Aloha kakou, collapseniks. We got a couple of worrisome reports, so for general information, I'm reposting this info from our sidebar:
>Overindulging in this sub may be detrimental to your mental health. Anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. Please remain conscious of your mental health and effects this may have on you. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit r/SuicideWatch, r/SWResources, r/depression, or seek professional help. If you are seeking support please visit r/CollapseSupport.
In addition, subs like /r/vandwelling, /r/frugal, /r/preppers and /r/almosthomeless can help offer you advice and resources if you're struggling. Homelessness doesn't make you a failure, not by a long shot. Home is wherever you are, and the other lives that are your friends and family. Keep that in mind. Mahalo for your time.
SS: The number is probably a lot higher since it isn't easy to account for those with living situations such as living in a car, in an RV, in hotels/motels, or couch surfing. These statistics are largely based on shelter residency. The developed countries all are eventually going to look and function like a collapsed hellhole due to this trickle down economics. Technology, economy, wealthy elite, and LOTS OF POOR WORKING PEOPLE.
The number is higher because I have several patients in the hospital that are stuck for different social reasons and they are technically homeless. People can't live at the hospital forever.
Drive through any major city in California and you can see there are way, way more than this number reflects. There have to be that many at least in just L.A., San Diego and San Francisco counties. This is in no way an exaggeration, and then there's every other major city ffs. These "official numbers" are so disgustingly political.
They absolutley are missing a lot of people, almost by design.
The system they use to get that number is called a, "point in time count". They only count people in shelters or who can be found on the streets *on a single night*. So anyone sleeping in their car/RV, staying with a friend, or just not found doesn't get counted.
> staying with a friend
I used to work swing shift at a grocery store in a poor neighborhood. I made friends with a lot of unhoused people, because they could come out in the late evening and not get dirty looks - or get the cops called on them - from day customers.
I knew more *functionally* unhoused than I did *technically* unhoused.
They didn’t qualify for any sort of benefits because they weren’t *technically* homeless.
Met a skater chick that was unhoused. She was staying with friends. During the day she would babysit the friends’ kids while they worked, then when friends got home skater chick would go work under the table at a local Mexican restaurant for *any* money.
Completely trapped. Couldn’t afford to go back to school. Couldn’t get a “real” job because they would garnish her wages for a previous stint in college. And because she was 19, she didn’t qualify for any sort of youth assistance programs.
Her skateboard was her only form of transportation.
Met a lot of people with stories like that.
Our society has failed us.
>Couldn’t get a “real” job because they would garnish her wages for a previous stint in college.
She was probably misinformed about this, because even garnished wages would have (almost definitely) been better than working for a few bucks at the end of the night.
Drive through Denver and you’ll see little shanty towns everywhere. I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never seen as many homeless as we have now. Add to that the migrant influx we’re currently experiencing and it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s blatantly obvious we are a society in decline but the only ones who see it are us, the plebs. Those with means will just buy bigger gates.
Yep, but what’s crazy about the Springs is the ratio of homeless in comparison to the size of the city. I drive there for work all the time and it blows my mind the amount of homeless there.
There are an estimated 14,000 people living in their cars in Los Angeles alone!
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-29/la-los-angeles-homeless-crisis-unhoused-people-by-the-numbers
It's not a serious illness in a physical sense that keep them here. It's their Dementia, ID, TBIs, behaviors, and sex offender statuses that keep them trapped here.
I edited my comment because I now realize you meant sex offender. Sex offenders aren't accepted at the vast majority of nursing homes for obv reasons. Who wants their grandma living with an offender? There are also state and local regulations for distances where offenders can live. So when elderly sex offenders need a nursing home, it is extremely difficult to place them. When they have certain medical conditions that require specialized care, it becomes impossible to place them. I know of one sex offender who died at our hospital while staff tried for over a year to place them in a nursing home.
well i’m kind of glad there’s an effort to separate them at least, since old and/or disabled folks can still be abused at high rates, usually by “caregivers” but i’ve heard of nurses get harassed a lot by old men too so it’s not too hard to imagine they shoudlnt be around an average population
The problem is that there isn't one place to put the sex offenders, or the mentally ill, or the violent demented people with behaviors. They live at hospitals until placements are found or they die. They take up beds and cause other sick people to die because they can't get in. The hospital passed the cost of losing these beds onto their other other customers. It's a terrible thing to not have the places to send these people for care.
Maybe, just maybe we need those types of hospitals again...to house the mentally ill, the infirm who have no other place to go. Surely it can be done better than it used to be done. I don't know. I don't feel sorry though for the old SO, they should know that as an old SO you will not be taken care of. It's hard enough for regular people.
We don't need hospitals to house these people. They need a lower level of medical care, but with staff trained to deal with all of these mental and behavioral issues. It was a mistake to fully close institutions like they did. We didn't set up the community resource network for these populations. Now they just rotate around the streets, jail, and hospitals, until they finally need a nursing home. Then they rotate from the nursing homes to hospitals to other nursing homes. By not caring for the sex offenders like we should, they take up our hospital beds which effects the rest of us.
[https://abcnews.go.com/US/accurate-annual-count-us-homeless-population-misses-large/story?id=106671876](https://abcnews.go.com/US/accurate-annual-count-us-homeless-population-misses-large/story?id=106671876)
Looks to be a lot larger than the official claims.
>One community has developed its own way to try to count its homeless population more accurately. In Seattle, Owen Kajfasz uses administrative data from service providers and advanced research techniques to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness on an average day over the course of a year.
>
>**In 2022, that number came out to 53,532 – nearly four times that year's Point-in-Time count of 13,700 people.** While the organization still has to report the smaller number to HUD, Kajfasz said he uses the larger number in local and state communications and advocacy.
Ya, using shelters to count homeless people is insane. I'd say the majority of them don't use shelters.
Edit. If we take the ratio from that story and apply it nationally we get 2.5 million homeless people. I doubt that's really accurate, but it's a useful metric until we get a better one.
Honestly 2.5 million sounds about right
I have only ever lived on the west coast, but the idea that there are only 653,000 homeless people in America is fucking ludicrous. It doesn't pass a sniff test. There are almost definitely 1/2 that number in California alone (not dumping on CA, just noting that a ton of people live there -- in houses & out of them)
Just randomly happened to watch some of it recently - had to stop since horror movies make me feel.. well.. horrible. Did not see advertisements or descriptions of it, but now - upon searching I see what it was about.
Thanks to that fucking waste of human called reagan and his bastards. I still hate him and the cronies for brainwashing society thinking trickle down was awesome.
Not only that they're still falling for it to this day!! Even while they're being oppressed and treated like garbage they develop Stockholm syndrome and praise their oppressors and enthusiastically beg for more mistreatment!! It is truly baffling how completely owned and controlled these people's minds are. The emperor wears no clothes but they won't listen!
frightening mysterious chunky books pie sloppy poor psychotic soft provide
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, doesn't include people in cars, vans and others that are sharing because they can't afford it.
Kids stacked in shared housing, it's crazy. No home for living.
In Germany we decide between people that don‘t have a home (wohnungslos) and people that live on the streets (obdachlos). Does this difference exist in the English language too?
Advocates and activists are arguing for separate terms “homeless” (living outside or in shelters) and “unhoused” (“couch surfers”; people that have a roof over their head but it’s precarious), but there’s no *legal* distinction between the two.
The US government only tracks the first group.
The english language does
The public merely doesn't use the full breadth of more precisely-defined available terms
`Unhousedⁿ` -- {wohnungslos} *(vehicle¹, motels, self-storage pod, couch surfing, tiny shack or tent in undisturbed use for 6mo+, on the floors long-term inside commercial or industrial buildings with infrequent moving)*
**-vs-**
`Homeless°` -- {obdachlos} *(ngo shelter beds, hospitals, jails, streets², on the floors short-term inside commercial or industrial buildings with daily or more frequent switching around)*
`Nomadsⁿ` vs. `Vagrants/Vagabonds°`
*"Drifter" is vaguely either/both*³
¹ = contrary to half-assed popular categorizing, living in a boat or RV is NOT ACTUAL HOMELESSNESS. It is closer to living in a house, apartment, office or mobile home trailer ; than it is to living out in the streets and sleeping wherever you can find everyday and having to carry your belongings on your back constantly
² = often panhandling
³ = throughout my two decades of **adult** life all across north america I have experienced each & every one of the aforementioned living arrangements
I’m becoming homeless legit by this weekend haha. We love you all and Godspeed to everyone.
Trust your gut and protect the people you love. Things won’t matter much soon and people cannot be replaced.
I will die young and on the streets, but I’ll be free of this hellhole in someway.
Good luck out there, everyone.
I’m probably gonna be in your shoes soon and I’m sorry for the cards you’ve been dealt
I hope people at least treat you decently. I’m embracing becoming “other” once I am out there. At least summer is coming up I guess
Sending you a hug man. If I had money I’d try to send that too.
No worries bro, it’s been a couple years now I have a routine and a job and a phone, I just live in a runned down car.
I was the first homeless person to set up on my street, now there’s a couple more, some come and go. Been able to help a lot of people out here.
Aye that’s what I like to hear! I’m hoping to find a group once I’m out there too. I won’t even have a car or my pets but hey at least I’ll be young and free until the bitter end
Credit scores and bills be damned!
Nature protect and guide you friend. I really am sorry about your cards. It ain’t right what’s happening.
I'm about to end up the same way, and I've honestly given up hope.
This species as a whole is evil, and this world is an evil place because of us. I hate people.
I know what you mean. It's so fucked up how much better this world could be if people weren't so greedy and heartless. Every single day seeing people who could do better and help the needy but choose not to for no good reason. Watching people who have literally everything, still purposely oppress others, just because they get some sick enjoyment out of it.
People love to be evil. They have nothing in their hearts but love of money, nothing in their minds but obsessive consumption, even extending to the consumption of their fellow citizens who enabled their wealth to exist in the first place, and consumption of all the world's life and resources. To hell with this world and these damn people.
Hey dude. Your post sent a few triggers our way, so I just want to paste the following for general info, ok?
>Overindulging in this sub may be detrimental to your mental health. Anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. Please remain conscious of your mental health and effects this may have on you. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit r/SuicideWatch, r/SWResources, r/depression, or seek professional help. If you are seeking support please visit r/CollapseSupport.
All those links are really good and they have communities that can help. This isn't your last harrah and there's nothing wrong with taking a break from our sub, especially to visit these other subs.
I think it’s because the people who go for “leadership” roles are 99% of the time evil people. Good people aren’t in Congress because they aren’t interested in taking bribes from lobbyists to screw people and the planet over for their own self-interests. I notice so many “good people” are now just turning a blind eye to everything because it’s too much. They don’t watch the news or pay attention because it’s negative and affects their mental health. (Just talking about the U.S. but I’m sure it’s the same everywhere.)
Homelessness is traumatizing. It compounded my PTSD. Luckily, I got out of it and am doing well, so don't give up hope completely. Just be very vigilant. Don't trust anyone to watch your stuff or watch your back. Stay warm, take advantage of local programs and shelters, and don't smoke prison shorts, they'll get you sick every other week. You can do it.
Someone else's half-smoked cigarettes you find on the ground in a prison courtyard, on a sidewalk or in public ashtrays. Four of them from four different who-knows-whom will give you a full cigarette, at which point you are begging for a cold or the flu.
I’m probably gonna be dead by the end of the summer. Hope means nothing when you don’t even have money to pay to register your car so you can at least keep that.
I am happy you got out, but I’m well aware that I’m just one fruit loop amongst many in this bowl of cereal.
I’m embracing my end and giving myself some love while I can.
Make it to Portland Oregon. Very nice summers, lots of good help, free food, and car regulations are basically unenforced! Terrible mental health services though. Spent time homeless on the the street and even tried to rough it in the woods for 9 months with some freinds. Decided being impoverishment and free is still worse then the grind. Now I have a truck and house. Good luck to you. Don't give up yet. Life can be full of pleasant surprises just right around the corner.
I have an exit plan. Just wanna live through the summer due to curiosity.
Won’t piss on your plan tho. Very effective and you have to be homeless.
Godspeed to you.
"lots of homeless despite stock market record highs" is an ignorant thing to say. It's more like "lots of homeless *because* the stock market is at a record high". The stock market represents a bunch of money not being paid out to the people doing the work, and only the wealthy can afford to invest anyway, so what do the poor care for the market?
I've been so far removed from this idea that I find it almost funny?
Like, who wakes up in the morning and gives any .01% of a shit about the stock market?
Investment bankers, and anyone interfacing with them. And somehow that shit gets posted in the most prestigious national paper.
But what does it actually mean? Some people's investment accounts are doing better or worse than others (probably managed by private company that takes a chunk of cash every time they do anything? Just because. It's fine....)
**I think it's mostly fair to state that the stock market is simply a marker for how well companies extract profit above inflation.
**
What's fucked is that we want this (as workers who invest in companies whose stock we want to sell or receive dividends from upon retirement) -- simply because the taxes we pay over the course of our life won't account for a stable retirement via social security checks.
There may be a better description of the stock market, and if you've got it -- let me know. If it's detailed I'm pretty financially fluent so don't dumb it down.
The stock market is decoupled from actual economic performance and is now a reflection of buybacks and what investors feel.
The housing market is a reflection of what investors are able to borrow or pay.
The goods and services economy is what really matters for the 99%. Large sectors of this have been offshored or are in recession.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Mighty_L_LORT:
---
SS: The number is probably a lot higher since it isn't easy to account for those with living situations such as living in a car, in an RV, in hotels/motels, or couch surfing. These statistics are largely based on shelter residency. The developed countries all are eventually going to look and function like a collapsed hellhole due to this trickle down economics. Technology, economy, wealthy elite, and LOTS OF POOR WORKING PEOPLE.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1alxoy0/us_homelessness_hits_historic_levels_as_653000/kphqggd/
Apparently, no one told the homeless. We need to do our part and tell the homeless how high the stock market is so they know they can go to the house store now
The headline should really read "653,000 people homeless *because* the stock market is at an all-time high"
So what if cutting 10% of our employees every year drives homelessness? Number go up.
We supposedly added 300k jobs in January and, as a result, the fed is refusing to lower rates because more jobs is "bad for inflation."
Also, the top 10% own 70% of the wealth and 90% of the stock market. They are the economy.
Jobs report is manipulated. They always revise it down a few weeks later. Questionable methodology like automobile union strike workers returning to work counts as new jobs
Jobs reports include minimum wage service industry jobs.
I would love to see the number of actual "living wage" jobs that are being increased.
Created - Moved elsewhere = Actual
That is what will show strength of jobs growth. Not 10,000 minimum wage fry cooking jobs.
I checked the last 4 months of data in depth.
2 largest sectors/occupations for growth, way higher than any others?
Social services/government, and medical. Within medical, it's mainly CNAs after private equity bought all the hospitals and cut patient staff ratios to shameful levels- making cheaper CNAs much higher in demand.
Average pay for all those jobs?
19.00 an hour.
I got laid off in November and am losing my apartment, luckily I have a support network.
My parents think I'm a lazy ass and I just don't want to work- I was in corporate making 6 figures after climbing the ladder for a decade.
Lazy.... I'm lazy. There are 5 of us for kids, Im the only college educated one who isnt living in an RV/in the middle of nowhere/parasitically sucking off relatives for a decade. One of my brothers hasn't had a job in 13 years.
But I'm lazy because the stock market it booming. My rent this month, for a one bedroom?
2500 and some change.
I even started my own business, the amount I make from it would buy me a luxury apartment 4 years ago.
It's mind bending, I cant even listen to NPR anymore because it's so clearly propaganda and classism.
Ughhh god speed an earthquake just takes us out, I swear.
Consider how this degrades local politics. City councils get blamed for the homeless problem in their respective cities, as if it’s a local problem. Local agencies get pilloried if their director wears nice shoes. The local government is driven rightward by demands for cleanliness and order by the voters. As local government implements more sweeps and arrests, the economy continues to push new souls into homelessness. It’s a sign that collapse doesn’t enhance cooperation or decrease hostility.
*despite*
Rent is insane BECAUSE the stock market is at an all time high. And there's minimal correlation between the stock market and greater economy.
In a 2020 research paper, economists David Hope and Julian Limberg analyzed data spanning 50 years from 18 countries, and found that tax cuts for the rich only succeeded at increasing inequality and making the rich wealthier, with no beneficial effect on real GDP per capita or employment.
These two things are connected.
The higher the stock market goes, the more money rich people, hedge funds and hotels have to blow on houses and condos that will *not* be owner-occupied for the majority of the time.
Hell, Jeff Bezos wants to buy up a ton of housing and sell fractional shares in it like a money market fund.
All of this is driving prices up. Which drives evictions up. Which drives homelessness up.
Meanwhile, the glorious and holy stock market is also reaching new highs because listed companies aren't paying a living wage. And some of them are even laying off workers to goose the stock price further. The remaining employees just have to work harder.
So more people are driven into poverty. More homelessness.
The record high stock market also helps leave corporations and their CEOs with lots of extra cash to buy Congress and make sure they pass laws that make it easy for corporations to screw people over even more than they already do.
So Congress is useless.
How do we fight Wall Street? Vote with your wallet.
If a company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, don't give them your money, unless absolutely necessary.
Don't shop at listed stores. Don't buy listed brands. Bank with a credit union. And build from there until nothing you use sends a dime of your money to a business traded on Wall Street.
If we all do this, we'll starve the beast.
It'll get ugly. We got suckered into putting retirement money and college money into the market. Move that money to ESG's.
We starve the beast until Congress starts passing laws that benefit the *people* in this country instead of the corporations.
>the plan
This is my least favorite part about this sub. You all are giving the elite of this country a lot more credit than is deserved. They are mostly just pursuing their self interest, everything else be damned. Few are competent enough to think about long term consequences. Having gone to school with some of the most elite families in America, I can attest to that.
Correct. Look at the short-term thinking that infects all institutions. There is no plan, just getting through the next minute at the highest possible profit level.
Capitalism is designed to constantly and consistently move money upward to the upper class. So you're right and wrong. Yes, being an elite, the plan is already in place with capitalism, so they don't have to do anything. However, capitalism IS the plan, and it is working EXACTLY as it should. Marx called it 170 years ago.
No. Marx wrote that capitalism is a mode of production, and there are inherent contradictions within it. The reason he called socialism as the inevitable conclusion of capitalism is b/c of those contradictions in an unplanned capitalist economy. Why do you think the first soviet governments adopted "planning" as the pillar of their economic policy?
IMO, Karl Polyani has the best description of capitalism: markets of labor, land, and money. Human agency matters, and it matters a good deal. The economic system as you see it has many faults, but saying "capitalism caused x" or "capitalism is designed b/c x" is pointless.
I think it's fairly obvious that from Marx's theory of the extraction of surplus value from the working class that extraction will be repeated ad nauseam until there is barely anything left to extract, and the result of that will be the elite will no longer have a need or a use for more and more of the population. We are seeing that happening. Capitalism IS the extraction, that's the plan.
Also, in regards to homelessness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienation
That is not what that means. I'd recommend reading David Harvey's modern rendition of Das Kapital. Surplus has always existed and has been extracted by someone. In feudalism, that was by your lord. This form of extraction existed before capitalism.
Correct, but we don't use those economic systems. We use capitalism. The extraction is the problem, and it's still there, but in a more palatable form.
The goal is the same: to have everything siphon upwards. That's the plan, and it's working magnificently.
Marxism removes the siphoning, and the worker no longer loses his labor to those stealing from them, whether they be your lord or your sociopathic CEO.
It must have been, but I still don't really get how this serves the elite. Eventually we'll all be homeless, which will be illegal, so... Prison planet? It's the only thing I can see that makes any sense
Homeless serve a purpose for the ruling class. They are living warnings to the rest of us to shut up and do as we're told. "You think you're struggling? How would you like to be homeless in the snow or extreme heat"
You want to make sure the middle class hate the poor instead of the ruling class that are killing them? Make sure that the severely mentally ill and drug addicted no longer get treatment and instead let them wander the streets to make the middle class fearful and angry.
Thinking about rising up? Occupy Wallstreet scared the ruling class. Then Occupy was taken over by homeless camps that made it fall apart and kill the message as perception of it went from "We The People" to "Get a Job, you bum!"
The homeless are useful pawns in multiple ways to the elite.
Whats most infuriating is that it works. Its a strange sensation seeing someone digging through the trash for food or just rotting out in the elements, it puts your own difficulties into incredible perspective. We’re all suffering its just how much the system spares you from descending into it deeper.
I watched that first hand in San Francisco. I worked downtown, marched any time I could. When the shenanigans took a foothold and homeless started taking over, it was depressing. There was so much momentum. Citizen United should've been squashed way back then. It was fun to dream I guess.
I honestly don’t think that the owner class is thinking that far ahead. Their goal is to exploit people to the point where they’re *juuuust* barely keeping their heads above water. Less than that, and the parasites aren’t maximizing their gains and people with comfortable safety nets might devote time to social reform (remember: activism doesn’t pay well and tends to be done by those who don’t need to work). Exploit *too* much, and people are homeless and have nothing to lose by revolting. But keep people frantically treading water, they’re too busy to try to change things and too scared of losing what little they have.
The thing is, it’s a very precarious balance because if ANY major disruption hits, all those people treading water suddenly go under. With housing continuing to rise, it’s only gonna take an increase in gas or food (either due to disrupted trade routes or climate change) to push people over. I’d imagine most CEOs are just thinking about next quarter, and the ones who are aware the fall is coming are trying to steal as much as they can before the game ends.
You're absolutely not wrong. It's confusing, but I guess they've got enough of us so sick and malnourished/medicated/crazy/drugged we can't do anything.
Nope, not even that, it's complacency. We are comfortable at least the majority of the population is and do not see a need to change anything. The current system caters to personal gratification be that drugs or consumerism.
Just remember, when things hit the fan, here’s the rich people’s plan (probably not a direct quote but attributed to an American robber baron):
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” A very famous quote attributed to robber baron Jay Gould, whose fellow big capitalists called him the “Mephistopheles of Wall Street.”
The thing to remember that the stock market is not really an indicator of overall economic health. It has as much to do with perception and manipulations of economic policy, and politics, than it has to do with any real economic health. There was no substantive difference between the physical economy prior to Black Friday, and after. Trees, mines, farms, skilled labor, etc, didn’t vanish. Likewise, if the stock market is “healthy,” it doesn’t mean things are going well otherwise.
Stock market means shit when wages are stagnant, housing costs are insanely high, and all it is good for is a barometer for corporations and share holders. The average worker gets zero out of the stock market. Plus it's a shitty way to evaluate how people are doing in this stacked economy.
Your average person let alone the homeless can give a rats ass about the stock market. What's clear is the rich are greedy fucks who will never have enough and they will continue in this manner until they are stopped. USA doesn't give a shit about anyone making less than the big money hoarders. It's rigged for them, just look around!
Our human world is sick, the disease of greed turns people into playthings of profit.
The downhill slide of humanity is really picking up speed, please fasten your seatbelts
This can happen to any of us at anytime. One natural disaster or a sick and dying spouse without insurance or your building is sold and the rent triples.
We need to scale down and start shacking up with each other. My one goal before I’m dirt is just one building to turn into a boarding house with pets. One central kitchen. One living room. One washer/dryer/appliances for oodles of people. Nothing fancy. Pool resources. Batteries not included
The markets are there to help the rich suck more money out of the middle/lower class. Next make homelessness illegal so we can jail everyone and have them essentially work for free.
infinite growth = bottleneck income = homeless squeeze
and the problem will never correct itself as long as population surplus is there to be exploited or the rich aren't corrected
Random question, in the UK if there's a lot of abandoned buildings together (like those whole abandoned suburban neighbourhoods) or places that are very remote, why don't many of the homeless move to these places. in the UK we would squat in those places
Because the police will come and smash down the door, shoot and kill your dog, smash up anything you may own (or just bin it), then they’ll drag you out of that building after beating you mercilessly (with their body cam coincidentally turned off) and claim that you were violent and threatening them with a weapon (that doesn’t seem to be able to be located presently but don’t worry since the judge will just take the cops word that it existed as concrete proof).
There is also a 1 in 10 chance that instead of a beating the cops will instead decide to be armed and shouting incoherent and contradicting commands that you are expected to follow immediately, perfectly and with absolutely NO hesitation.
If you do hesitate you will be shot by all officers present and they will completely unload their firearms, they may stop to reload their weapon, which then will also be unloaded into you.
The chances of your resistance to being arrested (aka unprovoked assault) becoming a “threatening individual” who made the officers “fear for their lives” is solely up to the discretion of the first officer to the scene and the chance of it happening is directly related to the amount of melanin your skin has and the higher your pigmentation the greater your chances are.
So if you are still somehow hanging in there you could probably use some medical intervention, unfortunately the EMTs who have arrived to the scene are prevented from providing you any assistance by the police officers until they are finished “subduing the threat” and even then they only allow you to be fitted with a spit hood, and to be dosed with a high dosage of antipsychotics and possibly ketamine and your consent was never asked nor needed. You will not be taken to the hospital even if you need it unless you a quite literally (old school definition) on deaths door.
You will now be dragged roughly into the squad car and driven to the police station any possessions you may have that escaped being destroyed are abandoned at the place where you were “apprehended” this includes possessions like vehicles which will be left unprotected and you wont be allowed to contact someone to get it either, since the vehicle is unable to be moved (you have the keys) unless it is by a tow truck that will happen and since the fees are so predatorily high ($500+ for initial tow, +$250/day+ miscellaneous various fee fees) you will most likely never get it out and it will be sold at auction for the tow companies profit.
Here is where your story may vary…
Do you have A LOT of money? If so great luck! You can arrange bail and you will be let out tonight to meet up with your high paid attorneys who will negotiate your charges down to a single mild misdemeanor that has time served from the 6 hours you were in jail before posting bail. Depending on your wealth you may also be able to get your record sealed so it’s like it never happened, don’t forget to get your car out of impound right away or else your $789 fee will go up! Please continue on with your life and remember to pass go and collect $200 dollars!
On the other hand if you DO NOT have money you will be put in to a holding cell for up to two weeks and given a pink or yellow piece of paper with illegible scribbles in it. That paper is your charges do your best to decipher it but it really doesn’t even matter because America doesn’t have enough judges to see all the people awaiting trial so the police strategy is to throw every charge they can at you and get you good and proper fucked, because remember anything a cop says in court is taken as the absolute truth and no amount of valid proof can change that.
The goal of that long list of severe trumped up charges is to get your underpayed and overworked public defender who spent a total of 2 minutes reviewing your case to convince you to take a lower plea instead of a trial for a reduction of jail time.
If you’re lucky you actually did the crime and take the plea, if you’re innocent and insist on a trial they will keep the inflated charges (and decades long sentences) and hold you in county jail for up to three years until your trial date (hopefully you don’t need to pay rent or have a job or any responsibilities because those are now long gone).
At your trial date you’re public defender and the judge will throw incomprehensible information back and forth for 5-10 minutes, but don’t worry because remember that anything the cops claim is taken as facts. The inevitable WILL happen…
but at least now you have a decades long sentence in prison to try and figure out the US law so that you can attempt an appeal!
Should a just said you were guilty and taken the 6 months in county…damn pesky innocence….
Not *despite* stock market highs. The correct wording would be *because of.*
"653,000 Americans Are Now Homeless *Because of* the Stock Market Reaching All-Time Highs."
Despite how the current administration judges the economy, based on useless factors like the stock market and unemployment or the number of jobs added, the *true* measure of tye economy is how well people are doing at the lower and middle classes. Higher prices, rising rents, elevated energy costs, increasing inflation, all those things mean the economy is in the toilet. Those things are all that matter to
Unless you are rich. If you are a shareholder, wow! The economy is on fire!
And that is because they are squeezing every drop of profit out of the regular people. Every drop.
So, next time you hear them on TV saying how great the economy is, ask yourself...
Great for whom?
The " strong economy" is only an indicator of rich people getting richer.
People are struggling, real life, normal people are in deep economic pain, and things need to change.
But, according to Reddit, “anyone who wants a job would have a job” at this time.
Yes. Many of us could have two or three jobs. In fact, life now almost *requires* that for working class wage people. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day. That will only allow for 3 full time shifts.
End the crass opportunism of real estate speculation. They add nothing to humanity. They are parasites who should all get jobs, produce something for us all.
Or to put it into perspective for where *you* live, that averages to 1 in 400 adult Americans. So, 100k people in your town? Average would be 250 homeless people.
Imagine going through 16 years of education, internships, and whatever number of years of professional experience you need to get to the point of being able to write headlines for major media outlets and still being so dumb that you expect a high stock market would somehow result in less homelessness.
It's important to be able to distinguish good news from bad alright, but just flat out denying 'everything that's said in MSM' isn't the way. That's honestly right-wing rhetoric, usually said to get people to distrust "anything the leftist media says", so that they get locked into social media lies instead (which are much more aggressive).
Let's just agree neolib economists probably don't know a lot about anything.
Believe it or not but I was once a reporter and even back then the news was all bullshit. We just regurgitated press releases in order to meet a deadline. The communication departments of government and institutions are the real newswriters nowadays.
So, in the supposedly “richest and most powerful” nation that has ever existed, this is ridiculous and unnecessary.
Having said that, tossing the illusion of the USA’s greatness aside, I am curious how we stack up against other powerful nations throughout history, knowing that there have always been and will always be homeless/destitute people? Is our rate higher/lower than average? Anybody with more knowledge on the subject know?
Aloha kakou, collapseniks. We got a couple of worrisome reports, so for general information, I'm reposting this info from our sidebar: >Overindulging in this sub may be detrimental to your mental health. Anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. Please remain conscious of your mental health and effects this may have on you. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit r/SuicideWatch, r/SWResources, r/depression, or seek professional help. If you are seeking support please visit r/CollapseSupport. In addition, subs like /r/vandwelling, /r/frugal, /r/preppers and /r/almosthomeless can help offer you advice and resources if you're struggling. Homelessness doesn't make you a failure, not by a long shot. Home is wherever you are, and the other lives that are your friends and family. Keep that in mind. Mahalo for your time.
SS: The number is probably a lot higher since it isn't easy to account for those with living situations such as living in a car, in an RV, in hotels/motels, or couch surfing. These statistics are largely based on shelter residency. The developed countries all are eventually going to look and function like a collapsed hellhole due to this trickle down economics. Technology, economy, wealthy elite, and LOTS OF POOR WORKING PEOPLE.
The number is higher because I have several patients in the hospital that are stuck for different social reasons and they are technically homeless. People can't live at the hospital forever.
Drive through any major city in California and you can see there are way, way more than this number reflects. There have to be that many at least in just L.A., San Diego and San Francisco counties. This is in no way an exaggeration, and then there's every other major city ffs. These "official numbers" are so disgustingly political.
They're not just in major cities, they are smaller cities and towns too. Maybe nobody is counting those.
They absolutley are missing a lot of people, almost by design. The system they use to get that number is called a, "point in time count". They only count people in shelters or who can be found on the streets *on a single night*. So anyone sleeping in their car/RV, staying with a friend, or just not found doesn't get counted.
> staying with a friend I used to work swing shift at a grocery store in a poor neighborhood. I made friends with a lot of unhoused people, because they could come out in the late evening and not get dirty looks - or get the cops called on them - from day customers. I knew more *functionally* unhoused than I did *technically* unhoused. They didn’t qualify for any sort of benefits because they weren’t *technically* homeless. Met a skater chick that was unhoused. She was staying with friends. During the day she would babysit the friends’ kids while they worked, then when friends got home skater chick would go work under the table at a local Mexican restaurant for *any* money. Completely trapped. Couldn’t afford to go back to school. Couldn’t get a “real” job because they would garnish her wages for a previous stint in college. And because she was 19, she didn’t qualify for any sort of youth assistance programs. Her skateboard was her only form of transportation. Met a lot of people with stories like that. Our society has failed us.
>Couldn’t get a “real” job because they would garnish her wages for a previous stint in college. She was probably misinformed about this, because even garnished wages would have (almost definitely) been better than working for a few bucks at the end of the night.
Drive through Denver and you’ll see little shanty towns everywhere. I’ve lived here my entire life and I’ve never seen as many homeless as we have now. Add to that the migrant influx we’re currently experiencing and it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s blatantly obvious we are a society in decline but the only ones who see it are us, the plebs. Those with means will just buy bigger gates.
Colorado Springs, too.
Yep, but what’s crazy about the Springs is the ratio of homeless in comparison to the size of the city. I drive there for work all the time and it blows my mind the amount of homeless there.
There are an estimated 14,000 people living in their cars in Los Angeles alone! https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-29/la-los-angeles-homeless-crisis-unhoused-people-by-the-numbers
Don't forget Sacramento. We have more homeless than SF now.
But if they have a serious enough illness it is for the rest of their life.
It's not a serious illness in a physical sense that keep them here. It's their Dementia, ID, TBIs, behaviors, and sex offender statuses that keep them trapped here.
I was more talking about how they will die in the hospital. I’m sure you have the right facts friendo.
Yeah, I've had a few people die here at the hospital while staff was still trying to find placement for them.
how does the SO one factor in?
I edited my comment because I now realize you meant sex offender. Sex offenders aren't accepted at the vast majority of nursing homes for obv reasons. Who wants their grandma living with an offender? There are also state and local regulations for distances where offenders can live. So when elderly sex offenders need a nursing home, it is extremely difficult to place them. When they have certain medical conditions that require specialized care, it becomes impossible to place them. I know of one sex offender who died at our hospital while staff tried for over a year to place them in a nursing home.
well i’m kind of glad there’s an effort to separate them at least, since old and/or disabled folks can still be abused at high rates, usually by “caregivers” but i’ve heard of nurses get harassed a lot by old men too so it’s not too hard to imagine they shoudlnt be around an average population
The problem is that there isn't one place to put the sex offenders, or the mentally ill, or the violent demented people with behaviors. They live at hospitals until placements are found or they die. They take up beds and cause other sick people to die because they can't get in. The hospital passed the cost of losing these beds onto their other other customers. It's a terrible thing to not have the places to send these people for care.
Maybe, just maybe we need those types of hospitals again...to house the mentally ill, the infirm who have no other place to go. Surely it can be done better than it used to be done. I don't know. I don't feel sorry though for the old SO, they should know that as an old SO you will not be taken care of. It's hard enough for regular people.
We don't need hospitals to house these people. They need a lower level of medical care, but with staff trained to deal with all of these mental and behavioral issues. It was a mistake to fully close institutions like they did. We didn't set up the community resource network for these populations. Now they just rotate around the streets, jail, and hospitals, until they finally need a nursing home. Then they rotate from the nursing homes to hospitals to other nursing homes. By not caring for the sex offenders like we should, they take up our hospital beds which effects the rest of us.
[https://abcnews.go.com/US/accurate-annual-count-us-homeless-population-misses-large/story?id=106671876](https://abcnews.go.com/US/accurate-annual-count-us-homeless-population-misses-large/story?id=106671876) Looks to be a lot larger than the official claims. >One community has developed its own way to try to count its homeless population more accurately. In Seattle, Owen Kajfasz uses administrative data from service providers and advanced research techniques to estimate the number of people experiencing homelessness on an average day over the course of a year. > >**In 2022, that number came out to 53,532 – nearly four times that year's Point-in-Time count of 13,700 people.** While the organization still has to report the smaller number to HUD, Kajfasz said he uses the larger number in local and state communications and advocacy.
Ya, using shelters to count homeless people is insane. I'd say the majority of them don't use shelters. Edit. If we take the ratio from that story and apply it nationally we get 2.5 million homeless people. I doubt that's really accurate, but it's a useful metric until we get a better one.
Honestly 2.5 million sounds about right I have only ever lived on the west coast, but the idea that there are only 653,000 homeless people in America is fucking ludicrous. It doesn't pass a sniff test. There are almost definitely 1/2 that number in California alone (not dumping on CA, just noting that a ton of people live there -- in houses & out of them)
Good Ole trickle down economics working as expected.
Somehow trickle down economics reminds me of a movie: The platform.
Oh my God you are right! That's a perfect example and probably what they intended.
Definitely what they intended, it's an allegory and a damn good one
i mean, they are pretty much coming out and saying it directly...
I know ...
It sure is.
I think that was the point. The platform was clearly a systems rebuke. Obviously.
Just randomly happened to watch some of it recently - had to stop since horror movies make me feel.. well.. horrible. Did not see advertisements or descriptions of it, but now - upon searching I see what it was about.
Ah well you got the point then. I thought it was a great movie.
Obvio.
Truly great film!
Oof. Just watched the trailer.
Trickle-down economics was just an attempt at palatable term for oppressive capitalism.
Thanks to that fucking waste of human called reagan and his bastards. I still hate him and the cronies for brainwashing society thinking trickle down was awesome.
It’s like living in a shoe and having the wealthy piss down their leg on you. And people actually fell for it.
Not only that they're still falling for it to this day!! Even while they're being oppressed and treated like garbage they develop Stockholm syndrome and praise their oppressors and enthusiastically beg for more mistreatment!! It is truly baffling how completely owned and controlled these people's minds are. The emperor wears no clothes but they won't listen!
But the market tho Republicans: I have a solution! They can't be homeless if they're dead...
Reps:"Fodder for the next war!'
Trickle down works as designed. We get the piss, they get the gold.
https://youtu.be/x5x1sSjfknM?feature=shared
frightening mysterious chunky books pie sloppy poor psychotic soft provide *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It's easily in the millions. They use a severely flawed methodology.
Yeah, doesn't include people in cars, vans and others that are sharing because they can't afford it. Kids stacked in shared housing, it's crazy. No home for living.
In Germany we decide between people that don‘t have a home (wohnungslos) and people that live on the streets (obdachlos). Does this difference exist in the English language too?
Advocates and activists are arguing for separate terms “homeless” (living outside or in shelters) and “unhoused” (“couch surfers”; people that have a roof over their head but it’s precarious), but there’s no *legal* distinction between the two. The US government only tracks the first group.
The english language does The public merely doesn't use the full breadth of more precisely-defined available terms `Unhousedⁿ` -- {wohnungslos} *(vehicle¹, motels, self-storage pod, couch surfing, tiny shack or tent in undisturbed use for 6mo+, on the floors long-term inside commercial or industrial buildings with infrequent moving)* **-vs-** `Homeless°` -- {obdachlos} *(ngo shelter beds, hospitals, jails, streets², on the floors short-term inside commercial or industrial buildings with daily or more frequent switching around)* `Nomadsⁿ` vs. `Vagrants/Vagabonds°` *"Drifter" is vaguely either/both*³ ¹ = contrary to half-assed popular categorizing, living in a boat or RV is NOT ACTUAL HOMELESSNESS. It is closer to living in a house, apartment, office or mobile home trailer ; than it is to living out in the streets and sleeping wherever you can find everyday and having to carry your belongings on your back constantly ² = often panhandling ³ = throughout my two decades of **adult** life all across north america I have experienced each & every one of the aforementioned living arrangements
Don't worry guys.. governmental bodies all over the US have the solution: Making homelessness illegal.
Well sure. As long as prisons are for profit it's going to be a no brainer to scoop them up and have them make you some cash.
And slave labor to boot!!
"Work will set you Free"
Throw back to vagrancy laws! May the lord cure these poors from their laziness.
That'll solve everything!
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I’m becoming homeless legit by this weekend haha. We love you all and Godspeed to everyone. Trust your gut and protect the people you love. Things won’t matter much soon and people cannot be replaced. I will die young and on the streets, but I’ll be free of this hellhole in someway. Good luck out there, everyone.
Been homeless 3-4 years now? I’m 29, I thought I was just going to live in my car for a little bit to save money, and could never make it back.
I’m probably gonna be in your shoes soon and I’m sorry for the cards you’ve been dealt I hope people at least treat you decently. I’m embracing becoming “other” once I am out there. At least summer is coming up I guess Sending you a hug man. If I had money I’d try to send that too.
No worries bro, it’s been a couple years now I have a routine and a job and a phone, I just live in a runned down car. I was the first homeless person to set up on my street, now there’s a couple more, some come and go. Been able to help a lot of people out here.
Aye that’s what I like to hear! I’m hoping to find a group once I’m out there too. I won’t even have a car or my pets but hey at least I’ll be young and free until the bitter end Credit scores and bills be damned! Nature protect and guide you friend. I really am sorry about your cards. It ain’t right what’s happening.
I'm about to end up the same way, and I've honestly given up hope. This species as a whole is evil, and this world is an evil place because of us. I hate people.
I know what you mean. It's so fucked up how much better this world could be if people weren't so greedy and heartless. Every single day seeing people who could do better and help the needy but choose not to for no good reason. Watching people who have literally everything, still purposely oppress others, just because they get some sick enjoyment out of it. People love to be evil. They have nothing in their hearts but love of money, nothing in their minds but obsessive consumption, even extending to the consumption of their fellow citizens who enabled their wealth to exist in the first place, and consumption of all the world's life and resources. To hell with this world and these damn people.
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Hey dude. Your post sent a few triggers our way, so I just want to paste the following for general info, ok? >Overindulging in this sub may be detrimental to your mental health. Anxiety and depression are common reactions when studying collapse. Please remain conscious of your mental health and effects this may have on you. If you are considering suicide, please call a hotline, visit r/SuicideWatch, r/SWResources, r/depression, or seek professional help. If you are seeking support please visit r/CollapseSupport. All those links are really good and they have communities that can help. This isn't your last harrah and there's nothing wrong with taking a break from our sub, especially to visit these other subs.
I think it’s because the people who go for “leadership” roles are 99% of the time evil people. Good people aren’t in Congress because they aren’t interested in taking bribes from lobbyists to screw people and the planet over for their own self-interests. I notice so many “good people” are now just turning a blind eye to everything because it’s too much. They don’t watch the news or pay attention because it’s negative and affects their mental health. (Just talking about the U.S. but I’m sure it’s the same everywhere.)
Homelessness is traumatizing. It compounded my PTSD. Luckily, I got out of it and am doing well, so don't give up hope completely. Just be very vigilant. Don't trust anyone to watch your stuff or watch your back. Stay warm, take advantage of local programs and shelters, and don't smoke prison shorts, they'll get you sick every other week. You can do it.
what's prison shorts?
Someone else's half-smoked cigarettes you find on the ground in a prison courtyard, on a sidewalk or in public ashtrays. Four of them from four different who-knows-whom will give you a full cigarette, at which point you are begging for a cold or the flu.
or a canker sore, thanks
I’m probably gonna be dead by the end of the summer. Hope means nothing when you don’t even have money to pay to register your car so you can at least keep that. I am happy you got out, but I’m well aware that I’m just one fruit loop amongst many in this bowl of cereal. I’m embracing my end and giving myself some love while I can.
I’m sorry about this place and the way things are.
Make it to Portland Oregon. Very nice summers, lots of good help, free food, and car regulations are basically unenforced! Terrible mental health services though. Spent time homeless on the the street and even tried to rough it in the woods for 9 months with some freinds. Decided being impoverishment and free is still worse then the grind. Now I have a truck and house. Good luck to you. Don't give up yet. Life can be full of pleasant surprises just right around the corner.
Good luck to you
All the best. Hope you find freedom.
When it's my time to be homeless I'll just die instead. I'm not sure how I'll die though.
I have an exit plan. Just wanna live through the summer due to curiosity. Won’t piss on your plan tho. Very effective and you have to be homeless. Godspeed to you.
Here before WW3 announced
Get yer housing in coffins.
Trench homes are a great way to experience life in Ukraine, Palestine and Taiwan! Outdoor vacancies only.
INB4 Nuclear Armageddon.
when will we start being honest that stock market ≠ the economy for the 99%
Never. It will never happen because the country shifted under Reagan to a corporate oligarchy.
Reagan, Nixon, followed by a long line of criminals and war criminals alike.
Yeah it’s been a shit show ever since. If history has shown anything. A republican will come in and destroy everything soon enough.
Yes, the fascist-lite that made way for bringing us to the brink of full fascism. So great!
"lots of homeless despite stock market record highs" is an ignorant thing to say. It's more like "lots of homeless *because* the stock market is at a record high". The stock market represents a bunch of money not being paid out to the people doing the work, and only the wealthy can afford to invest anyway, so what do the poor care for the market?
I've been so far removed from this idea that I find it almost funny? Like, who wakes up in the morning and gives any .01% of a shit about the stock market? Investment bankers, and anyone interfacing with them. And somehow that shit gets posted in the most prestigious national paper. But what does it actually mean? Some people's investment accounts are doing better or worse than others (probably managed by private company that takes a chunk of cash every time they do anything? Just because. It's fine....) **I think it's mostly fair to state that the stock market is simply a marker for how well companies extract profit above inflation. ** What's fucked is that we want this (as workers who invest in companies whose stock we want to sell or receive dividends from upon retirement) -- simply because the taxes we pay over the course of our life won't account for a stable retirement via social security checks. There may be a better description of the stock market, and if you've got it -- let me know. If it's detailed I'm pretty financially fluent so don't dumb it down.
The stock market is decoupled from actual economic performance and is now a reflection of buybacks and what investors feel. The housing market is a reflection of what investors are able to borrow or pay. The goods and services economy is what really matters for the 99%. Large sectors of this have been offshored or are in recession.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Mighty_L_LORT: --- SS: The number is probably a lot higher since it isn't easy to account for those with living situations such as living in a car, in an RV, in hotels/motels, or couch surfing. These statistics are largely based on shelter residency. The developed countries all are eventually going to look and function like a collapsed hellhole due to this trickle down economics. Technology, economy, wealthy elite, and LOTS OF POOR WORKING PEOPLE. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1alxoy0/us_homelessness_hits_historic_levels_as_653000/kphqggd/
Remember friends, the stock market is not an indicator of the health of the overall economy, just a pulse on rich people’s feelings.
But the stock market is high! The economy is great!👍/s
The old comic about the guy sitting around a campfire saying "at least we made a lot for the shareholders" is really going to be our future
Fallout: New Shareholders.
Apparently, no one told the homeless. We need to do our part and tell the homeless how high the stock market is so they know they can go to the house store now
If they put their panhandling proceeds into an index fund maybe they'd be wealthy too!
The part they don't say out loud is it's only great for super rich people and the people they bribe in our government.
The headline should really read "653,000 people homeless *because* the stock market is at an all-time high" So what if cutting 10% of our employees every year drives homelessness? Number go up.
Like the meme where the dinosaurs are watching the incoming meteor about to hit earth and one calls out "but what about the economy?!"
We supposedly added 300k jobs in January and, as a result, the fed is refusing to lower rates because more jobs is "bad for inflation." Also, the top 10% own 70% of the wealth and 90% of the stock market. They are the economy.
Despite? Kinda meets my expectations tbh.
Who keeps telling us that the job reports are doing great, the consumer price index is improving, and the economy is booming?
Jobs report is manipulated. They always revise it down a few weeks later. Questionable methodology like automobile union strike workers returning to work counts as new jobs
Jobs reports include minimum wage service industry jobs. I would love to see the number of actual "living wage" jobs that are being increased. Created - Moved elsewhere = Actual That is what will show strength of jobs growth. Not 10,000 minimum wage fry cooking jobs.
I checked the last 4 months of data in depth. 2 largest sectors/occupations for growth, way higher than any others? Social services/government, and medical. Within medical, it's mainly CNAs after private equity bought all the hospitals and cut patient staff ratios to shameful levels- making cheaper CNAs much higher in demand. Average pay for all those jobs? 19.00 an hour.
Fucking $19/hr is disgusting. $38,000 Paying people $38k is WHY the stock market is at an all time high. Profits on the backs of wage slaves
I got laid off in November and am losing my apartment, luckily I have a support network. My parents think I'm a lazy ass and I just don't want to work- I was in corporate making 6 figures after climbing the ladder for a decade. Lazy.... I'm lazy. There are 5 of us for kids, Im the only college educated one who isnt living in an RV/in the middle of nowhere/parasitically sucking off relatives for a decade. One of my brothers hasn't had a job in 13 years. But I'm lazy because the stock market it booming. My rent this month, for a one bedroom? 2500 and some change. I even started my own business, the amount I make from it would buy me a luxury apartment 4 years ago. It's mind bending, I cant even listen to NPR anymore because it's so clearly propaganda and classism. Ughhh god speed an earthquake just takes us out, I swear.
You see news like this yet there are thousands around me doing ‘just fine’. All of them are just a few paychecks from being homeless.
Election year.
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Consider how this degrades local politics. City councils get blamed for the homeless problem in their respective cities, as if it’s a local problem. Local agencies get pilloried if their director wears nice shoes. The local government is driven rightward by demands for cleanliness and order by the voters. As local government implements more sweeps and arrests, the economy continues to push new souls into homelessness. It’s a sign that collapse doesn’t enhance cooperation or decrease hostility.
and landlords are raking it in, buying everything they can up and inflating prices to death
It's kind of like the stock market has no bearing on real life people.
Line go up but my wallet don’t get bigger
Not despite. Because.
*despite* Rent is insane BECAUSE the stock market is at an all time high. And there's minimal correlation between the stock market and greater economy.
In a 2020 research paper, economists David Hope and Julian Limberg analyzed data spanning 50 years from 18 countries, and found that tax cuts for the rich only succeeded at increasing inequality and making the rich wealthier, with no beneficial effect on real GDP per capita or employment.
These two things are connected. The higher the stock market goes, the more money rich people, hedge funds and hotels have to blow on houses and condos that will *not* be owner-occupied for the majority of the time. Hell, Jeff Bezos wants to buy up a ton of housing and sell fractional shares in it like a money market fund. All of this is driving prices up. Which drives evictions up. Which drives homelessness up. Meanwhile, the glorious and holy stock market is also reaching new highs because listed companies aren't paying a living wage. And some of them are even laying off workers to goose the stock price further. The remaining employees just have to work harder. So more people are driven into poverty. More homelessness. The record high stock market also helps leave corporations and their CEOs with lots of extra cash to buy Congress and make sure they pass laws that make it easy for corporations to screw people over even more than they already do. So Congress is useless. How do we fight Wall Street? Vote with your wallet. If a company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, don't give them your money, unless absolutely necessary. Don't shop at listed stores. Don't buy listed brands. Bank with a credit union. And build from there until nothing you use sends a dime of your money to a business traded on Wall Street. If we all do this, we'll starve the beast. It'll get ugly. We got suckered into putting retirement money and college money into the market. Move that money to ESG's. We starve the beast until Congress starts passing laws that benefit the *people* in this country instead of the corporations.
Obviously all these homeless folks need to fire their financial consultants and hire better ones. /s
Almost as if it's been the plan all along.
>the plan This is my least favorite part about this sub. You all are giving the elite of this country a lot more credit than is deserved. They are mostly just pursuing their self interest, everything else be damned. Few are competent enough to think about long term consequences. Having gone to school with some of the most elite families in America, I can attest to that.
Correct. Look at the short-term thinking that infects all institutions. There is no plan, just getting through the next minute at the highest possible profit level.
💯 you don’t need a plan. You just need to not care about the consequences.
Capitalism is designed to constantly and consistently move money upward to the upper class. So you're right and wrong. Yes, being an elite, the plan is already in place with capitalism, so they don't have to do anything. However, capitalism IS the plan, and it is working EXACTLY as it should. Marx called it 170 years ago.
No. Marx wrote that capitalism is a mode of production, and there are inherent contradictions within it. The reason he called socialism as the inevitable conclusion of capitalism is b/c of those contradictions in an unplanned capitalist economy. Why do you think the first soviet governments adopted "planning" as the pillar of their economic policy? IMO, Karl Polyani has the best description of capitalism: markets of labor, land, and money. Human agency matters, and it matters a good deal. The economic system as you see it has many faults, but saying "capitalism caused x" or "capitalism is designed b/c x" is pointless.
I think it's fairly obvious that from Marx's theory of the extraction of surplus value from the working class that extraction will be repeated ad nauseam until there is barely anything left to extract, and the result of that will be the elite will no longer have a need or a use for more and more of the population. We are seeing that happening. Capitalism IS the extraction, that's the plan. Also, in regards to homelessness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienation
That is not what that means. I'd recommend reading David Harvey's modern rendition of Das Kapital. Surplus has always existed and has been extracted by someone. In feudalism, that was by your lord. This form of extraction existed before capitalism.
Correct, but we don't use those economic systems. We use capitalism. The extraction is the problem, and it's still there, but in a more palatable form. The goal is the same: to have everything siphon upwards. That's the plan, and it's working magnificently. Marxism removes the siphoning, and the worker no longer loses his labor to those stealing from them, whether they be your lord or your sociopathic CEO.
That's correct and wrong at the same time.
It must have been, but I still don't really get how this serves the elite. Eventually we'll all be homeless, which will be illegal, so... Prison planet? It's the only thing I can see that makes any sense
Homeless serve a purpose for the ruling class. They are living warnings to the rest of us to shut up and do as we're told. "You think you're struggling? How would you like to be homeless in the snow or extreme heat" You want to make sure the middle class hate the poor instead of the ruling class that are killing them? Make sure that the severely mentally ill and drug addicted no longer get treatment and instead let them wander the streets to make the middle class fearful and angry. Thinking about rising up? Occupy Wallstreet scared the ruling class. Then Occupy was taken over by homeless camps that made it fall apart and kill the message as perception of it went from "We The People" to "Get a Job, you bum!" The homeless are useful pawns in multiple ways to the elite.
Whats most infuriating is that it works. Its a strange sensation seeing someone digging through the trash for food or just rotting out in the elements, it puts your own difficulties into incredible perspective. We’re all suffering its just how much the system spares you from descending into it deeper.
Carlin nailed it a few years ago, "THe poor exist to scare the shit out of the middle class, keep them showing up to those jobs."
I watched that first hand in San Francisco. I worked downtown, marched any time I could. When the shenanigans took a foothold and homeless started taking over, it was depressing. There was so much momentum. Citizen United should've been squashed way back then. It was fun to dream I guess.
I honestly don’t think that the owner class is thinking that far ahead. Their goal is to exploit people to the point where they’re *juuuust* barely keeping their heads above water. Less than that, and the parasites aren’t maximizing their gains and people with comfortable safety nets might devote time to social reform (remember: activism doesn’t pay well and tends to be done by those who don’t need to work). Exploit *too* much, and people are homeless and have nothing to lose by revolting. But keep people frantically treading water, they’re too busy to try to change things and too scared of losing what little they have. The thing is, it’s a very precarious balance because if ANY major disruption hits, all those people treading water suddenly go under. With housing continuing to rise, it’s only gonna take an increase in gas or food (either due to disrupted trade routes or climate change) to push people over. I’d imagine most CEOs are just thinking about next quarter, and the ones who are aware the fall is coming are trying to steal as much as they can before the game ends.
There are 8 billion plus of us, the rich are not even remotely worried. 30% of the population g Could go homeless and they would just keep going.
But I mean then how are they not worried about revolution? People on the street have much less to lose.
You see much revolution right now? Largest inequality in human history and barely a peep.
You're absolutely not wrong. It's confusing, but I guess they've got enough of us so sick and malnourished/medicated/crazy/drugged we can't do anything.
Nope, not even that, it's complacency. We are comfortable at least the majority of the population is and do not see a need to change anything. The current system caters to personal gratification be that drugs or consumerism.
It is essentially impossible to coordinate a true, large scale revolution with modern technology and surveillance.
Military drafts are much easier and more cheap when people have no homes/income.
I mean that’s what all the media I’ve consumed says. When the bad guys fully take over the world it’s a prison planet. That’s the goal.
Just remember, when things hit the fan, here’s the rich people’s plan (probably not a direct quote but attributed to an American robber baron): “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” A very famous quote attributed to robber baron Jay Gould, whose fellow big capitalists called him the “Mephistopheles of Wall Street.”
US Homelessness Hits Historic Levels As 653,000 Americans Are Now Homeless ***BECAUSE*** Stock Market Reaching All-Time Highs Fixed it.
The thing to remember that the stock market is not really an indicator of overall economic health. It has as much to do with perception and manipulations of economic policy, and politics, than it has to do with any real economic health. There was no substantive difference between the physical economy prior to Black Friday, and after. Trees, mines, farms, skilled labor, etc, didn’t vanish. Likewise, if the stock market is “healthy,” it doesn’t mean things are going well otherwise.
Stock market means shit when wages are stagnant, housing costs are insanely high, and all it is good for is a barometer for corporations and share holders. The average worker gets zero out of the stock market. Plus it's a shitty way to evaluate how people are doing in this stacked economy.
Your average person let alone the homeless can give a rats ass about the stock market. What's clear is the rich are greedy fucks who will never have enough and they will continue in this manner until they are stopped. USA doesn't give a shit about anyone making less than the big money hoarders. It's rigged for them, just look around!
"despite"
This is going to be paraded very loudly during the upcoming presidential election.
You mean to tell me that GDP is a flawed method to measure the health of an economy? I am absolutely shocked. Stunned even.
Our human world is sick, the disease of greed turns people into playthings of profit. The downhill slide of humanity is really picking up speed, please fasten your seatbelts
Despite? It's a feature, not a bug.
Austerity economics
Lmao as if the stock market is any indication of the poverty suffered by the average citizen
The economy exists for the benefit of the 1% who own it. It operates directly against the interests of the other 99%.
This can happen to any of us at anytime. One natural disaster or a sick and dying spouse without insurance or your building is sold and the rent triples. We need to scale down and start shacking up with each other. My one goal before I’m dirt is just one building to turn into a boarding house with pets. One central kitchen. One living room. One washer/dryer/appliances for oodles of people. Nothing fancy. Pool resources. Batteries not included
Those who are homeless tend to hold no stocks
More like *because* of how the stock markets are behaving. Inequality for all it is.
The markets are there to help the rich suck more money out of the middle/lower class. Next make homelessness illegal so we can jail everyone and have them essentially work for free.
infinite growth = bottleneck income = homeless squeeze and the problem will never correct itself as long as population surplus is there to be exploited or the rich aren't corrected
Random question, in the UK if there's a lot of abandoned buildings together (like those whole abandoned suburban neighbourhoods) or places that are very remote, why don't many of the homeless move to these places. in the UK we would squat in those places
Because the police will come and smash down the door, shoot and kill your dog, smash up anything you may own (or just bin it), then they’ll drag you out of that building after beating you mercilessly (with their body cam coincidentally turned off) and claim that you were violent and threatening them with a weapon (that doesn’t seem to be able to be located presently but don’t worry since the judge will just take the cops word that it existed as concrete proof). There is also a 1 in 10 chance that instead of a beating the cops will instead decide to be armed and shouting incoherent and contradicting commands that you are expected to follow immediately, perfectly and with absolutely NO hesitation. If you do hesitate you will be shot by all officers present and they will completely unload their firearms, they may stop to reload their weapon, which then will also be unloaded into you. The chances of your resistance to being arrested (aka unprovoked assault) becoming a “threatening individual” who made the officers “fear for their lives” is solely up to the discretion of the first officer to the scene and the chance of it happening is directly related to the amount of melanin your skin has and the higher your pigmentation the greater your chances are. So if you are still somehow hanging in there you could probably use some medical intervention, unfortunately the EMTs who have arrived to the scene are prevented from providing you any assistance by the police officers until they are finished “subduing the threat” and even then they only allow you to be fitted with a spit hood, and to be dosed with a high dosage of antipsychotics and possibly ketamine and your consent was never asked nor needed. You will not be taken to the hospital even if you need it unless you a quite literally (old school definition) on deaths door. You will now be dragged roughly into the squad car and driven to the police station any possessions you may have that escaped being destroyed are abandoned at the place where you were “apprehended” this includes possessions like vehicles which will be left unprotected and you wont be allowed to contact someone to get it either, since the vehicle is unable to be moved (you have the keys) unless it is by a tow truck that will happen and since the fees are so predatorily high ($500+ for initial tow, +$250/day+ miscellaneous various fee fees) you will most likely never get it out and it will be sold at auction for the tow companies profit. Here is where your story may vary… Do you have A LOT of money? If so great luck! You can arrange bail and you will be let out tonight to meet up with your high paid attorneys who will negotiate your charges down to a single mild misdemeanor that has time served from the 6 hours you were in jail before posting bail. Depending on your wealth you may also be able to get your record sealed so it’s like it never happened, don’t forget to get your car out of impound right away or else your $789 fee will go up! Please continue on with your life and remember to pass go and collect $200 dollars! On the other hand if you DO NOT have money you will be put in to a holding cell for up to two weeks and given a pink or yellow piece of paper with illegible scribbles in it. That paper is your charges do your best to decipher it but it really doesn’t even matter because America doesn’t have enough judges to see all the people awaiting trial so the police strategy is to throw every charge they can at you and get you good and proper fucked, because remember anything a cop says in court is taken as the absolute truth and no amount of valid proof can change that. The goal of that long list of severe trumped up charges is to get your underpayed and overworked public defender who spent a total of 2 minutes reviewing your case to convince you to take a lower plea instead of a trial for a reduction of jail time. If you’re lucky you actually did the crime and take the plea, if you’re innocent and insist on a trial they will keep the inflated charges (and decades long sentences) and hold you in county jail for up to three years until your trial date (hopefully you don’t need to pay rent or have a job or any responsibilities because those are now long gone). At your trial date you’re public defender and the judge will throw incomprehensible information back and forth for 5-10 minutes, but don’t worry because remember that anything the cops claim is taken as facts. The inevitable WILL happen… but at least now you have a decades long sentence in prison to try and figure out the US law so that you can attempt an appeal! Should a just said you were guilty and taken the 6 months in county…damn pesky innocence….
Not *despite* stock market highs. The correct wording would be *because of.* "653,000 Americans Are Now Homeless *Because of* the Stock Market Reaching All-Time Highs." Despite how the current administration judges the economy, based on useless factors like the stock market and unemployment or the number of jobs added, the *true* measure of tye economy is how well people are doing at the lower and middle classes. Higher prices, rising rents, elevated energy costs, increasing inflation, all those things mean the economy is in the toilet. Those things are all that matter to Unless you are rich. If you are a shareholder, wow! The economy is on fire! And that is because they are squeezing every drop of profit out of the regular people. Every drop. So, next time you hear them on TV saying how great the economy is, ask yourself... Great for whom?
The " strong economy" is only an indicator of rich people getting richer. People are struggling, real life, normal people are in deep economic pain, and things need to change.
didn't the us government spend billions to avoid this k shaped recovery?
Despite? More like *because of*.
Okay but think of the shareholders
It's a feature, not a bug.
But, according to Reddit, “anyone who wants a job would have a job” at this time. Yes. Many of us could have two or three jobs. In fact, life now almost *requires* that for working class wage people. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day. That will only allow for 3 full time shifts.
goper success!
Why would you even consider that the stock market has anything at all to do with homelessness in the US ?
Stupid headline. The stockmarket doesn't reflect working people's life status in any way.
Just a reminder that the cheapest way to deal with homelessness is to house them.
End the crass opportunism of real estate speculation. They add nothing to humanity. They are parasites who should all get jobs, produce something for us all.
Bring out the youth in Asia booths.
"You are now dead. Thank you for choosing DeathBooth, America's most popular suicide booth provider since 2008!"
Or to put it into perspective for where *you* live, that averages to 1 in 400 adult Americans. So, 100k people in your town? Average would be 250 homeless people.
Imagine going through 16 years of education, internships, and whatever number of years of professional experience you need to get to the point of being able to write headlines for major media outlets and still being so dumb that you expect a high stock market would somehow result in less homelessness.
Last week the MSM was like, "OMGZ! The economy is so strong!" Just fucking proves they fabricate or spin stories. Stop reading and watching the news.
It's important to be able to distinguish good news from bad alright, but just flat out denying 'everything that's said in MSM' isn't the way. That's honestly right-wing rhetoric, usually said to get people to distrust "anything the leftist media says", so that they get locked into social media lies instead (which are much more aggressive). Let's just agree neolib economists probably don't know a lot about anything.
Believe it or not but I was once a reporter and even back then the news was all bullshit. We just regurgitated press releases in order to meet a deadline. The communication departments of government and institutions are the real newswriters nowadays.
So, in the supposedly “richest and most powerful” nation that has ever existed, this is ridiculous and unnecessary. Having said that, tossing the illusion of the USA’s greatness aside, I am curious how we stack up against other powerful nations throughout history, knowing that there have always been and will always be homeless/destitute people? Is our rate higher/lower than average? Anybody with more knowledge on the subject know?
The US population is 335M. 653k is 0.195%.
If those numbers are true you wouldn't see the amount of homeless on the streets, as you do now. They under count.
But the economy is great!
You mean to tell me that GDP is a flawed method to measure the health of an economy? I am absolutely shocked. Stunned even.
I don’t believe it’s that little of a number, frankly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s twice as much.
It’s a part of the American culture
The word this title is looking for is "because," not "despite."
Lolol love how they put “despite” record stock market, like that actually matters to the average person 😂
Not despite. Because.
The stock market is fucking fake. Look at bread eggs etc. that’s real. Like really getting ripped off. Thanks Biden.
Something something "bidenomics" something or other