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Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

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Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#271

Post by the_cat_kittles »

onemorepassword wrote: post #198

With the exception of a very small sub group of people with serious mental issues, it's not a hard problem . Most of it has been solved already. It's just a matter of having the will to do it. That will is absent. Most developers in SF laugh at the amount of money their European counterparts get paid after taxes. The don't consider not having to step over homeless people a "benefit". That attitude is your problem rig…

I don't know if its hard or not, but the difficulty to monetary reward is certainly extremely unfavorable, and that is a pretty big governing factor in where most startups dedicate their efforts.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#272

Post by just_hobbyst »

LekkoscPiwa wrote: post #268
pyoung wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of universal health care probably exacerbates the homelessness situation in the U.S. With that said, what you see in San Francisco is largely a product of the combination of homeless friendly policies and tolerable weather. Many of the 'homeless' you see during the day don't actually sleep on the street (although a decent number do) and actually reside in SRO's, subsidized housing, and shelters (One complain…

European nations would not be able to afford universal healthcare and all the welfare if they had to pay for their security. US bases in Europe are great financial aid. I never hear discussions about Iran or Russia being a possible threat in Europe. I do in the US. Which is funny because it really is much bigger problem for Europeans to have guys like Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at their door steps. Never happens.…

Bullshit. Finland doesn't have US bases on it's territory and all it's security is paid by the country itself. Plus, it always is under direct threat from Russia. Despite of that (or maybe because of that?) it does have a decent universal healthcare system.

Besides, having US base on your territory is not a guaranty of security - South Vietnam had a lot of them and it didn't help them.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#273

Post by gummify »

cheeseprocedure wrote: post #243
gummify wrote: post #128

Not too far north along the west coast, the homelessness situation is mirrored in Vancouver, Canada. I have friends who have volunteered with non-for-profit agencies that support homeless people in identifying their needs and allocating resources to them if possible, such as social housing. My friends have told me that the people she has interviewed from the streets nearly 75% are mentally or physically handicapped o…

> However, there is hope but we cannot rely on the government to sort it out. Indeed: "A change in public policy saw the mass discharge of Riverview Hospital's patients as an effort to integrate them into the community while the province considered the land for development. However, this caused a large influx of mentally ill into the DTES as poor follow-up support failed to reach a majority of these individuals." htt…

The government may have good intentions but are too short-term in thinking. Homelessness, particularly mentally disabled homeless persons are costing the government a lot more in the long run than putting in rehabilitation infrastructure for homeless people. I strongly believe that in markets like US/Canada, privately funded projects is the way to go in order to make any real change. It's also disturbing when the city takes the piss at homeless people by fining them http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/16/vancouver-homeless-f...

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#274

Post by rza »

ims wrote: post #163
ownagefool wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm Scottish and while I've not quite experienced it myself, I'm happy living in Europe where m taxes are spent on health care as opposed to bombs. It's not so much shocking as it is just really sad. :(

And the rest of the Western world, like it or not, is able to spend less on defense precisely because -- thanks to some unique events in the 20th century -- the US is effectively providing a defense subsidy for all of its allies. I'm not advocating, just saying. Perhaps European countries would have to spend more if the US did not concern itself with the rest of the world? Food for thought.

This may have been true in the Cold War, but that war has long been over. To say that US defense spending now is benefiting anyone in any way now is laughable, except for maybe South Korea and Taiwan. If anything, our meddling has raised security concerns for all our European allies due to the displacement and disruption of life by our actions in the Middle East.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#275

Post by throwaway1979 »

meunier wrote: post #173
amackera wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have had similar experiences in Toronto, Canada. We even have universal healthcare, and good social programs. At least in SF a homeless person won't die from exposure in the wintertime.

Toronto has way more of a handle on homelessness than other parts of Canada in my experience. It's much worse in the neighbouring provincial capitals, Montreal and Winnipeg.

I've always been somewhat confused by the homeless out in the street in Canada. I thought we had a social safety net, shelters, etc. Everyone of these people can't be drug users and people with severe mental health issues, right?

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#276

Post by entropy_ »

LekkoscPiwa wrote: post #268
pyoung wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of universal health care probably exacerbates the homelessness situation in the U.S. With that said, what you see in San Francisco is largely a product of the combination of homeless friendly policies and tolerable weather. Many of the 'homeless' you see during the day don't actually sleep on the street (although a decent number do) and actually reside in SRO's, subsidized housing, and shelters (One complain…

European nations would not be able to afford universal healthcare and all the welfare if they had to pay for their security. US bases in Europe are great financial aid. I never hear discussions about Iran or Russia being a possible threat in Europe. I do in the US. Which is funny because it really is much bigger problem for Europeans to have guys like Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at their door steps. Never happens.…

I had honestly never heard about this before, what does the U.S. pay to countries that have bases in them? Any references? I'm honestly curious

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#277

Post by alexberghage »

jf22 wrote: post #66
troebr wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm French living in Jersey. I have been to San Francisco, even though it's blatant when you walk here, everywhere in the US I have that feeling that the poor are really forgotten. And they live in third-world country conditions. In France, the average rich is not as rich, and it's probably a lot harder to become successful and wealthy than here; but the poor are not left behind as much. It feels more like a society…

"third-world country conditions" No. Even a porta potty cleaned infrequently is more sanitary than the conditions in the third world. There won't be a cholera outbreak. Food is available and nobody is going to starve to death. Heck, a simple clean water fountain in some third world countries can improve the lives of an entire village. Even in the most horrible cities in america there are dozens of sources of free wat…

There certainly is a very real cholera risk in the poorest communities in the US.

Take, for example, the colonias in southwestern Texas, where ~400k people live in informal housing without access to basic infrastructure or services, and where diseases like cholera and dengue fever have far higher rates of incidence. These aren't all illegal immigrants or anything, either -- the Texas secretary of state reports 64.4% of Texan colonias residents are US citizens[1].

It's easy to assume there's no poverty that deep in this country when, by and large, our standard of living is better than most of the world, but unfortunately there really are places in the US to which the descriptor "third world" is applicable.

NYT has some good coverage of the conditions in the colonias, if you want to read more. Here's a start: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/us/10tthealth.html?_r=0

[1] http://www.sos.state.tx.us/border/colonias/faqs.shtml

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#278

Post by sdfjkl »

vitobcn wrote: post #250
onemorepassword wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no Europe. I can only speak for my country, the Netherlands, and there is no such thing as people not having the personal funds to buy or rent housing. That's why we have minimum wages, social security, rent subsidies and regulated rent. The homeless here are people mostly people with mental health issues that reject or don't respond to treatment. It's by far not a perfect utopian system, but to have people…

I originally come from Spain, where the weather is nicer than in the Netherlands, and there certainly are homeless people living and sleeping in the streets, or in cold occasions during winter, they can also be seen under the roof provided by an atm / bank branch. However, having been in SFO multiple times, the number of poor/homeless people with no resources is much more evident there. My take is that generally the…

When I was in Gibraltar (a tiny tip of land at the south end of Spain under part British rule) there were no homeless people to be seen, despite some of the nicest weather in Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar (I recommend visiting, it's a fascinating place).

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#279

Post by rada »

entropy_ wrote: post #276
LekkoscPiwa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

European nations would not be able to afford universal healthcare and all the welfare if they had to pay for their security. US bases in Europe are great financial aid. I never hear discussions about Iran or Russia being a possible threat in Europe. I do in the US. Which is funny because it really is much bigger problem for Europeans to have guys like Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at their door steps. Never happens.…

I had honestly never heard about this before, what does the U.S. pay to countries that have bases in them? Any references? I'm honestly curious

Just one example: Manas Air Base base in Kyrgyzstan. Annual rent $63MM.

Re: Come here and work on hard problems – except the ones on our doorstep

#280

Post by LekkoscPiwa »

entropy_ wrote: post #276
LekkoscPiwa wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

European nations would not be able to afford universal healthcare and all the welfare if they had to pay for their security. US bases in Europe are great financial aid. I never hear discussions about Iran or Russia being a possible threat in Europe. I do in the US. Which is funny because it really is much bigger problem for Europeans to have guys like Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at their door steps. Never happens.…

I had honestly never heard about this before, what does the U.S. pay to countries that have bases in them? Any references? I'm honestly curious

Never heard that there are for example over 50,000 US soldiers in Germany operating military equipment worth billions of USD courtesy of the US tax-payer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Europe

So, any attack on the German soil must result in dead American soldiers. Now, who sane would risk doing so?

Yeah, very convenient preaching universal healthcare and welfare for the poor when somebody else pays your security bill while you are sitting between Arab Spring and Russian Autocracy.

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