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The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

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Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#151
post #139

I don't wish homelessness upon anyone but you have to recognize that it was the baby boomers that created this situation. We, as a society, are desensitized to state violence. The state withholding basic necessities so a few can profit is state violence. In the wealthiest country on Earth there is absolutely no justification for anyone not having shelter and adequate food and water. The homeowners who vote in these w…

Adequate food and water and shelter is available to everyone. We spend billions on it every year. People choose not to access it either due to mental illness, drug/alcohol addiction, or some other antisocial or personal reason. And although there’s help for those issues I’d agree more could be done, especially for the vast numbers of mentally ill that walk amongst us.

We do have a safety net though. You are advocating for a hammock.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#152
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making quite a number of faulty assumptions. > Medical bills, sure, but they have always been around. Prices for medical care have increased disproportionately in the last few decades[0]. > Investing giant sums in defending Ukraine's border. It's barely 1% of your budget. It's 3% or so of your military budget. That doesn't move the needle. I mean sure; you're spending too much on the military, no doubt about t…

> That's assuming that people that "have a load of money" necessarily created that value Other than generationally wealthy families (very few) or thieves or people making laws that then make them rich in the stock market, there are plenty of wealthy people who got wealthy because people chose to give them money in exchange for something worth that money to them.

That's the idea, the "American Dream" - you roll up your sleeves, spit in your hands and go to work - get busy and rich.

Alas, that's not been the case for a long time. Please look at the data.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/thirteen-economic-facts-a...

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#153
post #146
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly agree with you, it is more about how people behave than anything else. Nevertheless, if we look at how the Boomers acted, they: - Presided over a bunch of aggressive and needless wars. - Led the slow decay of the US economy, weighed down with regulation, struggling to build things and stuck in a money printing spiral. - Have done a terrible job of letting up the political reins to new blood, and generally…

I love how blatantly age-based discrimination is so free flowing. Understand something, when you discriminate against ANYONE, you are condoning the discrimination you may or may not be against. You don't have to like it.

There are all sorts of generational stereotyping and critiquing that go on, but what does it only become "discrimination" when the bad age-related effects of Boomers are pointed out? You never hear this overly cautious "don't discriminate!" Warning when Zoomers are critiqued.

Similarly, age-based discrimination is illegal in the workplace, but only against older people. It is perfectly legal to discriminate based on age against younger people! This, despite younger people having less power and getting paid less on a group level.

Very odd how all this concern only flows one way...

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#154
post #7

Unless they had a time machine I don’t think any baby boomers became homeless during the Great Depression, so that should be a low bar to clear!

That title is pure rubbish! I can’t believe the person that wrote that read it out loud or even in their head. You should always ready the title aloud.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place). The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funnelled to the very wealthy. For example, medical bills. For example student loans. For example zero interest rates with zero wage inflation meaning accommodation cost…

[flagged]

Wow, this is a take on gun control I don't think I've ever seen:

"Lack of gun control is preventing the state from forcibly redistributing the wealth of middle class families." (And this is bad).

NRA, eat your hearts out, I guess.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#157
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Regulations are not building for high capacity, preferring to sprawl and build monster homes that house few, wealthier people. So you’re saying regulations are blocking new home construction. Got it. What you describe is exactly what people mean when they say you “can’t build housing.” In reality you kind of can but only a few homes and only at the very high end. You can only build at the high end because of densit…

> > Regulations are not building for high capacity, preferring to sprawl and build monster homes that house few, wealthier people. > So you’re saying regulations are blocking new home construction. Got it. Oh come on, new home construction is doing just fine ... but the homes are 5600 sq ft, $2+ million and 30-40 minute drive from city centre. And it's not regulation requiring it , developers prefer to build condos a…

>New housing starts in the US[1] have climbed steadily for the past 10 years

This is good, but even at the peak in 2022 housing starts were lower than they were 20 years ago. Given that the population has grown significantly since then, housing starts per capita effectively never recovered from the 2008 recession.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#158

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place). The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funnelled to the very wealthy. For example, medical bills. For example student loans. For example zero interest rates with zero wage inflation meaning accommodation cost…

All the problems you mention were created by the government taking wealth away from people and giving it to others.

The solution is for the government to stop doing that.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#159

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place). The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funnelled to the very wealthy. For example, medical bills. For example student loans. For example zero interest rates with zero wage inflation meaning accommodation cost…

Call me crazy but I think we should build more houses AND address wealth inequality.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#160

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place). The issue is that a sizeable underclass is being created that have no wealth, not least because what wealth they did have has been funnelled to the very wealthy. For example, medical bills. For example student loans. For example zero interest rates with zero wage inflation meaning accommodation cost…

> The issue is not supply and demand for houses - there are plenty enough to go around (though often in the wrong place).

So... the issue is supply and demand then, because the supply is not where the demand is.

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