Freethinker's corner

Recent figures show that almost three-quarters of a million people are homeless in the United States. Almost 2/3 of that occurs in urban areas. About 1/3 of the homeless are chronic cases, enduring lengthy or repeated homelessness.

          There is a shortage of low-income housing available. There is nothing for at least 2/3 of those suffering homelessness due to low income.

          Business centers on profit. Unfortunately, you cannot generate the income investors want from the pockets of the homeless. Not to say there are no generous people, kind enough to help those in need. There are just too few of them.
Ignoring the education level of those who are homeless, and the fact that many of these downtrodden are mentally ill, there are simply some who cannot pull themselves up by themselves. They do not have the clothes to wear to look for employment, nowhere to bathe, no decent place to sleep. Yet, to simply say “The poor will always be with us”, as a way to dismiss the problem is extremely callous. They are human beings. To expect them to live in the streets like rats is incomprehensible.

Yet, the disparity continues. The rich lacking nothing, the homeless lacking everything. As time passes, the gap grows ever larger. Many rich have so much currency that they could  not spend it all in a human lifetime. Sitting in their fine estates they are content. Content to look at those who have nothing and remain silent. Wait, they are not silent, they speak against the poor as if their condition is of their own making. They yell at them, “get a job you misfit”, or other heartless exclamations. They do not care to remember 1929 and the deepest economic downfall ever. All they see is their ever growing bank account, fretting that it isn’t growing fast enough.

          Capitalism feeds this system. Competition is the only guideline. If you aren’t rich to begin with your chances are no better than a lottery. It is a hopeless state. No capital to invest, no clothes fine enough to work anywhere, you can’t even make it to the starting line. It’s off limits for you. This is a failure of the majority of humanity. Those who have do not care whether others are destitute.  The poor cannot even eat cake.

          The solution is to adopt a new system that works for the people, not for the rich. Taxes go towards the people’s needs. Healthcare for everyone, education for everyone… help for the least capable, the poor, the destitute. It is my belief that Democratic Socialism, the government taxing the rich to care for everyone. Business still privately owned, but taxed to even the playing field. No one need be homeless. No one need starve. The only way this would not appear acceptable are to those rich who revel in the misfortunes of the poor. Nearly inhuman trash that sees delight in the man living in the gutter. Yes, pure capitalists. There is simply something not right in their heads.