Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Topic started by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 03:09:10 AM

Title: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 03:09:10 AM
Around the web, I keep seeing news articles about cities outlawing outdoor sleeping, sleeping in cars, and public camping. These articles prompted me to pose this question: What solution(s) would you propose to solve the homelessness issue?

My personal opinion, based upon research I have conducted, is that leaving individuals homeless inevitably costs everyone additional money in one form or another. Furthermore, incarceration of these individuals costs even more money on average than homelessness, and the process leaves the individual with a criminal record. I believe that the ultimate solution lies in the direction of providing "Housing First" social programs. The benefit of these programs lies in the fact that they remove this population from an enviroment wrought with perils while providing the opportunity to receive any additional services on a consistent basis. Ultimately, these programs would alleviate the financial burden of providing law enforcement, emergency medical care, and temporary housing services to this population. In the long term, this service might even allow some of the individuals to maintain employment and regular housing while providing services to the severely ill members of our society. Therefore, these programs indirectly save all members of a society money while preventing the mistreatment of subsections in a population.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Unorthodox on August 14, 2015, 03:16:48 AM
Feed the homeless to the hungry. 
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2015, 03:21:53 AM
I believe most people who stay in the situation for long choose to be homeless.  Perhaps that's the problem that needs solving.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 03:34:55 AM
Feed the homeless to the hungry. 
I believe most people who stay in the situation for long choose to be homeless.  Perhaps that's the problem that needs solving.
What about individuals that lack adequate social support networks? What about individuals with conditions that preclude signficant and consistent work? What about individuals with insufficent economic resources to afford the costs of regular housing? What about the rising cost of housing in many metro areas and lack of economic opportunties in rural areas? Why should a society punish those individuals that could not, due to an uncontrollable circumstance, signficantly contribute to society?
A pertinent example of the "Housing First" model exists in Salt Lake City, Utah. This program has reduced by approximately 70% the annual homeless rate in Utah. It would appear an effective and cost efficent manner through which to help eliminate an issue that plagues many areas.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Rusty Edge on August 14, 2015, 03:37:21 AM
My impressions-

1) It became more of an issue when Reagan opened the mental hospitals. There isn't enough mental health treatment available, voluntary or involuntary. It's a feminine canine to talk my psychotic cousin into committing himself when the serpents are coming out of his ear and the bacteria are swarming all over him, and he's running naked for his life. Solve that and we'll reduce our shooting problem, too.

2) War on Drugs is a failed approach.

3) JOBS! There need to be more available .

Deal with that stuff, and the problem will be cut down to size where programs can house or shelter people that pass drug tests.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 03:48:20 AM
My impressions-

1) It became more of an issue when Reagan opened the mental hospitals. There isn't enough mental health treatment available, voluntary or involuntary. It's a feminine canine to talk my psychotic cousin into committing himself when the serpents are coming out of his ear and the bacteria are swarming all over him, and he's running naked for his life. Solve that and we'll reduce our shooting problem, too.

2) War on Drugs is a failed approach.

3) JOBS! There need to be more available .

Deal with that stuff, and the problem will be cut down to size where programs can house or shelter people that pass drug tests.
I can understand this position quite well. The problem with many jobs is that the wage does not pay sufficently for housing. In addition, many renters now require credit checks which often show any prior eviction events. This unfortunate circumstance of renting often precludes any individual with poor credit from having potential landlords consider their applications.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Rusty Edge on August 14, 2015, 04:37:09 AM
Well I guess I overlooked the financial collapse as the result of that double dumb-buttocked scheme that convinced people to own a home with "no money down" because there homeless before that nonsense. That had to have crushed whatever support services were available.



I remember in the 80s while living in Appalachia my cousin (I have dozens of first cousins, they have various associated stories ) and her new husband came to visit from New England. He asked what would happen if a homeless person turned up.

We explained that he would be put in touch with one of the pastors, who would know which people of combination of people could temporarily provide them with a meal, a bed, and work. It would likely be farm work, or something similarly strenuous, such as logging/cutting firewood, depending on the time of year.  If they declined we would offer them a ride out of the valley.

"So you would help them out, or you would help them out.?"
"Exactly."
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 04:54:05 AM
The argument raised is simply the cry of not in my backyard/neighborhood. What type of long term solution would simply moving an individual from one neighborhood to another accomplish? It is simply passing on the problem to another group without addressing the underlying issues. I would also like to remind many individuals that religious organizations tend to have ulterior agendas that drive the desire to help the poor.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Unorthodox on August 14, 2015, 04:56:32 AM

A pertinent example of the "Housing First" model exists in Salt Lake City, Utah. This program has reduced by approximately 70% the annual homeless rate in Utah. It would appear an effective and cost efficent manner through which to help eliminate an issue that plagues many areas.

*sigh*

Propoganda and lies. 

Utah's housing first initiative targets a very specific portion of the overall homeless population.  4%, specifically. 

OF THAT 4%, since 2005, that target population has dropped 70% (but is back on the rise), however there are overlapping programs that address this 4%, so to claim it's all due to housing first is just bad statistics. 

I can link you to the 2014 Utah Homelessness report that goes over this tomorrow if you REALLY want. 
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 05:28:21 AM
The government defines an individual as homeless through the following passage from the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act: "An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; [or] (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is- (A) a supervised or publicly operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings."
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 14, 2015, 05:31:06 AM

A pertinent example of the "Housing First" model exists in Salt Lake City, Utah. This program has reduced by approximately 70% the annual homeless rate in Utah. It would appear an effective and cost efficent manner through which to help eliminate an issue that plagues many areas.

*sigh*

Propoganda and lies. 

Utah's housing first initiative targets a very specific portion of the overall homeless population.  4%, specifically. 

OF THAT 4%, since 2005, that target population has dropped 70% (but is back on the rise), however there are overlapping programs that address this 4%, so to claim it's all due to housing first is just bad statistics. 

I can link you to the 2014 Utah Homelessness report that goes over this tomorrow if you REALLY want.
The three primary sub groups within the homeless population are transient, periodic, and chronic. "Housing First" programs tend to target individuals within the chronically homeless population.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Rusty Edge on August 14, 2015, 07:04:50 AM
Not to be argumentative. I just tried to participate in this thread to be casually sociable, in hopes that eventually somebody else would come along and give you the interaction you're looking for. I didn't intend to offend anybody.

The argument raised is simply the cry of not in my backyard/neighborhood.
It wasn't an argument as to how things should be, it was just an anecdote as to how things once worked. Just as my initial response was qualified with the words "My impressions"

What type of long term solution would simply moving an individual from one neighborhood to another accomplish?
Perhaps you never lived in Appalachia. Communities at that time and place functioned on volunteers. One paid guy in my hometown to run the backhoe and shovel by hand to fix the streets, remove the snow, and keep the water system operational. Everything else was done with volunteers- emergency services, continuing education, community outreach. No local police, have to call the State Police and wait.  School District is a better term than neighborhood. At that time there were no drug rehab or psychological services, so staying there was no long term solution for anybody with such needs.

 
It is simply passing on the problem to another group without addressing the underlying issues.

Sometimes. But if you can't help somebody, aren't you helping them by getting them to  somebody who can, or at least 25 miles closer to somebody who can?

I would also like to remind many individuals that religious organizations tend to have ulterior agendas that drive the desire to help the poor.


 Sure they do. They want converts. But not always.

( ANOTHER ANECDOTE from another state ) My church and some other churches coordinated efforts to sponsor a few related families of African refugees. I should point out that they were all displaced Muslims, and we were explicitly not trying to convert them, all educational assistance was done in their homes, but it also included financial support, driving them around to the doctor, to gov offices, to work every day, to get groceries, etc.  It was a lot of trouble for a lot of people.

But what of Bible-reading religious individuals? I've known them to take the word of God pretty seriously and they sometimes help the poor, the hungry and the sick, etc out of a sense of duty.
As for preaching to them, sometimes that shows that they really care about them, not just want to pay them or feed them and get rid of them.


Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Geo on August 14, 2015, 02:35:02 PM
"So you would help them out, or you would help them out.?"
"Exactly."

Reminds me of that scene in the first Rambo movie where the sheriff rides Stallone over the bridge. ;lol

The government defines an individual as homeless through the following passage from the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act: "An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; [or] (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is- (A) a supervised or publicly operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings."

This seem to cover tourists as well? By this definition they appear to be homeless?
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Unorthodox on August 14, 2015, 03:19:32 PM
The three primary sub groups within the homeless population are transient, periodic, and chronic. "Housing First" programs tend to target individuals within the chronically homeless population.

And you're missing the point.  The numbers that keep getting bantied about in Utah for the housing first program is SPECIFICALLY, ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE SOUGHT ASSISTANCE.  2014, that number was 539, with an estimated 14000 chronically homeless on the street that never sought out any support and thus go unaccounted for in the tracking of the "homeless population". 

So, of the CHRONICALLY HOMELESS in 2005, 1900 sought assistance and were placed in permanant housing.  THat number is down to 539 in 2014 (up from 400 in 2013).  Yay, it must be working right? 

However, when you look at the destinations of those placed in these homes, only 20% end up moving on to purchasing their own residence.  17% end up in a mental institute.  16% wind up dead or missing.  30% stay in the free housing more than 2 years, and 12% end up back on the street. 

Have you REALLY solved the homeless problem just by declaring that their free house makes them no longer homeless?  Is not the goal to get them into that 20% moving on to providing their own housing?  Or are we just making numbers look good?

Meanwhile, transitional homelessness in Utah has risen 70%, and projections are more dire as each year the amount of affordable housing being created falls 35% short of the amount of NEEDED affordable housing. 




Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Rusty Edge on August 14, 2015, 04:56:28 PM
"So you would help them out, or you would help them out.?"
"Exactly."

Reminds me of that scene in the first Rambo movie where the sheriff rides Stallone over the bridge. ;lol

I have no clue.

I saw the trailer for Rambo. It appeared to be about a body builder clobbering  the Russians with dynamite arrows in Viet Nam. It was too ridiculous to pay to see, or even watch on TV for free, so I never saw it, or the sequels.

Kinda like the TV show Bay Watch, which was apparently about life guards and boob jobs in California. Who watches this stuff?  Apparently the whole world, and it's been referential ever since as if they were some kind of classics, and not just another attempt at a fast buck.

Sometimes I shake my head at the whole world, and sometimes I think it must be like the French awarding The Legion of Honor to Jerry Lewis, they did it just to mess with our minds, because they're French.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Unorthodox on August 14, 2015, 05:22:31 PM
"So you would help them out, or you would help them out.?"
"Exactly."

I saw the trailer for Rambo. It appeared to be about a body builder clobbering  the Russians with dynamite arrows in Viet Nam. It was too ridiculous to pay to see, or even watch on TV for free, so I never saw it, or the sequels.

That's #2 and so on. 

#1 is titled "First Blood", NOT Rambo, and actually has SOMETHING to say. 

Rambo being a PTSD Vietnam vet struggling to adjust, set off by a small town cop harrassing him, causing a flashback where he goes on a rampage about the town. 

It's still big loud and dumb, but actually had a message hidden down in it somewhere.  Unlike the others.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Geo on August 14, 2015, 05:47:51 PM
I indeed meant the movie UnO refers to.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Rusty Edge on August 14, 2015, 06:29:55 PM
Okay, maybe I'll watch that one sometime.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2015, 06:34:02 PM
You will not love First Blood, but will not hate it, either.  The things it says were more original at the time it said them.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on August 14, 2015, 11:39:11 PM
Fix the economy you fix the problem. Its the natural result of a usury banking system.
Money becomes worth less and less and people start to fall through the cracks.
Its why we fought a revolution to be free of Britain in the first place.
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A study of American Colonial history will reveal that Benjamin Franklin went to England as a representative of the Colonies.


The English officials asked how it was the Colonies managed to collect enough taxes to build poor houses, and how they were able to handle the great burden of caring for the poor. Franklin's reply was most revealing: "We have no poor houses in the Colonies, and if we had, we would have no one to put in them, as in the Colonies there is not a single unemployed man, no poor and no vagabonds." Think long and hard about this. In the American colonies before the American Revolution, there was "not a single unemployed man, no poor and no vagabonds". -- no one on Welfare, no one on Social Security, no homeless, no income tax, no alphabet agencies, No IRS, BATF, FBI, DEA, CIA, HEW, OSHA, SBA, and on and on and on to provide for the "general welfare" of our villages, towns, cities and states. How did Benjamin Franklin explain this to the British officials of his day?
How would he explain it to today's lawyers, judges, politicians and other government officials? "It is because, in the Colonies, we issue our own paper money. We call it Colonial Script, and we issue only enough to move all goods freely from the producers to the Consumers; and as we create our money, we control the purchasing power of money, and have no interest to pay."

It was right after this that the British started the events that led to the revolution.
Quote
Benjamin Franklin identified this as the real reason for the War of Independence:
"The refusal of King George to operate an HONEST colonial MONEY SYSTEM which freed the ordinary man from the clutches of the manipulators was probably the prime cause of the Revolution."
"The Colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters, had it not been that England took away from the Colonies their money, which created unemployment and dis-satisfaction." -

Here we see the cause of poverty, unemployment and financial insecurity.
There can be no personal liberty without financial freedom.

-Benjamin Franklin
Its the predatory banking system that causes these problems. Building houses for them wont help nor will importing
muslim refugees. Theres a reason Usury banking is forbidden in the Bible. Its economic slavery that drive people into the streets.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2015, 11:42:51 PM
...It's mostly drugs and being crazy that drives people into the streets for long, but nobody's listening to me, even though I got that direct from New York City homeless...
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on August 14, 2015, 11:49:05 PM
Quote
.It's mostly drugs and being crazy that drives people into the streets for long, but nobody's listening to me, even though I got that direct from New York City homeless...

That doesn't help. There are always such people. I've met them. The unemployment numbers in this country
are far higher than is let on. They don't count people that have stopped looking for work.
So the real rates are up near 20%. Where do you think these people go? They are starting to call
homeless tent cities "Obamavilles." Get used to it its going to get worse.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 15, 2015, 12:10:04 AM
...When did they rename the Cheneyvilles, Mr. Trash Talk?
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on August 15, 2015, 01:58:43 AM
Quote
.When did they rename the Cheneyvilles, Mr. Trash Talk?

Since they happened on Obamas watch. This is how Usury systems end.
Quote
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
The founding fathers saw this coming centuries ago. Its what we fought a revolution to be free of.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 15, 2015, 02:18:14 AM
You mean you're blaming Obama for Reagan deregulating the banks in the 80s?

-Henceforth I am going to deploy this smilie ;hypocrite every time someone on the right posts here to blame Obama for something Republicans are guilty of more and first -if Obama is to blame at all.  I'm sick of the Big Lie.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 16, 2015, 01:06:44 AM
...It's mostly drugs and being crazy that drives people into the streets for long, but nobody's listening to me, even though I got that direct from New York City homeless...
That certainly is a cause, but it does not explain a logical manner in which to help resolve this issue. I concede that it is impossible to help everybody, but also I acknowledge the fact that a signficant number may have the possibility for a decent life in semi-consistent care facilities. A major issue that arises is the fact that the chronically homeless often have a revolving door policy with this problem. In other words, they resolve the issue for awhile, but then some event happens that overburdens an already precarious sitaution. The result is they become homeless again.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 16, 2015, 01:08:35 AM
...I also met a homeless boy who seemed to actually be lazy...
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 16, 2015, 01:10:28 AM
You mean you're blaming Obama for Reagan deregulating the banks in the 80s?

-Henceforth I am going to deploy this smilie ;hypocrite every time someone on the right posts here to blame Obama for something Republicans are guilty of more and first -if Obama is to blame at all.  I'm sick of the Big Lie.
Pointing fingers and placing blame on actions that have already occured will not resolve the issue. The "blame game" simply diverts attention and energy from the action of finding practical solutions that will help resolve the issue in the long term.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 16, 2015, 01:20:19 AM
The fundamental issue that lies behind this problem is that many politicians, and citizens in general, will not touch this problem because they see "crazy" and simply say "incarceration" or "institutionalization." The fundamental problem lies in the fact that no specific organization with a solution receives adequate funding to solve this issue long term. Furthermore, the mental instiutions were shut down because they were expensive to operate, received inadequate funding, and had alleged allegations of neglect and abuse. The instiutions were supposed to have a replacement with "Community" based mental health services. However, this system lacked adequate funding at the local or federal level and simply never existed. As a result, the cost of mental health services remains inadequate and unaffordable for many individuals.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 16, 2015, 01:28:09 AM
DO understand this - the people I'm talking about (and my brother, Dr. Buster's Daddy, worked in a homeless mission across the corner from Tompkin's Square Park just outside the Village in lower Manhattan for years, and I'm not basing all this on a few very brief aquaintances I made visiting) mostly know they're crazy, and DO. NOT. WANT. HELP. WITH. THE. CRAZY., or they wouldn't be out on the streets, most of them, avoiding exactly that sort of "help" from The System.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 16, 2015, 04:18:04 AM
Different people are homeless for different reasons, and those call for different solutions.  I'd say that anybody who can't find a job should be provided with the necessary income and job-hunting help until they can find a job (and similarly if the only jobs they can find are ones that don't work for them for legitimate reasons).  If the problem is mental illness or drug use, then support should be made conditional on them (or an appropriate guardian where relevant) signing whatever is necessary to be allowed to treat them without them being able to back out afterward.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 16, 2015, 05:12:15 AM
Different people are homeless for different reasons, and those call for different solutions.  I'd say that anybody who can't find a job should be provided with the necessary income and job-hunting help until they can find a job (and similarly if the only jobs they can find are ones that don't work for them for legitimate reasons).  If the problem is mental illness or drug use, then support should be made conditional on them (or an appropriate guardian where relevant) signing whatever is necessary to be allowed to treat them without them being able to back out afterward.
The proposal appears fairly reasonable to this particular individual. After admitting that rights should come with responsiblities, it becomes necessary to provides rebuttals for a few common counter-arguments. One such counterargument might include the claim that such a proposal would violate the rights and liberties of an individual. This same argument might further claim that such a system opens the door to potential abuse of this power to instiutionalize an individual against their will. Furthermore, they may argue that such a system might place an undue burden on public finances since job counseling services are rarely free and  private organizations often face a shortfall of excess revenue. This individual maytherefore argue that this proposal both infringes on the freedom of an individual to make decisions about his or her health treatments, and opens a public system to potentially abusive practices.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: DrazharLn on August 16, 2015, 12:40:51 PM
@Dio

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undue burden on public finances since job counseling services are rarely free

States should not let the jobless starve or live miserable lives, so the state is committed to financially supporting the jobless anyway. Every jobless person later convinced to take on work is one that no longer requires as much support from the state. Additionally, many, though not all, jobs have economic benefits for society, so getting the unemployed into work benefits society at least twice even from a purely financial point of view.

Quote
such a system opens the door to potential abuse of this power to instiutionalize an individual against their will

This does happen and is a serious concern for me. What right does the state, or by extension society, have to dictate what lifestyles or mental conditions are acceptable or not? Certainly some right where the freedom of the individual seriously affects the freedom of others (e.g. violent crime), but we should be careful not to restrict without good reason.

In the city where I live most of the time, a lady used to travel on public transport and spout nonsense loudly to other commuters. She also slept rough. Recently, she was "sectioned", which means that a court decided to imprison her in a mental institution against her will. For at least her recent life, she had been living on the street for the freedom and because she was fearful that the government would abduct her and inject her with drugs.

It seems questionable to me that the appropriate intervention to help this fearful lady was to abduct her and force treatments on her.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 16, 2015, 01:03:49 PM
That's it exactly.  The lady on the bus?   I'm sure she was annoying to have on your ride, but where's the real harm?  It's exactly the wrong thing to do to her for the state to decide to do what she feared most to her.

The bar ought to be set pretty high for The Man to force treatment on people who just. don't. want. it.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 16, 2015, 03:47:37 PM
Different people are homeless for different reasons, and those call for different solutions.  I'd say that anybody who can't find a job should be provided with the necessary income and job-hunting help until they can find a job (and similarly if the only jobs they can find are ones that don't work for them for legitimate reasons).  If the problem is mental illness or drug use, then support should be made conditional on them (or an appropriate guardian where relevant) signing whatever is necessary to be allowed to treat them without them being able to back out afterward.
The proposal appears fairly reasonable to this particular individual. After admitting that rights should come with responsiblities, it becomes necessary to provides rebuttals for a few common counter-arguments. One such counterargument might include the claim that such a proposal would violate the rights and liberties of an individual.

No, it doesn't; nobody has a right to be supported by society instead of engaging in reasonable measures such as attempting to end addictions and mental illnesses.

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This same argument might further claim that such a system opens the door to potential abuse of this power to instiutionalize an individual against their will.

Abuses become a lot less possible when you can avoid institutionalization simply by being self-supporting financially.

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Furthermore, they may argue that such a system might place an undue burden on public finances since job counseling services are rarely free and  private organizations often face a shortfall of excess revenue.

Less of a burden than any other solution besides "let people who are poor through no fault of their own just starve to death".

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This individual maytherefore argue that this proposal both infringes on the freedom of an individual to make decisions about his or her health treatments

Of course it does; any freedom whose use greatly harms society (as refusing to be treated for mental health issues/drug abuse and therefore needing welfare does) and does not derive from any intrinsic rights or moral demands (as is the case here) is one that should be infringed.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 16, 2015, 03:52:33 PM
So you think your right not to be annoyed by bums being around overrides their right to not have the State mess with their heads?

I'm not defending criminal behavior or anything that's an immediate danger to others or themselves - but the bar should be high, and they have a right to make bad choices and be miserable.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 16, 2015, 06:13:02 PM
So you think your right not to be annoyed by bums being around overrides their right to not have the State mess with their heads?

If said messing is nothing more than curing real problems, arguably.  If you also replace "annoyed by bums being around" with "having to help support them", then definitely.

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I'm not defending criminal behavior or anything that's an immediate danger to others or themselves - but the bar should be high, and they have a right to make bad choices and be miserable.

But not to cause hardship for others.

The only reason they have a right to make bad choices is because it doesn't harm others; once that is no longer true, they no longer have such a right.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 16, 2015, 06:25:36 PM
Nothing I do is going to cause no harm.  Nothing.

Where does the needs of the group stop impinging on my personal freedoms?

The Man may not mess with my mind for any reason, sans my uncoerced consent - screw everyone if they think otherwise for a second.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 17, 2015, 12:07:02 AM
Nothing I do is going to cause no harm.  Nothing.

As long as the harm is negligible compared to the benefit, most of the right to make bad choices would stay...but here, it's not negligible.

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Where does the needs of the group stop impinging on my personal freedoms?

Usually, when those needs do not already involve their rights.

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The Man may not mess with my mind for any reason, sans my uncoerced consent - screw everyone if they think otherwise for a second.

I disagree; I think it only holds if one of two very common situations holds: Either your refusal to give such consent is a reasonable decision, or it does not require violating the rights of others.  But if you unreasonably refuse to give such consent, you have no right to expect that the rights of others will be violated or lessened to accommodate you, even if said rights and lessening are of the sort (e.g. property rights being lessened via taxation) that should happen for a good reason.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 17, 2015, 06:34:16 PM
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you a Marvel of Our Age:  an innerwebs nerd w/o visible Libertarian tendencies...
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 17, 2015, 10:44:38 PM
So you think your right not to be annoyed by bums being around overrides their right to not have the State mess with their heads?

If said messing is nothing more than curing real problems, arguably.  If you also replace "annoyed by bums being around" with "having to help support them", then definitely.

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I'm not defending criminal behavior or anything that's an immediate danger to others or themselves - but the bar should be high, and they have a right to make bad choices and be miserable.

But not to cause hardship for others.

The only reason they have a right to make bad choices is because it doesn't harm others; once that is no longer true, they no longer have such a right.
I must agree with Yitzi that the national average cost of leaving an individual homeless is approximately forty-five thousand U.S. dollars per year per person in public services while providing housing and medical services for said individuals averages approxmately forty-three thousand dollars per year person.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 17, 2015, 10:55:38 PM
If your interest in this is based in wanting to do those poor people a favor, I cannot too strongly suggest that you think very hard about their own wishes in the matter, no matter how wrong they may be to feel that way in your eyes.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 17, 2015, 11:06:13 PM
If your interest in this is based in wanting to do those poor people a favor, I cannot too strongly suggest that you think very hard about their own wishes in the matter, no matter how wrong they may be to feel that way in your eyes.
The above humanism is a foreign concept to me. I simply desire to have what is best both for these individuals and for the cost towards society. The best option appears to presently lean towards housing since it reduces emergency medical care and law enforcement costs for society while improving the opportunties of said individuals.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 17, 2015, 11:12:34 PM
If your interest in this is based in wanting to do those poor people a favor, I cannot too strongly suggest that you think very hard about their own wishes in the matter, no matter how wrong they may be to feel that way in your eyes.

1. I do not believe that people always know what's best for them, although to override their wishes requires an extreme advantage in knowledge or understanding.

2. That's why they get a choice: They can be treated, or they can fend for themselves.  However, their own wishes are not enough to justify a public burden.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 17, 2015, 11:20:11 PM
I mean none of this as personally as it may sound, and I shout for emphasis/from passion, not actual anger.


You. will. RESPECT. my wishes about my life and my person, no matter how wrong I happen to be, or we WILL tangle.  I'm speaking rhetorically, (if also truly) but the biggest difference between me and the people we're talking about is that I have a hermit cave to hide from the Group Mind in.

I've had pieces of this conversation with Dr. Buster's Daddy, both in argument and agreement.  Coercion of ANY kind MUST always be the very last resort with the crazy ones who are not an immediate danger to themselves or others, or YOU ARE GUILTY OF ADVOCATING WHAT THEY"RE ON THE STREET TO AVOID.  -Much overlap with the drunks and druggies, substance abuse being a sort of induced insanity as well as crazy being no barrier to developing a habit -to the contrary, many, if not most, addicts are trying to self-medicate something- but also partly a separate issue.

It's complicated, is all.  More complicated than you seem to see.  They need your respect as fellow human beings, not just your compassion.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on August 17, 2015, 11:23:21 PM
If your interest in this is based in wanting to do those poor people a favor, I cannot too strongly suggest that you think very hard about their own wishes in the matter, no matter how wrong they may be to feel that way in your eyes.

2. That's why they get a choice: They can be treated, or they can fend for themselves.  However, their own wishes are not enough to justify a public burden.
The problem with the fending for themselves option arises because many areas make that action nearly impossible without violating a law.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on August 18, 2015, 10:50:19 PM
I mean none of this as personally as it may sound, and I shout for emphasis/from passion, not actual anger.


You. will. RESPECT. my wishes about my life and my person, no matter how wrong I happen to be, or we WILL tangle.  I'm speaking rhetorically, (if also truly) but the biggest difference between me and the people we're talking about is that I have a hermit cave to hide from the Group Mind in.

I've had pieces of this conversation with Dr. Buster's Daddy, both in argument and agreement.  Coercion of ANY kind MUST always be the very last resort with the crazy ones who are not an immediate danger to themselves or others, or YOU ARE GUILTY OF ADVOCATING WHAT THEY"RE ON THE STREET TO AVOID.

It seems we disagree there.  While I agree that a high standard is needed to justify coercion, I think that it's not as high as "immediate danger".  "Clear and significant harm" will do, even if it is neither great enough to be considered "danger" not immediate.

(It occurred to me that the same disagreement would likely occur between  ;lal; and  ;miriam; as well, and for similar reasons...though like them, we both agree that  ;yang; is unacceptable.)

Quote
It's complicated, is all.  More complicated than you seem to see.  They need your respect as fellow human beings, not just your compassion.

If they're mentally ill (as opposed to just unwilling to do what it takes to get past an addiction), they have that respect, but their current mental state does not.

If your interest in this is based in wanting to do those poor people a favor, I cannot too strongly suggest that you think very hard about their own wishes in the matter, no matter how wrong they may be to feel that way in your eyes.

2. That's why they get a choice: They can be treated, or they can fend for themselves.  However, their own wishes are not enough to justify a public burden.
The problem with the fending for themselves option arises because many areas make that action nearly impossible without violating a law.

Well, then that law is what's saying "you have to conform to a certain standard of society".
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 18, 2015, 11:15:24 PM
[shrugs] They assumed the risk of trouble with society's enforcers when they put themselves outside the System without actually leaving.  Getting hassled and busted when they break the rules comes with the deal, and I don't suggest that respect involves immunity to the po-po.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Geo on August 21, 2015, 11:18:32 PM
This conversation reminds me of a scene I partially witnessed in San Diego last winter. I went to a grocery in the mall, and saw an appearantly drunk homeless man slumping in a corner of the mall. It was late evening. A cop seem to try to get him moving out of the mall.
When I returned from the grocery, there were 4 cops around this man, he was hands up against the wall, appearantly on the verge of arrest.
Don't know if this makes a difference, but it was an open mall. no indoor passages or such.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Lorizael on August 22, 2015, 02:33:25 PM
Well, at least he got a place to sleep for the night.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Elok on August 26, 2015, 12:07:28 AM
My uneducated impression is that our social woes have a number of very deep roots, about equal parts social and economic.  I don't think homelessness can be solved in isolation; you'd have to fix prisons, healthcare, education, the economy, finance, and our generally messed-up culture.  Just how you're supposed to do that, I have no clue.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 26, 2015, 12:14:53 AM
^This.

Gentlemen, pay attention to what the fellow wearing his great-grandfather says; he has many lifetimes of wisdom behind saying it's complicated, little as you want to believe otherwise.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Elok on August 26, 2015, 02:05:25 AM
Playing my own devil's advocate hear, bear in mind that it's very easy to say "welp, it's really complicated so let's not try."  It's a kind of default that absolves you from responsibility while making you appear clever.

Playing devil's advocate to my devil's advocate, in this situation it really is quite complicated, and it helps that all those constituent problems are worth solving for their own sakes.

Education: make teaching a less abysmally crappy job--better pay, less treating them as presumed moochers until proven innocent.  That will, over time, encourage much better raw material.  There are other issues but that's the most obvious; as is, the job appeals to the extremely passionate and people with degrees but no real prospects.  The latter are more common.

Prisons: we're already making drug policy less crazy.  Plea-bargaining gives far too much power to prosecutors, and we need more emphasis on rehabilitation.  Right now a lot of jails are basically dungeons.

Healthcare: let's just go with state-provided already.  It works much better than what we've got.  I can say from experience that Peru's healthcare is in many respects superior, and while Peru is a wonderful place, it's also so poor that just saying that is embarrassing.  Healthcare is a definite factor in homeless misery; lots of them use the emergency room as their primary care provider, for lack of a better option.  The results are horrifying.

Economy/finance: Can we pull a decent source of living-wage jobs out of our butts?  And while I'm wishing, unicorns are cool.  Going back to jails, it's extremely hard for ex-felons to get a decent job.  More openness to redemption would go a long way, though like much of the rest of this, it's a tall order.

Culture: Crikey.  Don't even get me started.

In closing, my avatar is C.S. Lewis as a young man.  No relation.  My actual great-grandfather lived in Ohio, and as my father never tires of telling me, was Dean of Students at Oberlin.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Lorizael on August 26, 2015, 02:54:56 AM
I suspect humans may not be smart enough to solve all those problems. Fortunately, that presents us with a very simple solution...
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Elok on August 26, 2015, 03:34:28 AM
You think cybernetic group-consciousness overmind thingies don't have a homelessness problem?  It's a real PITA when transistors get wet.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: DrazharLn on August 26, 2015, 10:27:38 AM
Half of those problems have been solved in other countries. Most of Europe has sensible healthcare and welfare, the Nordic states have criminal justice focussing on rehabilitation.

Education is trickier, but is done very well by Finland, Switzerland, South Korea, etc.

For the Economy, I dunno about full employment, though Modern Monetary Theory says that's easy, but again, lots of euro states have generous welfare and back-to-work schemes. These make it easier for the dispossessed to return to society and to keep some dignity.

Some of these states are very rich, but most have less GDP/capita than the US. The US could do these things, if it wanted to.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Green1 on September 18, 2015, 03:53:04 AM
BU directed me to this thread. I believe I should educate because there are A LOT of wrong and some just mean spirited opinions here. Plus, I have been there.

FIRST.. let's establish this. If you do NOT own a place, you are homeless. If you have a mortgage, try not paying. You will be out in several months. If it is an apartment, you can be out anywhere from a month to a few months depending on where in the US you are. If you are in a hotel, MAYBE a half an hour after check out time if you are nice and immediately if you are doing something they don't like. If you are a guest in someone's house, immediately if your name is not on it if the owner or lessee desires.

Now, lets discuss what most people think. They smell dirty, filthy homeless. There is also the assumption they don't work or do some hard drugs, etc. But, the large majority of homeless work. The dirty guys panhandling usually have a place AND a crazy check and are NOT homeless. It is just that they figure, rightfully, why should they cope with a cruddy job that probably won't keep them anyways with a disability and mental illness? Plus, too much earned and disability is gone even if the job is temporary.

But, those guys are actually the minority. The largest group of homeless are those you do not see. They keep clean at all times and work. They are just at a time in life when it is impossible to keep a place. Rents can take up almost all a min wage salary. Even getting INTO an apartment takes THOUSANDS depending on where, particularly any city worth mentioning. Lord forbid you have an eviction because of a lay off, incarceration record, escaping an abusive situation, illness, etc. And, good luck getting a job that PAYS enough without having to live in a place with strict rules stacked with 10 folks sharing a restroom.

Rent in some cities is so bad, some folks are going to Circle K and downing a few 24 ozers to get into rehab so they can go to a halfway house for reasonable rent even though they don't need it.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Dio on October 01, 2015, 12:13:14 AM
I have recently read an academic journal by Anyu Fang of Standford Law School titled "Hiding Homelessness: Quality of Life Laws and the Politics of Development in American Cities." A few details immediately leaped out about this article. The first example appears as Fang states that laws against homeless individuals have appeared in many cities with regards to providing food:
Quote
In Eugene, Oregon, and Memphis, Tennessee, for example, beggars were required to obtain licences, a process that requires being fingerprinted and photographed. Beggars were required to carry their photo-licences at all times. In Berkeley, California, and Cincinnati, Ohio, it became illegal to beg from anyone getting into or out of car, near an automatic teller machine, after 8 p.m., or within six feet of
any storefront. Baltimore banned panhandling altogether after dark. Proponents of the law said the
panhandlers disrupt people who want ‘to go to Little Italy at night to dine or to Fells Point to barhop’ (4).
Quote
Even many politically ‘left-leaning’ cities have begun to use the harsh policing approach. They
include: Seattle; New Orleans; San Francisco; Denver; Asheville and Chapel Hill, North Carolina;
Santa Cruz, California; Austin, Teaxs; and Tucson and Tempe, Arizona.9 In a cross-section of fifty cities in 1999, 86 percent already had anti-begging ordinances and 73 percent had anti-sleeping laws
(National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 1999). The homeless immediately became
‘spatial anomalies’ in the landscape of the rapidly developing American city that was keen on
attracting corporate capital (Amster, 2002) (3-4)
These particular examples of 'anti homeless' laws illustrate the fact that the homeless, while not completely without blame, have the tendency to receive the worse treatment by a society that tends to define an individual by the material possessions they own. This further penalizes the individuals that want to provide food to these individuals unless they purchase or work through the government.
Work Cited
Fang, Anyu. "Hiding Homelessness: 'Quality Of Life' Laws and the
 Politics of Development in American Cities." International Journal Of
 Law In Context 5.1 (2009): 1-24. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Sept.
 2015.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 01, 2015, 02:22:31 AM
Quote
FIRST.. let's establish this. If you do NOT own a place, you are homeless.

By those standards everyone in the USA is homeless. No one "owns" anything in this country we pay property taxes.
In other words we rent from the government.

Quote
Economy/finance: Can we pull a decent source of living-wage jobs out of our butts? 

Sure its easy. Get rid of the usury banking system. The debt goes away the jobs come back and people get off the streets.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 01, 2015, 04:30:02 AM
Quote
FIRST.. let's establish this. If you do NOT own a place, you are homeless.

By those standards everyone in the USA is homeless. No one "owns" anything in this country we pay property taxes.
In other words we rent from the government.

I am pretty sure that in modern times taxes are justified by appeal to societal benefit and services, not by "the government owns your land and you're just renting it".

Quote
Quote
Economy/finance: Can we pull a decent source of living-wage jobs out of our butts? 

Sure its easy. Get rid of the usury banking system. The debt goes away the jobs come back and people get off the streets.

I'm pretty sure that the banking system is not why companies are willing to only hire a certain number of people and not more.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 01, 2015, 12:28:38 PM
Quote
I am pretty sure that in modern times taxes are justified by appeal to societal benefit and services, not by "the government owns your land and you're just renting it".
Property taxes aren't supposed to exist at all. They are unconstitutional.
We actually pay more in taxes than a medieval peasant did. They only paid about a third of their income.
Quote
I'm pretty sure that the banking system is not why companies are willing to only hire a certain number of people and not more.

Usury banking systems degrade the value of money over time. Meaning the longer the system stays in place the less your money its worth. So the economy suffers and the people suffer with it. Basically its a system of economic slavery and its expressly forbidden in the Bible. It causes the problems we see every day. In the 50's you could buy a house for cash. Try that now.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 01, 2015, 03:24:29 PM
Quote
I am pretty sure that in modern times taxes are justified by appeal to societal benefit and services, not by "the government owns your land and you're just renting it".
Property taxes aren't supposed to exist at all. They are unconstitutional.

Well, that's only the case for federal property taxes, and only when they fail to be covered by Congress' right to tax (e.g. because they are not uniform).  Determining the details is a job for an intellectually honest Supreme Court.

Quote
We actually pay more in taxes than a medieval peasant did. They only paid about a third of their income.

Yeah, some of that is due to duplication over the multiple levels of government (local, state, and federal), and much is because under the medieval system the lord had to pay for military expenditures largely from his own land IIRC while the government has little land of its own to pay for military expenditures.  There's also social security, which they didn't have, and medical care for the poor and elderly was both less expensive then (mainly due to less options) and probably paid for more by religious institutions.

Quote
Quote
I'm pretty sure that the banking system is not why companies are willing to only hire a certain number of people and not more.

Usury banking systems degrade the value of money over time. Meaning the longer the system stays in place the less your money its worth.

How so?  Inflation degrades the value of money over time, but that's not intrinsically linked to the banking system.

Quote
and its expressly forbidden in the Bible.

Only from one Israelite to another...which suggests that it's an extra kindness that Israelites are supposed to do for each other to lend without interest, and not an actual logical or moral mandate.

Quote
It causes the problems we see every day. In the 50's you could buy a house for cash. Try that now.

The prices of houses have gone up even compensating for the degraded value of money over time; the reason for that probably has to do with the fact that technology has been less effective at reducing the price of housing than most other things.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 01, 2015, 07:22:10 PM
Quote
How so?  Inflation degrades the value of money over time, but that's not intrinsically linked to the banking system.

Of course it is the fed reserve issues money at interest. Our banking system is essentially a ponzi scheme.
The money becomes worth less and less until it is worth nearly nothing and the economy collapses.
Thats why the founding fathers fought for our colonial script. They treated money like a public utility
instead of a way to enslave the entire population with debt. As a result they didn't have the problems that were
in England.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 01, 2015, 09:46:31 PM
Quote
How so?  Inflation degrades the value of money over time, but that's not intrinsically linked to the banking system.

Of course it is the fed reserve issues money at interest.

But that's really on top of the banking system, rather than in addition to it; if the federal reserve did nothing and the banks issued depositors' money at interest, that state of affairs would not cause inflation once it was in place (starting is a different matter, but it's already started).

Quote
Our banking system is essentially a ponzi scheme.

Only to the extent that any form of currency is.

Quote
The money becomes worth less and less until it is worth nearly nothing and the economy collapses.

The only way money is becoming worth less is when there's more of it to go around, and that won't make the economy collapse unless it happens really fast (which it isn't).

Quote
Thats why the founding fathers fought for our colonial script. They treated money like a public utility
instead of a way to enslave the entire population with debt. As a result they didn't have the problems in
England.

The problems in England you're describing, were, if I'm reading things correctly, due to having not only a banking system, but one that could create unlimited amounts of money out of nowhere, and it being the only one that could do so.  The modern banking system has limits on how much money it can lend out, and no single bank or group of banks has exclusive right to do so.  (Even the special status of federal reserve banks is based on getting newly printed money, not on how much it can lend.)

People borrowing beyond their means and being enslaved with debt is a problem...but has nothing to do with reduced value of money over time, and little to do with unemployment or homelessness.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 02, 2015, 01:07:04 AM

Quote
The only way money is becoming worth less is when there's more of it to go around, and that won't make the economy collapse unless it happens really fast (which it isn't).

The problem is everytime you loan out money at interest it degrades. Theres no way around this.
This is why our purchasing power is so much less than say 40 years ago. Here have an article.
Quote

Usury is the original sin and the root cause of all our economic and political problems.

The truth is we have everything we need to create an interest-free money supply. An usury-free economy ends poverty and saves our souls in the process.

The love of money is the root of all evils. Usury is the weaponization of money love. It feeds the avarice of the usurer. It forces ever more debtors into ever more immoral behavior. It replaces love with commerce. It corrupts commerce, which becomes ever more exploitative. It rips apart the fabric of society and makes a mockery of any kind of social contract.

Billions of people live in abject poverty all over the world because of it. Entire communities, nations are gutted to pay the interest to the opulent. Nobody counts the billions dying prematurely from its effects.

Poor countries pay ten times more interest on their foreign debts than they receive development aid.

Even when not in debt, forty percent of our income is lost to interest passed on in prices by producers. The many pay anywhere between five and ten trillion per year to the wealthy. All other rents ultimately are based on cost for capital and would hardly exist without usury.

<It is the ultimate centralizer of power and it is global. It has been growing at a compound interest rate for centuries, and now this incredible cancer is ready to devour the host body.

The European nations put up $4.5 trillion in handouts, easy credit and guarantees to 'save' their banks and the euro. The Fed provided an unimaginable $16 trillion dollars in easy credit to its banking buddies. Much of it was never repaid. This is 'necessary' because without banks we would not have money. So the West put up $20 trillion to have some bits and bytes and paper and coins circulate to exchange goods and services.

Surely the end of our civilization is near when we allow such rapacious plunder while there is no money to save the poor from starvation and the Earth from pollution.
Quote
SENSELESS

We think: "without interest there will be no credit! I would not lend if I didn't get anything back."

But the Money Power doesn't lend anything!

Money is just bookkeeping and credit is an automatic result of double entry bookkeeping, which by its very nature knows debit and credit.

The problem is not the creation of money! Quite the opposite: it's marvelous that we never need to have a shortage of money.

The problem is when the bookkeeper starts raping the debitor with interest for no other reason than the associated minus. And takes all this interest himself. Just for the service of bookkeeping!

We pay $300k in interest in thirty years for our $200k mortgage which was created by entering some numbers in a computer bookkeeping application!
Quote
temple1.jpgJesus admonished us to lend freely, expecting nothing in return. The Vedas abhor usury. Moses forbade it. Half of the Q'uran is Allah threatening severe punishment for those taking Usury.

Money is bookkeeping. We don't need interest for savers. The bank doesn't need savers. Debit and Credit are the two sides of the coin in bookkeeping. They are automatic.

Yes, the volume must be managed, but that is unavoidable. No monetary system can exist without managing volume. The problem is not management; it is allowing vultures to do it.

The reason we have a boom-bust cycle is because we allowed private parties, banks, to manage the volume in their own interest. They set up Central Banks to create the illusion of 'officialdom'.

Saying 'the market must do it' is saying the Plutocracy has been doing a good job over the last 5000 years.

We want interest-free mortgages, no income tax, no poverty. We want abundance, good will, a cultural rebirth, fairness and an end to Plutocracy.

Kill Usury!
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2015, 01:20:25 AM
...I'd swear this was anti-big business talk, von...
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 02, 2015, 01:58:56 AM
Quote
...I'd swear this was anti-big business talk, von...
You seem to have me mistaken for a republican lol.
I don't care if someone makes money. The world needs rich people
they give poor people jobs. I do care when someone makes money
off of human misery and thats what usury banking does.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 02, 2015, 02:24:47 AM
I've never quite made up my mind, von - this part isn't what I would have expected, but -eh- good for you for thinking for yourself.  Really.

Would you agree that some sort of temporary financing arrangement is necessary to a lot of business ventures?  How would you suggest replacing the function that banks play in that with something that someone will feel motivated to make loans?
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2015, 03:19:08 AM

Quote
The only way money is becoming worth less is when there's more of it to go around, and that won't make the economy collapse unless it happens really fast (which it isn't).

The problem is everytime you loan out money at interest it degrades.

Except that's not true.

Quote
Here have an article.
Quote

Usury is the original sin and the root cause of all our economic and political problems.

The truth is we have everything we need to create an interest-free money supply. An usury-free economy ends poverty and saves our souls in the process.

The love of money is the root of all evils. Usury is the weaponization of money love. It feeds the avarice of the usurer. It forces ever more debtors into ever more immoral behavior. It replaces love with commerce. It corrupts commerce, which becomes ever more exploitative. It rips apart the fabric of society and makes a mockery of any kind of social contract.

Billions of people live in abject poverty all over the world because of it. Entire communities, nations are gutted to pay the interest to the opulent. Nobody counts the billions dying prematurely from its effects.

Poor countries pay ten times more interest on their foreign debts than they receive development aid.

Even when not in debt, forty percent of our income is lost to interest passed on in prices by producers. The many pay anywhere between five and ten trillion per year to the wealthy. All other rents ultimately are based on cost for capital and would hardly exist without usury.

<It is the ultimate centralizer of power and it is global. It has been growing at a compound interest rate for centuries, and now this incredible cancer is ready to devour the host body.

The European nations put up $4.5 trillion in handouts, easy credit and guarantees to 'save' their banks and the euro. The Fed provided an unimaginable $16 trillion dollars in easy credit to its banking buddies. Much of it was never repaid. This is 'necessary' because without banks we would not have money. So the West put up $20 trillion to have some bits and bytes and paper and coins circulate to exchange goods and services.

Surely the end of our civilization is near when we allow such rapacious plunder while there is no money to save the poor from starvation and the Earth from pollution.
Quote
SENSELESS

We think: "without interest there will be no credit! I would not lend if I didn't get anything back."

But the Money Power doesn't lend anything!

Money is just bookkeeping and credit is an automatic result of double entry bookkeeping, which by its very nature knows debit and credit.

The problem is not the creation of money! Quite the opposite: it's marvelous that we never need to have a shortage of money.

The problem is when the bookkeeper starts raping the debitor with interest for no other reason than the associated minus. And takes all this interest himself. Just for the service of bookkeeping!

We pay $300k in interest in thirty years for our $200k mortgage which was created by entering some numbers in a computer bookkeeping application!
Quote
temple1.jpgJesus admonished us to lend freely, expecting nothing in return. The Vedas abhor usury. Moses forbade it. Half of the Q'uran is Allah threatening severe punishment for those taking Usury.

Money is bookkeeping. We don't need interest for savers. The bank doesn't need savers. Debit and Credit are the two sides of the coin in bookkeeping. They are automatic.

Yes, the volume must be managed, but that is unavoidable. No monetary system can exist without managing volume. The problem is not management; it is allowing vultures to do it.

The reason we have a boom-bust cycle is because we allowed private parties, banks, to manage the volume in their own interest. They set up Central Banks to create the illusion of 'officialdom'.

Saying 'the market must do it' is saying the Plutocracy has been doing a good job over the last 5000 years.

We want interest-free mortgages, no income tax, no poverty. We want abundance, good will, a cultural rebirth, fairness and an end to Plutocracy.

Kill Usury!

I see a lot there saying that interest-based banking is evil, but very little arguing for it actually being harmful.  The closest it comes is noting that the need to pay interest on money borrowed adds to prices (though I strongly doubt that 40% figure is accurate).

However, it misunderstands what the interest is: When you pay a bank interest to borrow, you're not paying them for bookkeeping.  You're paying them for letting you use (and risk losing) money that, according to the bookkeeping we all agree on, they should be entitled to use.

Basically, if you eliminated the bank loans, the equivalent to banks would be the people who sell you resources so you can build a new factory on the understanding that you don't have to pay until your factory produces enough that you can afford it...and the interest would then be the extra price they add because they aren't getting paid until later (and won't get paid at all if you go out of business).
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 02, 2015, 12:12:13 PM
Quote
Except that's not true.

Yes it is.  Sorry you cant just make money out of thin air and charge people for it. Like the Federal reserve does.
 When you do this its worth a little less every time.
The net result of this little game is there simply is no way to pay off the debt. Its impossible, there isn't enough money in circulation.
Its a perfect system of slavery. The result of the federal reserve ( a private corporation btw). None of the debt is actually real.

Quote
Would you agree that some sort of temporary financing arrangement is necessary to a lot of business ventures?  How would you suggest replacing the function that banks play in that with something that someone will feel motivated to make loans?
There was banking before they charged interest on loans. You get money from profit not though interest shell games.
You get a partner in the business or venture or whatever until you pay off the loan.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2015, 06:29:01 PM
Quote
Except that's not true.

Yes it is.  Sorry you cant just make money out of thin air and charge people for it. Like the Federal reserve does.

You're right that they should use a different method to distribute the money they print than "charge people to borrow it"...but that's not where most banking money comes from.

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When you do this its worth a little less every time.

Because you printed money...but we don't print money at enough rate to make that a major factor.

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The net result of this little game is there simply is no way to pay off the debt. Its impossible, there isn't enough money in circulation.

That's not a problem; if people wanted to pay off all the debts, then they could pay off some, and then that money would eventually make its way back around so they could pay off more, and keep going until it's all paid off.

The thing is, usually when people borrow money it's to get something they couldn't afford otherwise, and they would rather use any money they get to get more such things than to pay off their debt.
 
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Its a perfect system of slavery. The result of the federal reserve ( a private corporation btw). None of the debt is actually real.

What constitutes "real" debt?

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There was banking before they charged interest on loans. You get money from profit not though interest shell games.
You get a partner in the business or venture or whatever until you pay off the loan.

That could work for business ventures...but how do you think we should handle people who would rather be in debt than have to live within their current means (which probably means not owning a home of their own)?
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: vonbach on October 02, 2015, 10:08:06 PM
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That's not a problem; if people wanted to pay off all the debts, then they could pay off some, and then that money would eventually make its way back around so they could pay off more, and keep going until it's all paid off.

The thing is, usually when people borrow money it's to get something they couldn't afford otherwise, and they would rather use any money they get to get more such things than to pay off their debt.
No. You don't understand. There is no way to pay off the debt its impossible. Its not just a matter of saving or investing.The money simply isn't there. Its the entire point of the scam.
Does anyone ever wonder why one or two percent of the population owns pretty much everything?
Does anyone really think they do this honestly?
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What constitutes "real" debt?
Debt thats not the result of fraud.
Title: Re: The Issue of Homelessness
Post by: Yitzi on October 02, 2015, 10:46:54 PM
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That's not a problem; if people wanted to pay off all the debts, then they could pay off some, and then that money would eventually make its way back around so they could pay off more, and keep going until it's all paid off.

The thing is, usually when people borrow money it's to get something they couldn't afford otherwise, and they would rather use any money they get to get more such things than to pay off their debt.
No. You don't understand. There is no way to pay off the debt its impossible. Its not just a matter of saving or investing.The money simply isn't there. Its the entire point of the scam.

Some of the money is there, and once you pay that off, it will flow around so it'll be there again.

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Does anyone ever wonder why one or two percent of the population owns pretty much everything?
Does anyone really think they do this honestly?

The reason for that is obvious: It's because under capitalism, the more money you have the more you can earn by it being used to produce more stuff, so whoever had money got even more money on top of that.

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What constitutes "real" debt?
Debt thats not the result of fraud.

So what did the banks say that was not true and led to the debt in question?
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