck. I always just barely made rent, until I graduated and was finally able to get a decent full-time job.
I think the least that should be done is allowing them to have at least some protection from the elements. We are one sorry excuse for a society if we actually balk about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 11thHour
We send how many billions upon billions of dollars to other nations every year, and yet the best we can do for own own homeless is tent cities? Our politicians can shove it!
But, but...#1! #1! Murrica is #1!
Last edited by ohhwanderlust; 03-19-2016 at 10:16 AM..
My husband and I were talking about this the other day. The US lacks a real social safety net because it's assumed that everyone has family or friends they can be helped by if needed. Even with older generations buying houses and as those houses constantly increase in value far more rapidly than wages do, it's considered okay because families pass homes down to their children, right? Parents save for college, right?
There are many resources for people whose parents are also poor and can't help them.
But if your parents aren't dirt poor, but still leave you to fend for yourself at the soonest legal opportunity, you're screwed. My husband and everyone he knows was helped out a lot by their parents well into adulthood. Many of them got houses passed down to them. Most people I know have also benefitted this way.
I didn't, I was on my own on at 17, with no warning (my parents always told me I could stay with them during university, and on my high school graduation day, they told me it was time to be an adult and leave ASAP). Thankfully I had been working since 14, and saved up enough for my first semester of university tuition and move in expenses with a roommate while looking for under the table gigs to get by since nobody would hire a 17 year old legally. There were many times where I was so worried about making rent that I went digging through people's garbage cans on the street for food. I never got involved with prostitution, but I won't lie, I was certainly tempted, and even actually spoke with an 'agency' but then realized what a bad idea that would be, and never showed up to the 'audition'.
Later on, I've worked with the homeless population with a nonprofit, and got to know many of them. The vast majority of them were also thrown out into the streets at a young age, even more sadly because many of them were thrown out for being gay or pregnant by their very Christian families. Others were in a similar boat to me, kicked out at legal age because they thought that they should be 100% independent effective immediately.
The only reason I never ended up homeless was because of luck. I always just barely made rent, until I graduated and was finally able to get a decent full-time job.
I think the least that should be done is allowing them to have at least some protection from the elements. We are one sorry excuse for a society if we actually balk about that.
But, but...#1! #1! Murrica is #1!
Great post! In working with the poor I've found that a majority lacked family support from their teen years, many were foster kids who got a suitcase for their 18th birthday gift. Others were kicked out for the very reasons you listed, a large number of the young women I worked with were kicked out of their parents house because they were pregnant and ended up on the streets trying to support a baby on under $200 a month cash + food stamps.
Great post! In working with the poor I've found that a majority lacked family support from their teen years, many were foster kids who got a suitcase for their 18th birthday gift. Others were kicked out for the very reasons you listed, a large number of the young women I worked with were kicked out of their parents house because they were pregnant and ended up on the streets trying to support a baby on under $200 a month cash + food stamps.
Being held accountable for your actions in life.....
Had my daughter traveled the wrong path, she to would have gotten a suitcase for her 18th birthday.
I in no way, are going to reward, bad behavior. I'm not going to support your bad choices in life.... It is time to grow up... quick.
On the other hand, I moved out when I was 18, to go live with my girl friend, as my choice and never went back.
I was lucky enough to have parents that up to that time, had taught me what it takes to make it on my own without them.
Hooverville, meet Obamaville!
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