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‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

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Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#81

Post by caseydurfee »

jimmywanger wrote: post #54
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with this is that it's going to create massive political instability if there are a few megacities with massive poverty in every other state. There are already signs that our political system is already destabilizing. What makes you think this wouldn't amplify that?

The alternative is government mandated poverty. The government hardly ever creates wealth. They can create the conditions for wealth creation by getting the heck out of the way. To be a bit dramatic, Venezuela, PRK, Sudan, and Cuba all have incredibly low wealth inequality. Except for the rich and corrupt, everybody else has just about the same as everybody else, which is nothing, based on government policies. Hong K…

"The government hardly ever creates wealth. They can create the conditions for wealth creation by getting the heck out of the way."

Yes, we're aware that's how it works in shitty novels about trains from the 1950's.

Here in the real world, every single technological innovation in the iPhone was created by the US Government, or with the assistance of US government-funded basic research. This book breaks the whole thing down: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entrepreneurial_State

Google Maps is a particularly terrible example. It wouldn't exist without GPS, a technology invented by the US government.

Hong Kong's government puts billions of dollars a year into technology research. That's not a good example, either. Furthermore, HK has lower income inequality than Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Burundi, The Gambia, Swaziland, Botswana, CAR, Sierra Leone and Namibia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq... . So your statement "everybody else has just about the same as everybody else" in sub-Saharan Africa is total bullshit.

Japan and Scandinavia have relatively low rates of income inequality (especially compared to sub-Saharan Africa). Are you saying those countries are less innovative than Namibia (highest income inequality in the world)?

Finally, the idea that the sole difference between "Sub Saharan Africa" (a region that encapsulates over a billion people and over 40 countries which you regard as a monolith) and Hong Kong is due to "government policies" is childishly ignorant. Africa is not a country.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#82

Post by s73ver_ »

pascalxus wrote: post #33
s73ver_ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"- Work with builders to remove all regulations that prevent building." This would end disastrously. "All those earthquake safety regulations, those are really preventing me from building." "Those environmental regulations, the ones that stop me from polluting everywhere, those are really preventing me from building." "- declare certain areas as innovation building zones: Remove all building regulations and let start…

We can't simply assume that removing those regulations will result in a disaster. Look at the actual data. Find, the regulations which limit the most building - maybe they're not even safety related. many parts of CEQA for instance does nothing to help the environment but has prevented huge amounts of housing. And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just te…

"And for those that are safety related, maybe there's a way to alter them or at least get rid of them just temporarily until the homeless emergency has been mitigated. Anything is better than leaving people out on the street"

I don't buy that argument for a second. Take, for instance, the Grenfell tower fire. Regulations were ignored, and 68 people died because of it.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#83

Post by s73ver_ »

peoplewindow wrote: post #69
s73ver_ wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"- Work with builders to remove all regulations that prevent building." This would end disastrously. "All those earthquake safety regulations, those are really preventing me from building." "Those environmental regulations, the ones that stop me from polluting everywhere, those are really preventing me from building." "- declare certain areas as innovation building zones: Remove all building regulations and let start…

Mass homelessness in one of the richest parts of the world is already a disaster!

Yes, it is. But ignoring regulation, much of which is there for a very good reason, is not the answer. The last thing anyone wants is for many homeless people to move into these buildings, and have them die because they weren't built to withstand an earthquake, or had improper cladding and went up in flames.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#84

Post by ameister14 »

s73ver_ wrote: post #65
ameister14 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if all your possessions are in an RV, moving your family to the midwest costs gas - that's pretty much it.

Which is very much not cheap. Not to mention, while you're driving from point A to point B, you're not bringing in income. So where are you gonna get the money for gas and food?

It doesn't take months to travel 300 miles by car. Bringing in income during the long trip is not a realistic issue.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#85

Post by peoplewindow »

s73ver_ wrote: post #83
peoplewindow wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mass homelessness in one of the richest parts of the world is already a disaster!

Yes, it is. But ignoring regulation, much of which is there for a very good reason, is not the answer. The last thing anyone wants is for many homeless people to move into these buildings, and have them die because they weren't built to withstand an earthquake, or had improper cladding and went up in flames.

But isn't this a false dichotomy? I don't think anyone is arguing the shortage of homes in the valley is due to earthquake or fire proofing. You can build earthquake resistant skyscrapers and SF is full of skyscrapers, but places like Mountain View seem to top out at 3 floors. The regulations in question seem to be more about keeping things low rise for aesthetics sake (assuming you agree that the bay area is pretty as is, which I don't).

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#86

Post by gt_ »

deadmetheny wrote: post #60
leggomylibro wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, except maybe in St. Louis, which set a $15 minimum wage only to have it nullified by the state of Mizzureh. They technically exist, but it's like...would you ever think of opening a business somewhere like Illinois? That's like opening a tin of meat in a school of pirhannas.

I own a business in the Midwest. So, yes, I absolutely would.

Twin cities or Chicago?

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#87

Post by gt_ »

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #45
gt_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those locations don’t pay $15/hr. if you can find a job, and you probably can’t. Employment is rising in densely populated areas and not so much in rural areas. This is a little different on the east coast, but that’s a more significant moving investment. Other services like healthcare in rural areas has eroded to barely existent. I can speak from experience in Oregon. Moving costs money, something they don’t have. F…

It's interesting you bring up healthcare. My wife's cousin is currently working as a travelling nurse. He get shipped off to some rural part of the country for 8 weeks to (mostly) work the over night shift at various rural ERs. Apparently it's near impossible to fill the roles otherwise.

Wow. I haven’t heard about that before but I’m not surprised.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#88

Post by gt_ »

ameister14 wrote: post #38
s73ver_ wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're talking about someone who's struggling to get by in SV. Where are they going to get the money to move their family to the Midwest?

Well, if all your possessions are in an RV, moving your family to the midwest costs gas - that's pretty much it.

That’s assuming this RV is in sound condition for the trek. That’s quite the assumption given the context but, sure, maybe.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#89

Post by gt_ »

ShabbosGoy wrote: post #58
majormajor wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several hundred in gas, I'm guessing, and that may not be such an insignificant amount if you're that much on the margin. Remember: you almost definitely aren't paying for it on credit in this scenario.

Why not stop participating altogether? It's not hard to leave this system of slavery[1]: it just requires sacrifice. You don't need to live on the major coasts or in a major city. You can live off the land in the woods, hunting and growing your own clean food, drinking clean water, etc. [1] https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/n...

I wonder when the last time wah that a similar argument was made in the US congress.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#90

Post by s73ver_ »

ameister14 wrote: post #84
s73ver_ wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is very much not cheap. Not to mention, while you're driving from point A to point B, you're not bringing in income. So where are you gonna get the money for gas and food?

It doesn't take months to travel 300 miles by car. Bringing in income during the long trip is not a realistic issue.

It's going to take at least a week, and a lot of gas. We're talking about people who already aren't bringing in much, and so likely don't have anything saved up.
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