Ted Rall for August 08, 2022

If you didn’t have republicans who obstruct any social support in the U.S… Oh right, they only support tax breaks for the rich.

The rich and powerful couldn’t care less about the 99%. Machines and AI can replace us, they think we are superfluous.

https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/proven-solutions/

Empire before welfare.

Mr Rall I understand your point although I think your comparison is illogical, but since you made that comparison I’ll ask you what are your ideas/suggestions on what actions the US should take visa vie Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine?

Your $10B seems low. Moreover, there are endemic problems to homelessness that money can’t solve. That said, $10B would go a long way towards helping and would significantly reduce it.

They always say things like that, It will only cost x billion to fix this , but when they get that x billion to run the program, the costs skyrocket to 10’s of X and the proplem is not fixed, bringing on demands for more money,

Sufficient affordable housing, medical care, and food. Never enough for them while hundreds of billions are squandered on the military among other boondoggles.

We could eliminate homelessness AND cover food stamps if we were to tax the churches. But Ted would rather toot his horn for Putin.

And when voters purge right-wing Schadenfreude from Congress, those plans for eliminating homelessness will become a reality.

I always said take care of home first….but then there’s this diplomacy thingy and Allie’s, etc….SIGH!

Just think how many millions the Govt could save should the GOP stop wasting tax dollars investigating irrelevant issues 20 times just to stall obstruct and deceive!

To date none of these so-called investigations have turned up zilch,nada, nothing! And speaking of wasting our money…. PORK spending is out of control..

I’d like to see just how much effect outfits like “Offerpad” or “BenBuysHouses” have on homelessness.

Here in Indianapolis, there are several Section 8 apartment complexes that are plain, old-fashioned slums, because the owners are anonymous, out-of-state organizations that collect rent but don’t pay utilities or do any maintenance.

FYI, Indiana laws are set up by decades of corporatist Republican legislatures to protect said organizations.

fusilier

James 2:24

A simple observation, painfully clear, causing the usual shallow rationalizations and baseless character assassination. Missing the “whataboutisms” however…

I am trying to imagine a scenario that depicts republicans voting for a a bill to aid the homeless…nope. Get real, Rall.

There is not enough money in the world to stop/eliminate homelessness. And.. for the most part, those advocating for more money.. only want a piece of the pie.

The Finns are unique in being a nation in which homelessness is declining. They have a program, Homes First, that is quite effective/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Finland

I hate either/or choices to slam one policy over another. Why can’t we do both? Help Ukraine and attack homelessness.

Charity begins at home. Sort out homelessness first.

It would cost more than that to end homelessness. And moreover, no amount of money will make the problem go away, it would require major cultural, governmental and economic system changes.

I’ve worked with and for homeless organizations for many years. There are models for success that work well with a certain portion of the homeless population. Previously stable families who are not also burdened with serious substance abuse and/or mental health challenges are fixable. Some veteran’s groups have had good success but they are few and far between. I’ve volunteered for one of them for more than 20 years. But again, if the substance abuse is too deep, the success rate goes down dramatically. Same with mental health. The success rate with a vet who has some mental health issues and maybe alcoholism is pretty high, at least for the more successful homeless vet groups. But the bulk of those people on the streets in SF, NYC, Seattle, Nashville, Houston, and any other major city are heavily into drugs, have serious mental health problems, have criminal tendencies and are so far removed from anything resembling a life within normal society that they are beyond saving or simply content with the life they have. Hard truths.

And so we get the latest installment of Mr. Rall’s inexplicable campaign to defend and/or minimize Putin’s insane campaign of mass destruction, mass murder, mass enslavement and mass rape. Why?

there will always be homeless people and they will always be poor people

If we just need to send $60 billion worth of anything over there, Michael Bloomberg is worth that much. Just sayin’…. We could get rid of him AND fulfill the contractual amount at the same time.

We cannot stand by and watch as Russia rapes Ukraine. We could, but we could no longer call ourselves America.

I’m confused, is Ted suggesting that the solution to homelessness is the same as Planned Parenthood’s solution to unwanted children?

Ted wants Donald Trump back in the White House

Sorry, $10 billion wouldn’t solve homelessness. It would help some; but, the real issues are lack of education, addictions, mental illness.

Actually much of the $60 billion (earmarked but not yet all spent) will go to American arms makers so charity still starts at home.

The poor have no voice, the dead even less.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute found that the US government alone spends $20 billion every year on direct fossil fuel subsidies. Of that figure, around $16 billion goes towards oil and gas, while the remaining $4 billion benefits the coal industry.

What is it about Russians waging war that is difficult to understand?

Also, this isn’t a binary choice. The $10B you refer to isn’t coming anyway. This is America, remember? Everything we get, we deserve. Everything someone else gets is a giveaway to the unworthy.

Unless Mr. Rall thinks inflation is much higher than it is, or will be, the USA has NOT sent $60 billion to Ukraine. And there is no reason why we cannot fight Putin’s atrocious invasion and help our homeless population at the same time.

More and more folks are really hearing this. Thanks, Ted. Instead of another aircraft carrier, or a weapons system that doesn’t work but took a half trillion dollars to develop, let’s fix some stuff.