Homeless people & cardboard signs, a lifestyle choice??

Question

I believe it was the French that first went PC. Back in the 1800's they started calling their bums, the "Leisure Class"! It worked for a while then burned out as they went back to calling em bums. In the early 1990's in our USA some entrepreneur capitalized on the PC "business" & came up with a way to pocket some more federal reserve notes for himself. He coined the phrase "homeless people" to replace the then used word..."bums". Presto! The bums now had a dignified sounding title & a "cause", & the entrepreneur had a "reason" to ask Uncle Sam for "free" financial aid to help put a roof over the bums heads. Of course the entrepreneur had to be paid & of course the bums are still panhandling at the intersections! We the taxpayer pay for these "schemes" with our sweat thru unrepresented taxation. I'm voting for Ron Paul in a hope to end these schemes & squandering of our hard earned federal reserve notes thru mindless taxation.. Are you with me for Ron Paul?

im_foxyg...there are many FEDERAL programs for vets including education packages, medical & counseling. My son is on disability for an electrocution he suffered in Germany. He was cleaning armored fighting vehicles in a steam wash bay when a 220 volt short anchored him HARD! He still suffers seizures, tho, thank God, not like he did due to medications. This happened to him after his tour in Bosnia. In one of his engagements(night action) his outfit opened fire on a platoon sized group of Serbs. In the morning they checked out the remains of the Serbs & found several kids in the carnage. Freaked him out. Still goes to counciling, maybe always will. He is currently attending EWU in Cheney Washington for a degree in computer forensics. He's had worse luck than me if that's possible. He does NOT hold up cardboard signs & beg. Neither did senator McCain after his Viet Nam ordeal. As men of honor, both got on with their lives. The bums should also!

Aunt b93; I am not against help for our disabled vets for cryin out loud! I'm against the scheming/graft that has accompanied the whole homeless people program. Alakazam is right on his evaluation of the situation I do believe, Read his answer. Right here in Spokane Washington there is a group of homeless bums that are/were? camped out in a lot on the north side of town. Neighbors were scared to let their kids go out & play for the fights, drunks, drugs & ROUDINESS that accompanied these vagabonds. Where they getting the booze & drugs from? People hand em money including the government. These folks are nothing more than professional bums! If they don't want to better themselves, fine! BUT, don't pay em for being bums! That's like rewarding a kid for flunking in school!!!

Answer 1

We are supposed to respect people's lifestyle choices. I believe that as long as they're not a burden on taxpayers, you can live your life however you want. Those bums need to learn that.

Answer 2

I'm with you for Ron Paul, but do not go along with your heartless evaluation of the homeless situation. Some people may choose the "cardboard sign by the roadside" way when there is an alternative, but that's because they have found the alternative unacceptable. An old guy who runs away from a poorly run nursing home, or a mental patient who feels making it alone is better than the hospital (see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"). And there definitely are people who choose it because they can pursue intoxication, or are preparing for suicide.

But are these "choices," really? If there were no tax-supported bureaucratically dominated institutions, it is my conviction that other, more personal, more humane alternatives would spring up. It's just good business, for example, to allow such people to live in a sheltered environment which is freely chosen and do some minimalist sort of work instead of out-sourcing to some other country with cheap labor. It would be sensible to organize co-ops along the same lines.

There are many creative solutions to homelessness if people are permitted to pursue them without bureaucrats with fat salaries and benefit packages and expense budgets getting involved.

For those who really want to be too independent even for that, why not camp sites where they can hang out and regulate themselves? There used to be such things for gypsies all across Europe in the old days.

Answer 3

Is this a trick question or what?

You know what BOBO - we shoudl all be homeless. They seem to be the only really FREE people in this country. They dont pay any taxes, they get more free stuff from the government then the "illegals", they dont have to answer to any master, they are free to move about anywhere they want - wow what a wonderful life.

What would you think if some of these people actually wore decent clothes and showered once per day? Would you still call them homeless? Would you still call them bums??

All you have done was prejudge them based on what you heard and lumped them into a general category. While the stereo type may or may not fit everyone in the category - the root cause is all the same.

Sorry - but its a lack of choice and control that causes them to be this way. The root cause is NOT that they choose to live like this - the root cause is they were not held responsibile for thier decisions and ended up like this.

The guy who lost his job isnt held to the standard of getting another one because the government allows him to wipe it all away. Oh poor is the homeless - we have to do something to help - and WHAMO - he is no longer helping himself. Why should he bend over backwards to get something for himself when its given to him for free.

You can put anyone of these people you talk about into the pot and dive down to the root cause - it will all be the same - they are not held responsible for themselves. While I believe that everyone aught to have a chance at living the life they want - I am not a bleeding heart.

If Ihave to work my kanobaknockers off to keep my family then by golly thats what I will do. I am responsible for them until they decide they are ready to try and get out there on thier own. I will teach them whatr I know to prepare them etc. but it will be up to them to follow through. To each his own - the rewards of his labor.

We the taxpayer DO NOT have to pay for these things - WE CAN STAND UP AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT - but we dont - we are all scared little puppets and sheeple that follow the slaves.....yes I said slaves....we have allowed our slave government to become our master out of ignorance and now we refuse to get up and stop them.

Like the "bums" you talk about - and thier choice - we also have the same choice - I just dont see anyone doing anything about it - well at least not where I am - I think I am the only one in the entire state - sooner or later its all bound to catch up with me and I may end up in jail - but it wont be because of the lack of will to try and make a change.

Yes I am with you for Ron Paul - but what happens after he gets into office? Did anyone think about that? Who is going to replace him when his time is up? Who is going to learn fast enough to keep all his good work going when his time in office is over?

We are a society full of lazy, complacent people who are just happy they can have their beer and watch their simpsons on tv - rather then taking an interest inthe world around them and making it a better society. Until we get off our lazy backsides and work together to starighten out this country - Ron Paul - will only be a blimp on the radar and the next wave of CFR infractions will only be delayed for the time he is office.

All that being said - the question now becomes - how do we motivate people to learn, so someone is ready to take Ron's place at the appropriate time?

Any suggestions?

Answer 4

Many of the unfortunate do not qualify for government programs, either because they're not legally crazy or they're not disabled enough. The economy is terrible, and most people don't want to hire dirty homeless people with no way to contact them (address, phone, etc) so they "fly signs" to try to cover some basic life needs. Many others also are just traveling through town and have no resources at all.

Answer 5

I'm not with you on Ron Paul, however, I completely agree with you that the misuse of funds appropriated by congress for the homeless is disgusting.. then again, there is misuse of lots of funds appropriated by congress, this is just a small portion of the problem. But to answer your heading question, I can't see anyone saying to themselves when they are a kid, "I want to be a bum when I grow up!" But for some, yes, it is obviously a choice because some bums make a TON of money.

Answer 6

500 to a 1000 of our latest war vets, now are homeless or as you call them bums.

Once again dstr is on the money .Thank you dstr. Well said

Answer 7

I think sometimes it is a choice, other times maybe unavoidable circumstances such as sickness or tragedy in ones life may contribute.

Answer 8

Short answer: my dad's generation called them "bums"

I was taught to not be one.

Answer 9

Do you realize that a high percentage of homeless are vets?
I wonder what war does to their minds.
Do we turn our backs on them? Do we say they did their job so they can rot on the streets? What do you suggest?

Answer 10

While a tiny segment of the US population becomes increasingly powerful both economically and politically, working class families continue to rely on two incomes to make ends meet while 13% of the population lives below the poverty level.

As the semblance of a meritocracy in America succumbs to the forces of plutocratic ambition and greed under the Bush Regime, American economic system's "noble and fair" reputation is dutifully maintained by genuflecting mainstream media pundits. Yet there is one particularly shameful stain which not even master propagandists can mask.

In a self-proclaimed Christian nation awash in a sea of money, guided by allegedly noble principles, and purported to have a Manifest Destiny to convert the world to the American Way, a significant number of discarded, hopelessly poor human beings are living proof of the cruel hypocrisy of the ruling elite of the United States. America's homeless are living testaments to the gross injustices of Capitalism, even in an economy tempered with elements of government-funded social programs and regulations on businesses.

Homelessness is not limited to the conventional notion of people sleeping in a cardboard box or on a park bench. America's homeless people include those who live in their cars, abandoned buildings, cheap motels called flop-houses, and train or bus stations.

Many homeless maintain jobs making sub-standard wages. Other ways the homeless obtain their meager incomes is through begging, street performance, selling street magazines (written and distributed by the homeless), and selling their blood plasma. In their desperation, some feign illness to gain admission to hospitals while others commit crimes so they can get "three hots and a cot".

Those with untreated mental illness are amongst the most vulnerable of our society. Tragically, the mentally afflicted comprise 25% of the homeless population. In the 1960's, the United States government de-institutionalized many suffering with chronic mental illness. Our ruling elites at multiple levels of government failed (and continue to fail) to establish and fund adequate community service programs necessary for these people to achieve stability in their lives. Without adequate support systems in their communities, many mentally ill individuals wind up living on the street.

At least 38% of the homeless are reported to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol to escape the misery of their situation, thus greatly diminishing the likelihood they can reclaim stable lives.

About 5% of the homeless are runaway teens. It is a travesty that due to a dearth of government social safety nets, many of these children fall prey to drugs, street gangs, prostitution, or the pornography industry.

Representing a particularly searing indictment of America's Capitalist constitutional republic are the 500,000 US military veterans who experience homelessness each year. Conscripted or manipulated by propaganda to fight in wars of imperial aggression (like Vietnam), homeless veterans were used by the elites and cast aside like yesterday's garbage. The Veterans Administration only provides housing for veterans who are chronically ill, has severely neglected the needs of those with mental illness, and cut most Vietnam War Veterans adrift with no job training. Risk your life to expand the American Empire and you get to spend the rest of your days eating out of trash dumpsters.