I like this notion of a Homesteading Act for abandoned, blighted areas, Rogar, worth exploring to be sure. I wonder what the poor in a given neighborhood, and the current residents of Detroit would say?Originally Posted by Rogar
I also wonder how anyone who has a diagnosed, untreated mental illness can be said to be "choosing" homelessness?
It is complicated beyond my understanding but the same person also chose not to take medication, which would pretty much bring her back to earth. I believe her primary issue was schizophrenia. My sample size is obviously small and not representative, but there are homeless people like that.
"I spent the summer traveling: I got half-way across my backyard." Louis Aggasiz
And so arguing that the piddly increases we've seen in the past didn't produce unintended consequences is hardly convincing...
Y'all have rent control yet in Seattle, btw?
Being med non-compliant is quite typical for schizophrenia. It really not a choice; it's a part of the illness. My sis treats this population professionally, and the biggest a struggle for achieving baseline stability is meds compliance.
Everything produces unintended consequences; that was definitely not my argument. I was referencing the classic business response that the sky would fall with wage increases, and it seems that businesses adapt.
No formal rent control in Seattle, just skyrocketing rents driving out economic diversity. Quite regrettable. I don't know enough about rent control to have a strong opinion. I do hold the value that our cities and neighborhoods need to meet the needs of area residents. One of the reasons that I think the Community Land Trust model of affordable home ownership is so rock solid. There's a CLT here, and I worked for it at one time. The ED estimated that 22,000 units in CLT leaseholdership would meet the market needs. I think they are at around 400.
Yes, and really we're talking about a mathematical problem with regard to this working poor situation. If enough people are homeless because they can't afford a roof over their heads because they don't make enough in a full-time job to pay for the rent in the area, you either have to subsidize the housing or raise the minimum wage.How do these jobs get created?
What happens if a job isn't worth $15/hour to do?
And speaking of value, how much are the CEOs "worth"? Could some be over-valued by any chance?
As Rogar said, it really is very complex. You are right, bae, someone has to create the jobs. But I think about people like Ben & Jerry's in their growth days when there was a ratio of the lowest salary to the highest salary, and I hear Costco does it right. I'm sure there are existing models out there to learn from. However, I think the challenges run a lot deeper because the way the system is now, profits are favored over human capital and that's just it's nature--just like the scorpion crossing the river on the back of the frog. I wonder what we can do about that?
BTW, I, too, like the urban homesteading idea.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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For some, the side effects of the medication are as bad--or worse--than the disease. Tardive dyskinesia is not pretty. I don't think there's much interest in improving medications for schizophrenia--not much profit in it.
I'd like to see clinical trials treating it by eliminating wheat, personally:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...chizophrenia-0
This is all complicated by the fact that many mentally ill people also have a substance abuse problem, and vice versa.
New antipsychotics have been developed in the last few decades which have a much lower side effect risk. And some of them cost nearly 1000 a month. But still cheaper than hospitalization which is over 1000 a day...
This is my life. Psychiatric nurse in the court ordered setting. No easy answers.
"Living wages" won't end and likely won't even dent homelessness. First of all, how many homeless folks have those regular jobs anyway? Or the skills to get one? Or the resources to get one (phone, bus pass, appropriate clothing, etc.)? Well beyond that, and like it or not, "work" is a commodity. That is NOT the same as saying that human beings are a commodity. They are not, but what they produce is. The price of any commodity is determined by supply and demand. If the supply of work available at the low end goes up, demand goes down. Any time there is an abundant supply and a completely satiated demand the price stays low. The immigration into the US is predominantly lacking in education and/or skills that fill a niche in demand much above minimum wage levels, so the supply of available work increases. Bae's robots may have a little Futurama element to them, but automation is removing the need for humans in all kinds of industries so the supply increases on TWO fronts (cheap mechanical labor and displaced humans). That trend is not going to slow down.
Its all tied together with poverty and resource allocation and really with our definitions of what makes a good life. Would you even care how much money the 1/100th of the 1% has if you didn't want or need money? If you are happy, why would you? Remember, money is also a commodity. If the demand for it goes down the supply will go up. If we, as a society find a different way to share our resources (other than just buying things) then things like income disparity will automatically become far less meaningful. Money would not be worthless because it is a very convenient form of trade, but it could easily become worth less. End of the abstruse rant of the day.
"Back when I was a young boy all my aunts and uncles would poke me in the ribs at weddings saying your next! Your next! They stopped doing all that crap when I started doing it to them... at funerals!"
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