It Doesn't Take Millions to End Homelessness

The header to this installment is the contents of a sign I saw yesterday in my city's dwindling occupy movement and only proved to me just how idiotic the movement has been. This is evidence of our society's failure to grasp Roosevelt's famous expression of giving "a hand up, not a hand out." Our society expects instant gratification, not understanding the cost attached to having their whims fulfilled.

The reality that has so obviously been ignored is that we live in a world of limited resources. If we presume to house each person in a studio apartment the rent will be approximately $500 a month (and that's on the low end compared to some cities) you are looking at $6000 a year to house just one person. And that is not taking into account the cost of utilities and food and clothing which are the necessities of life. In reality you're looking at an average closer to $1000 per month per person or $12,000 per year per person. Considering the number of people who are currently homeless in our nation the reality equates to millions of dollars a year, and then some.

That money is not just going to appear out of thin air, nor are the jobs to supply that money. And the economic movement necessary to supply people with jobs will never provide enough jobs to employ every individual. You also need to take into account that much of the homeless population struggles with drug and/or mental health issues that make it nearly impossible for them to hold jobs. All the social programs in the world cannot sustainably provide housing for every individual.

To make a large story short there is a lot more to solving the problem of homelessness than simply housing the homeless. The economy is a delicate system and we cannot allow our emotional ideals to veil the reality. The truth is that it doesn't take millions to end homelessness, it takes billions of dollars plus a vast array of other resources. Any economic issue is complicated and even our best intentions may result in the opposite effect (whether months or years down the line). The best thing our government can do to assist those in need without upsetting the balance is to give a reasonable hand up, not a handout.

The Abuse of Statistics in Action

Please look at the following graph and tell me what is wrong with this picture:



Can't see it?

Well the Washington Post did and you can check out their article here. Or you can read on.

Even someone with the most basic understanding of statistics can see where this graph goes wrong. Let me use the example from the above mentioned Washington Post article. If one person increases the national debt from 10 to 20 they are said to have increased it by 100% but then if another person increases the debt from 20 to 30 they are only increasing it by 50%. Beginning to see the problem?

A better way to see who increased the debt is to show the increase in dollars, and even more so to divide it over the length of the president's term. Reagan and Bush the younger may have increased by greater dollar amount but they also served longer terms that both the Elder Bush and Obama so far. Here are a few numbers for you:

President        Start of term      End of term     Total increase  Average yearly Increase
Reagen               $994B               $2.9T                 $1.9T                   $238B
Elder Bush         $2.9T                $4.4T                 $1.5T                    $375B
Clinton               $4.4T                $5.7T                 $1.3T                   $163B       
Younger Bush    $5.7T                $10.4T               $4.7T                    $588B
Obama               $10.4T              $11.8T(2010)     $1.4T                    $700B

Now these are extremely rough estimates that do not take into account the state of the economy, world affairs, war, and certainly not inflation but you see a very different trend. Clinton, a democrat, is by far the best. But it is Obama, another democrat, who is by far the worse, closely followed by the younger Bush. We need to realize that Obama has increased the national debt more in 2 years than Clinton did in his entire 8 years in office.

This graph is laughable. And the fact that it is taken seriously by people on social media sites is even more so. It is sad to see that Americans have fallen so far.