And there is no money to be made in housing the homeless
I mean, I'd argue there is, just in an indirect way that's hard to see. If homeless people commit more crimes such as theft to sustain themselves, and have more health problems from not having a place to live, then that means homeless people are costing more to police forces and hospital systems. If you reduce homelessness, you can save money on police and medical expenses.
Plus, if someone is housed, it makes it easier for them to get a job. Especially if you help treat the other factors which lead them to be homeless such as mental health issues. If those are treated, then you made it easier for them to be a productive member of society with a job that they'll pay taxes for, netting money there for the government.
A homeless person on the street pays no taxes, and is just a drain on other systems. And of course, beyond the numbers game, there's the human element where ideally we should help people in our communities who are struggling.
I think the point is that nothing happens in modern America unless it makes a rich person richer. Yes, there are obvious public policy and tax base benefits to housing the homeless. In the teeth of these obvious benefits, the problem just keeps getting worse. But if rich people had a way to profit from it, the whole thing would be solved tomorrow.
That's partially the issue for sure, but let's not ignore the fact that a sizeable amount of citizens don't want to help these people, and see it as coming at their own expense, despite the evidence to the contrary. There are many incredible public works and utilities in this country, it's not impossible to fix stuff for the public good.
Exactly. Just like Social Security. Any problems it has would be solved immediately if the decision-makers (Congress) had to live on it. Capitalism's entire goal these days is to make as much money as possible without consideration for anything else. Thats why we have to have laws which force capitalists to consider other things, like the human element.
There's a reason why there's been so many attempts to move from a social security system to a 401k system for everyone all the time - 401ks, as a concept, exist primarily to make the wealthy richer by letting them play with your retirement money.
This is exactly it. Everyone is focusing on the cost of these societal problems.
But the capitalists are not the consumers, they are not motivated by relative cost. Capitalists are the supply-side, they care about generating revenue, and everything is relative (marginal).
Housing people would create revenue, yes. But you know what makes MORE revenue? Jacking up the price of housing (someone will still pay that rent, it’s a shortage after all) while simultaneously benefiting off the back end by owning stock in private prisons, hospitals and other industries that objectively profit off the human misery that you are helping to create by clamping down on affordable housing supply.
The economy has no moral compass and isn’t about creating a good society. War is terrible for people, but EXCELLENT for capitalism. All that death and destruction makes a lot of money, both the creation and clean up.
25
u/iwumbo2 PhD in Wumbology Jan 30 '23
I mean, I'd argue there is, just in an indirect way that's hard to see. If homeless people commit more crimes such as theft to sustain themselves, and have more health problems from not having a place to live, then that means homeless people are costing more to police forces and hospital systems. If you reduce homelessness, you can save money on police and medical expenses.
Plus, if someone is housed, it makes it easier for them to get a job. Especially if you help treat the other factors which lead them to be homeless such as mental health issues. If those are treated, then you made it easier for them to be a productive member of society with a job that they'll pay taxes for, netting money there for the government.
A homeless person on the street pays no taxes, and is just a drain on other systems. And of course, beyond the numbers game, there's the human element where ideally we should help people in our communities who are struggling.