Posted on 03/08/2017 9:30:53 PM PST by Lorianne
Unless maybe your name was Gus then being a Fun Gus wouldn’t be a bad thing. ;)
The haves and the have nots have always been an issue but in places like CA with a million social programs it’s like a magnet for those in poverty.
I watched the one hour program about tent cities that popped up on YouTube a could of vids after the first one in the OP’s link and one thing I didn’t see were any kind of bathrooms or portapotties. Without those and the upkeep required of them; places like that have to smell really bad whenever the temps get up over 40 or 50 degrees. The other thing I didn’t see a lot of were cars and pickup trucks. Maybe they were at work when it was being filmed. In Cali it might be possible with the cost of rent and houses there.
I feel bad for those folks but sadly when they do get a few bucks in their pocket they immediately buy drugs and alcohol instead of saving up for a car or buy something they need. They just wait for things to simply be given to them because they know it will happen. People need to earn things to really appreciate them or be disabled and wish they could earn it.
Is this the ramp up for the iincreased number of homeless stories we’ve come to expect during Republican Administrations? We heard virtually nothing about them for 8 years.
A large part of the high cost of housing in populated areas of CA is self inflicted. Zoning restrictions and extensive green space preserves mean you can’t build enough housing for the market.
Do they really fence off those tracts? Wow, just wow. I suppose if they didn’t, people would be squatting on them. They probably are anyway.
And see my previous, we’re on the same page.
A lot of homeless are not drug addicts, but that is a convenient label. Truth is that many hard workers know deep down they may wake up one day looking for a bush to sleep.
I staved off homelessness, into success, by being incredibly clever. The average family though is less than intelligent.
Some older folks just run out of jobs & money. Two years later, no job, is hard to recover from. Society is set up to favor bankrupting you.
And that makes people uncomfortable. So we call them vagrants.
I agree with your assessment. One major factor is socialism has made average life in the U.S. exponentially more expensive recently by stealthily devaluing the dollar and placing an increased burden on the productive middle class. Add in undermining wages by importing millions of 3rd world low wage workers and visualize the result.
If the average family is less intelligent that you are, then why is the average family NOT homeless?
Some older folks just run out of jobs & money.
Absolutely true. Those who run out of money have a couple of reasons. One is large unforeseen medical bills - one of the main sources of bankruptcy in the US - obviously NOT their fault unless you say well they should have carried more insurance. The other for a lot of older people is either poor financial planning or absolutely no financial planning at all. People finance lifestyles they can not afford with debt (a second large reason for bankruptcy) or they put all of their earnings into lifestyle and don't save anything relying on social security.
Social security pays a max of about $3600/month which isn't enough to do much on especially with the ever increasing property taxes that most local governments charge you just for living in their jurisdiction - for example when I bought my house in 1978 my property tax was $620/year. It is now $4400/year. If it were just due to inflation it would be $2282. Fidelity says that the largest expense that you will incur in your retirement years ISN'T medical, but rather housing.
Living below your means is something that very few do anymore. Talked to a friend who uses a financial planner. He said that the planner told him that most of the couples who came to him in their late 50's and wanted to retire in the next few years had less than $60,000 in the bank. He had the sad task of telling them that they couldn't afford to retire.
“You will notice, if you walk those streets is, a very large percentage of those people are mentally ill. That is true everywhere there are homeless, thy do not want to go into shelters.”
Now, now, now. You’re supposed to stay on the media narrative here, which is that it’s simply TOO EXPENSIVE for a vast number of people to afford housing, so they simply pitch their tent and live on the sidewalk, just like you or I would do the moment things got bad.
We’re not supposed to talk about the VAST MAJORITY of these people being drug addicts, mentally sick people, and ex cons.
We’re not supposed to ask questions as to why they choose to stay in a place as unaffordable as downtown LA, waiting for that Google job that pays $200k per year, so they can finally afford a decent place to live.
We’re not supposed to ask why they don’t move in with friends or relatives.
We’re not supposed to ask why these people don’t access the free housing available to them, along with boatloads of other free services.
Nope, we must blame it on something that is TOTALLY UNRELATED, which is housing prices, because that is the fault of REPUBLICAN landlords.
How do we measure the gap between the rich in Hollywood an Silicon Valley with the poor?
How does the California gap compare with the Utah gap... the most Republican state?
How does the California gap compare with the Kansas Gap where the Koch brothers live?
How does upward mobility of the poor in California compare with upward mobility in Texas?
But, millennials all pine to rent, they don’t want to own anything. Living like a hobo is just the beginning of the average millennial lifestyle, at least that’s what they tell us.
There’s a small encampment in my town in MD. I was at a City Council meeting when they discussed it. They can’t evict them because the property ownership is in a escrow battle and no one has the legal authority until it’s sold. The cops check in three times a day. For the most part it’s contained and the people live there by choice, not necessarily by need.
The Police Chief was very clear. “Do not help them, do not try to make their lives easier. We want to encourage them to leave.”
Most refuse offers of shelter.
But, to help them at all is just enabling.
I used to hop the fence and ride my mtn bike in those San Mateo “parks”.
I even saw a mountain lion!
Sadly, I saw homos humping too.
Cali jungle.
Your comment about living below their means is very important. When we bought our first house, the mortgage agent told us how much house we could afford. It was an insanely high number that would have meant we didn’t buy food, or that we’d have to go deeper into debt.
When we were younger, most of our friends made about the same amount of money and had everything. New homes, cars, toys. We always lived frugally and now that we don’t necessarily need to live as frugally, we still do.
I’ve always had a 401K and while it’s not going gangbusters, it will be enough to retire on in 10 years. We basically lost our house in the last downturn. I lost my job and we had to move. We sold the house but lost virtually all of the equity, requiring us to buy a smaller house, for more money in a more expensive part of the country. I can now afford to move, but won’t.
All of our cars are used except my company car. (nice perk, but I’m on the road a lot) Of the five cares in my family, I think they have a total of 900,000 miles.
It’s called living within your means. It’s tough but not hard.
And, when I moved to another state, I was on my own for about 8 months. I gave some consideration to just urban camping, but found a cheap rental instead.
Watching the video one wonders why people that don’t need to be anywhere in a hurry have to cross the streets against the lights or 50 yards away from a crosswalk with a warning light fixture.
Actually I know why this is so, as I’ve worked with the homeless. Homeless people are lazy in the EXTREME and have total disregard for the law.
good one
Sinclair Lewis and EPIC (End Poverty in California) where are you when we need you!?
8o)
Only that isn't a bike trail along the Pacific Ocean, that's a bike trail south of Angel's Stadium along the Santa Ana river (specifically south of Orangewood and north of the 22.)
And much to the objections of local residents, many of those tents were relocated from within the river channel to what used to be a nice bike/jogging trail due to fears that those camping in the river basin would be swept away by the heavy rains.
City officials say that they've been working with county authorities to get these people 'relocated' again, but to participate in those programs, you have to submit to drug testing and background checks. The city will also cite you if your child puts up a tent in your front or back yard for a couple days; put it on the sidewalk or on a jogging trail, no one bothers you.
These ObamaTowns are everywhere, some with just a dozen residents, others with thousands. (Of course, should someone like Obama travel through these areas, all the tents are removed, by force if necessary, lest they pose a security risk to the eyes of the protected politician.)
When I retire my property tax will be 1/10 the size at $400/yr. Still a nice big house. I estimate my housing at $1000 /yr. Location location.
Thanks for the Fidelity rank that house is biggest expense.
Hope to install a ‘real’ fireplace insert and burn cheap firewood, then housing will be near zero.
The other commenter nailed it, socialism creep eg no gold standard, made many older folks poor. Planners miss the mark, they are number crunchers. Crashing careers hurt many folks who sold their 401k just to survive.
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