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submitted 16 hours ago by Confidant6198@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml

We are constantly told that solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing poor and working class people in the U.S. do not exist. Meanwhile, billions taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the genocide of Palestinians.

That very money could have ended homelessness in the United States.

Money for our needs, not the U.S.-Israeli war machine!

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[-] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 1 points 43 minutes ago

This implies that they care about the homeless issue. 23 billion is a rounding error in the budget. They just don't want to fix it.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago

For those with a skeptical nature, I hunted down these numbers.

The US has spent ~$18B on direct military aid to Israel since October 7, 2023. They've also spent ~$5B for operations in the region, mostly in the Red Sea and Yemen.

HUD does not provide numbers to "end homelessness", they report on the state of homelessness including an estimated census of the homeless.

Some annalists have taken these numbers and multiplied them by the cost to imprison someone, or the average cost of American housing. These estimates come out to $11-30B.

So the numbers check out. The only fault I could find with this meme's claims is that they are slightly misleading in suggesting $20B could "end homelessness" without the caveat that that's only for one year.

[-] Zron@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

20 billion could go a long way to curbing homelessness.

20 billion invested in high density, low rent housing units could make housing more accessible to millions of people, including the homeless.

Remember, not all homeless people are completely jobless. Many are couch surfing or sleeping in their cars, have stables jobs, and just can’t afford rent where their job is. An apartment they can afford could do a lot for these people.

[-] yesman@lemmy.world 1 points 27 minutes ago

You are correct. I like to focus instead on those lacking shelter who've been completely alienated from society and cannot be 're-rehabilitated'. These are the people who are erased when we speak about how lifestyle or work ethic "redeem" those in extreme poverty.

Lack of housing really isn't the root cause of the homeless epidemic. That money would need to go to revamping the mental health services Reagan destroyed to help the chronically homeless.

[-] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 13 points 5 hours ago

American democracy in action.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Homelessness isn't a bug in the system, its a feature. Employers need the threat of homelessness to push wages down and artificially inflate the labor supply. They need high rents to segregate portions of the community into "worthy" and "unworthy". They need car-culture to keep people isolated from one another in between work and home. They need student debt to trap people into corporate jobs, rather than setting out on their own as entrepreneurs, co-operative partners, and social workers. They need mass media to keep people more afraid of "crime" and welcoming of the "police" than they are welcoming of neighbors-in-need and hostile to state surveillance and harassment of dissidents.

The $26.7B we're sending to Israel is money towards an experiment in regional social controls and ethnic domination. If the Israelis can do it over there, the plutocrats back home can do it over here.

[-] PanArab@lemmy.ml 13 points 5 hours ago

Biden just wants to see more dead children

[-] arxdat@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 hours ago

I don't know about all that, but I do believe he has been captured by the MIC/Corporate influence and has no choice or control at all. But, I might just be naive in my thinking, lol.

[-] PanArab@lemmy.ml 16 points 5 hours ago

Biden? No. Here's him in 1982 wanting to kill women and children:

Begin said he was shocked at how passionately Biden supported Israel’s invasion when Biden “said he would go even further than Israel, adding that he’d forcefully fend off anyone who sought to invade his country, even if that meant killing women or children.”

https://theintercept.com/2021/04/27/biden-israeli-invasion-lebanon/

[-] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 hours ago

Unbelievable, but at the same time, being the USA the military hegemony it is, unsurprising too that these are words said by their leader.

[-] arxdat@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 hours ago

Yikes, thanks for sharing that. I’ve not seen anything like this. I have seen him say other pretty asinine things in his past, but nothing like this.

[-] celsiustimeline@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 5 hours ago

More people should play Metal Gear Solid 1-4. Governments don't exist to "help" people, they exist to expand their influence and ideally take over the world. Us civilians are meat for the meat grinder, and at best, mindless drones to tax to fund the meat grinder.

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 hours ago

Depends on what class is in control, this is true for dictatorships of the bourgeoisie.

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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2024
351 points (88.6% liked)

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