During one of my bouts not having a place to sleep, I ended up taking residence in a motel. It was a bad financial decision, borne in the circumstances I was in. When your credit gets shaky, its hard to find an apartment that will accept your application. This is doubly true when you haven’t saved enough for two months security. You end up being a rat in a maze, a maze whose exit gets harder and harder to find the longer you’re in it.
NYTimes: As Jobs Vanish, Motel Rooms Become Home :
Greg Hayworth, 44, graduated from Syracuse University and made a good living in his home state, California, from real estate and mortgage finance. Then that business crashed, and early last year the bank foreclosed on the house his family was renting, forcing their eviction.
Now the Hayworths and their three children represent a new face of homelessness in Orange County: formerly middle income, living week to week in a cramped motel room.
NPR: Sacramento Tent City Reflects Economy’s Troubles:
Job losses, home foreclosures and a deepening recession are sending scores of newly homeless people into a makeshift camp along the banks of the American River in Sacramento, Calif.
The tent city, spread over an area the size of several football fields, has local officials scrambling over how to handle the area’s homeless crisis.
The contrast to the news this weekend is beyond understanding.
NYTimes: A.I.G. Planning Huge Bonuses After $170 Billion Bailout
Metafilter: This is insanity
I see an opportunity here for someone with your experience to give people like this hope. Don’t you?
So what are you going to do about it, hmmmm?
Seems he already has Neo. When we talk about it and share it on a wide reaching medium like the Net, we ARE doing something. It is called education.
I am curious – what are your thoughts on this criminal act by AIG?
It’s okay steveb. It’s valid criticism.
1. I don’t talk about it as much as I could, or probably should.
2. My efforts volunteering so far have been in the online space, and they feel.. incomplete.
So I am actively searching for a way to do more, with the time I have leftpast family and work (which is – in the end – in support of family) matters.
Karl – I didn’t mean you had to go out and volunteer at a soup kitchen or hand out pot pies. I remember your stories about riding the train, and the things that happened back then. I think you might be able to incorporate some of that in a networking forum with groups across the country.
Especially those that are hardest hit with homelessness in this fragile economic environment.
If there was a way for people to kind of “Pay it forward,” with stories and internet outreach, that might be something worth doing. You could probably even get some of your existing users/posters over there to run with the model once you figure out how your voice could help.
I understand there is only so much time in the day. I just think there’s an opportunity there waiting for you if you want it.
———-
Steveb – AIG’s bonuses? Is that what you are referring to? The 167 million dollars everyone is turning red over when TRILLIONS are missing? Just keep the masses squabbling over that pile of crumbs while the rest of the criminals continue business as usual. There’s a report I came across that outlines how the entire market mess began. And it’s not just dems or repubs. If I thought you’d read all 213 pages of it I’d be more than happy to pass it along to you.
Karl – “By over there,” I meant phillyfuture.org… Sorry I forgot to type that in my comment. 🙂
Phillyfuture is a bit on the rocks and would take considerable effort to bring back to life. I’m debating if I should.
There are other online services that have come along that are helpful. Other blogs that share much more than I ever could with the time I have.
So I actually am thinking about soup kitchens. I’m thinking that is ultimately where I should be spending some time. Giving face to face support to someone.
http://www.projecthome.org/
http://pceh.org/
http://volunteer.united-e-way.org/volunteerway/volunteer/
http://coraservices.org/index.asp
neo wrote “Steveb – AIG’s bonuses? Is that what you are referring to? The 167 million dollars everyone is turning red over when TRILLIONS are missing? “
You go on drinking in the line of crap the Michael Savages, Neil Bortz’s and Rush Limbaughs keep selling you. It isn’t about the money Neo. It is about the concept. The same culture of greed, rewarding ineptitude and incompetence to the actualy people who got the economy into the toilet bowl it is in – WITH TAX PAYER DOLLARS. So please save the speech about diversion because until the very people you defend who would just as much spit on you and you kid if you were begging for food outside of their businesses are all taken down and the laws and loopholes that allow them to continue to let their greed grown out of control, then we will never see the light of day past the crisis.
You still haven’t answered how YOU would fix the problem, but yell like a banshee how others shouldn;t do it. Either be part of the soltuion or step off the train.
Steveb – Want to know how I’d fix the problem?
Before I get to my “Plan,” we need to do a little housekeeping first. To set the stage. Remove ALL existing senators and congress critters from office after a special election is held in ALL 50 states with all of them EXCLUDED; Pending prosecution at a later date from being found complicate in the current economic ponzi scam. After this is done, institute term limits of no less than 2 terms for either, with the option of recalling any of them should they NOT follow the people’s voice in their constituency.
Step #1, REMOVE the Federal Reserve.
There is no reason on this Earth that the people in America need to be held a slave to a bank that is run by foreign country in Europe, charging interest on creating money out of thing air. If they don’t want to tell us who the money went to then they need to be held accountable in the pre-mentioned indictments and tried accordingly.
If you don’t know about their fractional banking scam since the early 1900’s then you haven’t been paying attention.
Step Two
Begin signing and issuing indictments to any currently sitting or past politicians that has allowed this mess to get to where it is today while getting paid by the securities, banking, and lobbyists firms to look the other way. Trace the money that shouldn’t be too hard.
Step Three
Rescind and take back ALL bailout monies given to any of the banks who have been found guilty of manipulating the market with their shady dealings.
After the trials have been completed and any of these above mentioned people are found guilty they will be banned permanently from being employed in ANY sector of the country from dealing with ANY financial market, or housing businesses.
Step Four
After the US Government has taken back the taxpayers money. They will agree to liquidate ANY assets they have acquired through this whole process and remove the stigma of nationalization from the private sector of finance. Because the term conflict of interest is just too easily abused in their hands.
How’s that for starters?
Spoken like a true libertarian (and I don’t mean that as a compliment).
See what people like you don’t realize Neo, is you can only exist so long with a minimal government and a true wild west style free market capitialistic economy. Remember, your dollar only has value because of the demand for its exchange for goods. Devalue that, and guess what Mr. Libertarian – unless you plan on pumping your own water, generating your own electricity/gas/oil, refining your own oil for gasoline, growing your own food, harvesting your own lumber, making your own raw materials to refine, running your own computer network, making all the equipment to run that network, defending your own little piece of land, manufacturing your own weapons to do so, and so and ad nauseum, then you better get used to the fact that we HAVE to have a government and because of the current fucking toilet bowl both government and business has put us in, we ALL need to now suffer a little and band together to fix this.
Now want to know how things really need to be fixed? A total change in our culture and what has become acceptable societal norms. Middle class people cant pretend we are Posh fucking Spice and dress out kids in $500 DeCoste sunglasses and tote around in $60,000 lexus suv;s – all bought off of credit. How do we do that? You simply don’t have a consumer credit market anymore for frivilous purchases. God forbid we do that and poor visa and master card and bankers would all be forced to make only make tens of billions a year rather hundreds of billions. And to do this, yes, we need regulation. To regulate we need laws. And for laws, that is where our government steps in. So sorry that bothers you.
Steveb – Wait, you asked me what I’d do to fix this and then you completely ignore what I’ve said? Without removing the cancer from the body there is no point in pretending any longer.
In this case the cancer is YOUR (sel)elected officials. The guys who line their pockets with special interest money while giving the shaft to the poor people who thought that if they worked hard their entire lives that they would be able to retire and have a little piece of something.
The root of America’s problem IS the Federal Reserve, how can I make that any clearer to you? The same Federal Reserve that is pumping so much money into the economy that when hyperinflation hits that worthless dollar will be worth pennies. And make no mistake hyperinflation is coming. They are destroying the Dollar, and there will come a day in the very near future where countries like China and Japan stop buying the debt.
The framers of the United States knew this at the start and warned people about putting such a large institution (central bank) in control. And all these years later, what do you have?
Then again I guess it doesn’t matter because of the mindless zombies walking around punch drunk on the kool-aid don’t even know what form of government they have. Most morons down there think they are in a Democracy. The US is a Republic. But this is what you get when the school systems are a failure and people are raised by DVD’s and TV.
And when all the jobs are gone the US will fall into 3rd world status. Such a wonderful experiment she was but the ignorant forgot what made America great.
So your idea about being self sufficient may not be completely too far off base. The break down of society isn’t too far away. I don’t see anything wrong with people growing their own food, and working for their communities for the better. There really isn’t any reason that energy alternatives shouldn’t be in place now. Oh that’s right, if people got off the oil the arabs wouldn’t be getting billions of dollars from John and Jane taxpayer every year.
But you continue to contradict yourself Neo. You preach self suffciency, yet in the very same line you mention better communities. Libertarians don’t beleieve in community, they beleive in the every man for themself mantra. Careful even mentioned the word community – think about it, it is awfully close to communism, and god forbid we ever live in a society where we no longer compete in a dog eat dog world.
And Neo, PUHLEASE save the Michael Savage ideal for the cigar bar smokers. People who don’t know the difference between a democracy and a republic didn’t put us into the mess we are in. The federal reserve didn’t either – last time I checked, we had a few ups and downs with some being larger than others since FDR enacted it, but if I remember correctly, Clinto gave us a surpluss, and in 8 years Bush and his REPUBLICAN CONGRESS give us record defecit not to mention overturned or eliminated every regulation that gave us Enrons, AIG,s Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, etc. So it was the Bush Administrations and the rich and greedy assholes on wall street who have managed to devalue the dollar.
And the USA is a federal constitutional republic (which I fail to see how this really matters all that much in this discussion we are having) What does a federation of states with their own political sovereignty have to do with the economica meltdown? Last time I checked, the entire global market is crippled).
Finally to quote the great John Nash who stated governing dynamics is when one does what is best for himself and the group means everyone wins. Try that one morning Neo, wake up one morning and go to your job thinking that you can work for your own self interests so long as they benefit both you and the group rather than thinking of “what can Neo and only Neo get out of today”
Steveb – Wow, if what I write is compared to all these people you compared me with I should be a rich guy. Let’s get something straight right now. I left America because all knowing retards like YOU broke it. If you can’t stop and realize what the harm of the Federal Reserve is doing to America then YOU are part of the problem. When someone stands up to point out where the system is broke they get pelted with catch phrases and bullshit from people like you. And when the dollar crashes it won’t be from the people like who have warned the morons like you forever about where this would all end.
You would listen, you didn’t listen when Clinton was passing NAFTA and you didn’t listen when Bush was ramming his unconstitutional garbage down everybodys throats. And btw know it all, not that it matters but Dems were in control for the last two years of Bush’s run. But that doesn’t matter because reality doesn’t apply to idiots like you. Keep believing that there is a right and left while the rest of the population of America is raped by the ignorance. I’m done with you… GO find a clue…
Listen asshole, you left this country so you don’t get a say in how to fix anything. So *I* am done with *YOU*