We are broke

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

I wish we built homeless shelters with that money

Taliban Pocketing $2.5 Billion In US Taxpayer Humanitarian Aid: Inspector General | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

JustOneWay · Nov 17, 2023

If we are broke, what good would homeless shelters do? We are broke. We have no money to feed them. What good is a shelter when the most important thing in life is food and water? America gives money to people all over the world, which is a sign of a rich nation. But we are broke. I bet if Trump becomes president again will will immediately become a rich nation....

The article is from the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times, which is affilated with the Falun Gong new religious movement.

Tinker Grey · Nov 17, 2023

JustOneWay said:
If we are broke, what good would homeless shelters do? We are broke. We have no money to feed them. What good is a shelter when the most important thing in life is food and water? America gives money to people all over the world, which is a sign of a rich nation. But we are broke. I bet if Trump becomes president again will will immediately become a rich nation....

The article is from the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times, which is affilated with the Falun Gong new religious movement.

The US military budget is about $2.5Billion (with a B) PER DAY! This thing with Afghanistan, while annoying, is ultimately a nothing-burger.

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

JustOneWay said:
If we are broke, what good would homeless shelters do? We are broke. We have no money to feed them. What good is a shelter when the most important thing in life is food and water? America gives money to people all over the world, which is a sign of a rich nation. But we are broke. I bet if Trump becomes president again will will immediately become a rich nation....

The article is from the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times, which is affilated with the Falun Gong new religious movement.

Tinker Grey said:
The US military budget is about $2.5Billion (with a B) PER DAY! This thing with Afghanistan, while annoying, is ultimately a nothing-burger.

But that is just one example of spending. I'd rather see the money stay in the US for the citizens. If you haven't noticed the debt ceiling, it's unsustainable.

JustOneWay · Nov 17, 2023

If we don't support the world we will have no say with what is happening in the world. Isolationism does not work.

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

JustOneWay said:
If we don't support the world we will have no say with what is happening in the world. Isolationism does not work.

We are definitely not supporting world look at BRICS nations.

JustOneWay · Nov 17, 2023

Laodicean60 said:
We are definitely not supporting world look at BRICS nations.

Technical Difficulties

"Since 1994, South Africa has made notable strides toward building an inclusive democracy that provides increased opportunity for its people. Nevertheless, the country faces many challenges, including slow economic growth, high rates of crime and unemployment, lingering corruption, and a persistent HIV/AIDS epidemic. U.S. assistance focuses on improving healthcare, increasing education standards and teacher training, building capacity in agriculture to address regional food security, and both mitigating and adapting to climate change."

Technical Difficulties

"The U.S. Department of State’s Bureaus of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Forest Service, and other partners provide law enforcement and justice sector investigation and prosecution training for Brazilian counterparts to support their efforts to combat trafficking of wildlife, gold, timber, and other conservation crimes that impact the United States, Brazil, and the region. "

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

JustOneWay said:
Technical Difficulties

"Since 1994, South Africa has made notable strides toward building an inclusive democracy that provides increased opportunity for its people. Nevertheless, the country faces many challenges, including slow economic growth, high rates of crime and unemployment, lingering corruption, and a persistent HIV/AIDS epidemic. U.S. assistance focuses on improving healthcare, increasing education standards and teacher training, building capacity in agriculture to address regional food security, and both mitigating and adapting to climate change."

Technical Difficulties

"The U.S. Department of State’s Bureaus of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Forest Service, and other partners provide law enforcement and justice sector investigation and prosecution training for Brazilian counterparts to support their efforts to combat trafficking of wildlife, gold, timber, and other conservation crimes that impact the United States, Brazil, and the region. "

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Delivers Emergency COVID-19 Assistance for India | The White House

Reflecting the United States’ solidarity with India as it battles a new wave of COVID-19 cases, the United States is delivering supplies worth more than

www.whitehouse.gov

"The United States and India have closely worked together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. COVID-19 assistance has reached more than 9.7 million Indians across more than 20 states and union territories, providing life-saving treatments, disseminating public health messages to local communities; strengthening case-finding and surveillance; and mobilizing innovative financing mechanisms to bolster emergency preparedness: "

Yes, but you said the world. This thread is about going broke by giving our tax dollars.

JustOneWay · Nov 17, 2023

Laodicean60 said:
Yes, but you said the world. This thread is about going broke by giving our tax dollars.

You said not BRICS. Please keep up.

rambot · Nov 17, 2023

No complaints about the billions sent to Israel eh?

Alright.

JustOneWay · Nov 17, 2023

rambot said:
No complaints about the billions sent to Israel eh?

Alright.

But, but that 'investment' will hasten the second coming....

Desk trauma · Nov 17, 2023

rambot said:
No complaints about the billions sent to Israel eh?

Alright.

That would of course be anti semitism.

Richard T · Nov 17, 2023

Assumptions about how to help the homeless I think are flawed. More housing isn’t the solution to homelessness — it’s treatment Still, you are right we can spend more money to help with the mental health issues and addictions. To me the reform of policies to gain control of the budget is possible but it won't be done alone by foreign aid. Here is an article worth reading on that subject. What every American should know about US foreign aid | Brookings

Military aid or waste is a different category. The policy changes needed though are much tougher and include an overhaul of the health care system, of social security, of medicare/medicaid and even education. Since politicians rake in political contributions from so many interest groups, it seems very unlikely this will occur. Nearly all the governments of the word are spending far more than they are receiving from taxes and at some point there will be a collapse. Japns is most likely as it's debt to GDP ratio is north of 250%. the USA's debt according to this key ratio is 129 percent. This is about equal with WWII levels, which begs the question what if there is a serious war now?

The blame goes way back too. Reagan, Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden. There is no incentive to fix it. Greasing the economy with money helps re-elections. VP Cheney is on record saying "deficits do not matter." No one wants to take away the spiked punch bowl at the party. I wish the 2.5 billion was not wasted, but it won't solve the coming budget crisis. Perhaps the goal is to cause a financial collapse so that the new world currency will emerge. If so, we are heading that way.

rambot · Nov 17, 2023

Richard T said:
Assumptions about how to help the homeless I think are flawed. More housing isn’t the solution to homelessness — it’s treatment Still, you are right we can spend more money to help with the mental health issues and addictions. To me the reform of policies to gain control of the budget is possible but it won't be done alone by foreign aid. Here is an article worth reading on that subject. What every American should know about US foreign aid | Brookings

This is false. I would NEVER trust an opinion piece from NYPost personally.
1) I would point out that this article actually doens't have a SINGLE piece of useful evidence to support the "it's treatment" answer.

2) In fact, the argument they use is also largely illogical. The argument, essentially, is that "increasing affordable housing isn't the answer because when they did that the problem grew. That is not an logical argument though:
It does not indicated what WOULD have happenned without that increase in funding. What if the houseless population would have increased MORESO?

3) The ever increasing centralization of wealth into fewer and fewer hands and (at the same time) that money disappearing from the poorest people and MORE importantly, the perverse and wild increase in rents that are NOT commensurate with increases in salary.

You'll notice that same time frame shows ABOUT a 40% increase in rental costs. You will note in your article that they say that houselessness increase by 21% during that same time.
Seems to suggest it helped a bit.

Richard T said:
Military aid or waste is a different category. The policy changes needed though are much tougher and include an overhaul of the health care system, of social security, of medicare/medicaid and even education. Since politicians rake in political contributions from so many interest groups, it seems very unlikely this will occur. Nearly all the governments of the word are spending far more than they are receiving from taxes and at some point there will be a collapse. Japns is most likely as it's debt to GDP ratio is north of 250%. the USA's debt according to this key ratio is 129 percent. This is about equal with WWII levels, which begs the question what if there is a serious war now?

The blame goes way back too. Reagan, Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden. There is no incentive to fix it. Greasing the economy with money helps re-elections. VP Cheney is on record saying "deficits do not matter." No one wants to take away the spiked punch bowl at the party. I wish the 2.5 billion was not wasted, but it won't solve the coming budget crisis. Perhaps the goal is to cause a financial collapse so that the new world currency will emerge. If so, we are heading that way.

You know what's funny? I'd be inclined to think that if all the developed governments in the world simply took the wealth away from the richest, say, 100,000 people on the planet, that solve a LOT of debt problems around the world.

Don't say the problem is "over spending", the problem is the centralization of wealth amongst few and fewer people who can control it and SOLELY reap the benefits of hording it like dragons.

It's weird to me how FAR people are from blaming SO many of the world' problems on simply greed

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

Richard T said:
Assumptions about how to help the homeless I think are flawed. More housing isn’t the solution to homelessness — it’s treatment Still, you are right we can spend more money to help with the mental health issues and addictions. To me the reform of policies to gain control of the budget is possible but it won't be done alone by foreign aid. Here is an article worth reading on that subject. What every American should know about US foreign aid | Brookings

Military aid or waste is a different category. The policy changes needed though are much tougher and include an overhaul of the health care system, of social security, of medicare/medicaid and even education. Since politicians rake in political contributions from so many interest groups, it seems very unlikely this will occur. Nearly all the governments of the word are spending far more than they are receiving from taxes and at some point there will be a collapse. Japns is most likely as it's debt to GDP ratio is north of 250%. the USA's debt according to this key ratio is 129 percent. This is about equal with WWII levels, which begs the question what if there is a serious war now?

The blame goes way back too. Reagan, Bush, Obama, Trump and now Biden. There is no incentive to fix it. Greasing the economy with money helps re-elections. VP Cheney is on record saying "deficits do not matter." No one wants to take away the spiked punch bowl at the party. I wish the 2.5 billion was not wasted, but it won't solve the coming budget crisis. Perhaps the goal is to cause a financial collapse so that the new world currency will emerge. If so, we are heading that way.

Agreed fully. But also it's monetary policies created by the FED that caused asset prices to rise along with property taxes and insurance. Peace

rambot · Nov 17, 2023

Laodicean60 said:
Agreed fully. But also it's monetary policies created by the FED that caused asset prices to rise along with property taxes and insurance. Peace

Strange. According to the graph, there's not been any significant change in that increase for two decades...until post COVID.

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

rambot said:
Strange. According to the graph, there's not been any significant change in that increase for two decades...until post COVID.

I think creating affordable housing is workable because these people need to be off the streets. I read or heard maybe a documentary that these people care for themselves better and the ones with mental issues are a different story. The rent is high because home prices are high and millennials are forced to rent. They have to compete with Blackrock et al. The low-interest rate environment allowed corporations to purchase a lot and the middle class is struggling because of inflation caused by it and property taxes and insurance are rising. That is starting to change because high interest is eating into the corporate margin because these corporations use short-term loans. Also, COVID supply change shock inflated commodities and stopped building.
I agree the money is being funneled to the top. Wages haven't kept up with inflation. Maybe that will change when we are on on-shore manufacturing so these companies have to compete for wages.
I disagree with spending. If we have a deep recession and GDP drops we might not be able to service the interest on the debt. Peace

rambot · Nov 17, 2023

Just to add to that, I have a HARD time believe the FED policy caused such a devaluation of the dollar that it caused an otherwise unchanged housing market (in terms of volume) to suddenly inflate prices by 18%.

I'm sorry. That's just naked greed. Not anything "Economic".

In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence that the current 18% boost in rent prices is at least in part due to:
Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why.

Laodicean60 · Nov 17, 2023

When you print money it devalues the purchasing power of the dollar or floods the system.

"Importance of the Dollar Index for Commodity Traders

Commodity traders often keep a close track of the Dollar index. This index tracks the value of the US Dollar, relative to a basket of foreign currencies. Generally, the index goes up when the USD gains with respect to other currencies. The Dollar index is an important indicator of US economic activity, as well as other activities that can weaken or strengthen the US Dollar.

Commodity prices don’t generally go higher for every lower tick in the Dollar index, this happens over time. As mentioned earlier, a number of other factors can considerably offset the impact of the Dollar dominance on commodity prices.

The current dovish stance by the US Federal Reserve could lead to a downturn in the Dollar value in the future. A fragile US economy could motivate investors to put their money elsewhere, leading to a further decrease in the Dollar value. At the same time, economies reliant on commodity exports could benefit from increased commodity prices."

If you look at a GSCI Commodity index chart you'll see the rise in the basket of commodities during Covid. Peace

Richard T · Dec 4, 2023

rambot said:
This is false. I would NEVER trust an opinion piece from NYPost personally.
1) I would point out that this article actually doens't have a SINGLE piece of useful evidence to support the "it's treatment" answer.

2) In fact, the argument they use is also largely illogical. The argument, essentially, is that "increasing affordable housing isn't the answer because when they did that the problem grew. That is not an logical argument though:
It does not indicated what WOULD have happenned without that increase in funding. What if the houseless population would have increased MORESO?

3) The ever increasing centralization of wealth into fewer and fewer hands and (at the same time) that money disappearing from the poorest people and MORE importantly, the perverse and wild increase in rents that are NOT commensurate with increases in salary.
View attachment 339404
You'll notice that same time frame shows ABOUT a 40% increase in rental costs. You will note in your article that they say that houselessness increase by 21% during that same time.
Seems to suggest it helped a bit.

You know what's funny? I'd be inclined to think that if all the developed governments in the world simply took the wealth away from the richest, say, 100,000 people on the planet, that solve a LOT of debt problems around the world.

Don't say the problem is "over spending", the problem is the centralization of wealth amongst few and fewer people who can control it and SOLELY reap the benefits of hording it like dragons.

It's weird to me how FAR people are from blaming SO many of the world' problems on simply greed

The NY Post is right leaning, the editorial seems to be a conservative piece. Here is something similar from Ben Carson. Housing First Does Nothing to Solve the Homelessness Crisis The evidence is somewhat scant and my brief foray into the topic found it very complicated with an ongoing debate and varying evidence as the the causes and cures of homelessness. Rents do affect homelessness, but homeless prevention programs and rent subsidies very widely and results seem to be uneven. From my living in the less developed world, the USA excessive regulations on building and land use seem to be a place where compromise would grant many a home, though somewhat of a deficient one, depending on what regulations are targeted. I am not sure greater redistribution of income would solve debt for long. It would reduce future incentives to business owners and at the same time the government would squander it on programs that might do very little to help the homeless. I certainly know too that putting the responsibility on landlords can backfire as many have reduced their investment in rentals because evictions and squatting are serious problems for them. The same might be said for rent controls though they too might help in the short run. I'd like to see the government subsidize faith based housing programs more, offer more immigration for low wage workers in the housing industry and reduce regulations and costs in building. Anyway, thanks for your analysis and thoughts on homelessness.

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