As a teen in the 80s, I was all about Mtv. In the final years they were constantly talking about the homeless problem. Well shit, I thought, I’m just a kid, didn’t know this was a thing, assumed it always had been.
Comment on U.S. homelessness surged 18 percent to record level, annual report says
SeanBrently@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Interestingly the modern era of homelessness in america started in the 80’s with the Reagan administration, starting with deinstitutinalization of the mentally ill, budget cuts to HUD and deliberate weakening of workers rights and protections.
The oft-repeated false idea that “the free market” will automatically find the most efficient solutions for everything has been proven false again and again, and here is yet another example.
shalafi@lemmy.world 1 week ago
SeanBrently@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Yeah, there have always been some people, hobos for example. Post WW2 there was a small population of unsettled people, mostly white men. People of color who were down and out got jailed. Mostly it was older men, disabled and/or suffering from addiction and depending on social security or welfare. There were cheap hotels, “flophouses” and roominghouses in the poorest parts of cities. Old guys staying in such places would be considered housed by today’s standards.
But then in the 80’s things changed. Younger men, and then women, and then whole families became homeless in a way that had never been seen before. Hardworking responsible people unable to get health insurance would lose everything if sick or injured and unable to work, savings taken by medical bills. Veterans with ptsd got no little to no help from the VA. Budget cuts closed psychiatric hospitals and people with chronic and severe mental problems were turned out onto the street, unable to care for themselves. America’s population of “homeless” and “street people” kept growing.
Lovstuhagen@hilariouschaos.com 1 week ago
The oft-repeated false idea that “the free market” will automatically find the most efficient solutions for everything has been proven wrong again and again, and here is yet another example.
To be completely fair to Reaganites, I think they are not concerned with homelessness being fixed.
SeanBrently@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Absolutely correct.
The Reaganites and their descendants have no intrest in the poor, except in their utility as a means of criticizing the democrats. However hypocritical such a criticism may be, have the democrats made it a priority to address homelessnes? The democrats are just as beholden to wall street and it’s concerns as those across the aisle.
Only by protecting workers rights, and following other fair, common sense socialist principles and policies, can we get Americans back to meaningful employment and living in safe affordable housing.
jimbolauski@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Deinstitutionslization started in the 70’s as well as modern homelessness. Peanut boy had high unemployment rates at 9% and insane interest rates 22%, no one could afford to buy a home in the 70s. Reagan managed to get unemployment down to 5% and interest rates to 6%.
Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Sure, you can make rhe case that the origin of the current homelessness crisis goes further back, but it is undeniable that Reagan accelerated the process beyond any other set of post war policies.
You can also point to some short term benefits from that administration but you don’t mention that Reagan (and the party of fiscal responsibility) increased the federal debt from $738 to $2.1 trillion, thus transforming the USA from the worlds largest creditor to the worlds largest debtor.
Since Reagan, many people who called themselves conservatives and those who called themselves liberals both embraced neoliberal policies, and some benefited a lot. The long term consequences we see are dissapearing middle class, ever increasing income inequality and record levels of homelessness.
It also seems like no particular person or party is really to blame, these are just the natural results of late stage capitalism, invisible hand of the market and all that.
jimbolauski@lemm.ee 1 week ago
The Reagan debt was mainly due to a compromise where democrats never held up their end of the deal. Spending cuts were to accompany the tax cuts at a later date but they never did. I suspect Reagan didn’t push hard for spending cuts as the economy was still recovering from Carter.
Further the house of representatives was controlled by the dems from 1957 to 1997, per the origination clause all spending bills must originate in the house. Much of your late stage capitolism rants were rooted in spending policies drafted by your liberal comrades.