>>They don’t want to have to think about bills, taxes, whatever.
Neither do I. Neither do most of us.
I think that modern life is extremely and unnecessarily complex. I would say at least 80% of that complexity (maybe more) is the fault of the government. We can choose not to deal with computers and cell phones and other gadgets, but the amount of paperwork and compliance demanded by our overseers is an affront to decency.
I don’t know if simplifying things would lift anyone out of homelessness or not, but it would certainly reduce the anxiety level of all of us.
I agree.
I would say at least 80% of that complexity (maybe more) is the fault of the government.
Yes....and no. Most of it is keeping up with the latest already outmoded and 'last version, incompatible with the new improved version' technology we either impose upon ourselves or have imposed upon us by the lemmings running or using the 'new, improved, (incompatible with earlier versions), next big thing'.
We can choose not to deal with computers and cell phones and other gadgets...
Not if you want to keep your job, not if you want a client's work. Depending on what you do, sure some of that is government driven, but a lot of it is pushed by the new kids on the block, who don't run the older versions because they were in diapers when they came out.
At some point they force the change, by weight of numbers, and you either 'upgrade' or get out. At that point, the next version is on the way because there is no manufacturer's support for the older version (no matter how good it was) and the new version is already probed and hacked.
The biggest difference the homeless have (at least the ones who are sane) is that they reached the point where they got out sooner and decided it wasn't worth the effort to be eternally chasing their tails to try to get ahead.
The other trend is that we increasingly live in a surveillance nation: increasingly, every thought, every action, every movement you make is tracked; every word you type, every e-mail you send/receive, picture you upload, item you download, movie you watch, e-book you read, every thought you express, how much you make, how you made it, what/where you spend it, item you buy, where you bought it--even the things or articles you just paused over in the great electronic catalog of things and ideas we call the internet--all of it is recorded somewhere.
That is the price we pay for the trimmings, convenience, and comfort of prosperity, our velvet covered cybernetic chains.
While their lot may not be ideal, the homeless are invisible to that. In that sense, they are far more free than you or I.
I 2nd all that with you!