FEATURE - Hidden homeless emerge as U.S. economy worsens
Fri, Mar 27 09:03 AM
Emergency shelters brimming with homeless people in California's capital are quietly turning away more than 200 women and children a night in a sign of the deteriorating U.S. economy.
The displaced individuals on waiting lists at St. John's Shelter and other facilities often turn instead to relatives or friends for temporary living quarters, perhaps moving into a spare room, garage or trailer. The less fortunate might sleep in their cars or a vacant storage unit.
They are the hidden homeless. And their ranks appear to be growing as rising joblessness and mortgage foreclosures take their toll in Sacramento and other U.S. cities, experts say.
U.S. President Barack Obama recognized the trend in his televised news conference this week, saying, "the homeless problem was bad even when the economy was good," and he vowed to bring greater government resources to bear to deal with it.
"It is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours," he said.
A "tent city" of up to 200 homeless in Sacramento was thrust into the media spotlight last month as a symbol of the battered U.S. economy. California authorities said this week they would shut down the illegal settlement and find other shelter for its residents, most of them chronically homeless.
My Views:
This is what happens when manipulated fiat money lifts prices of assets way beyond their actual value. What Greenspan did in the earlier part of this decade resulted in such stories. His reckless act of lowering interest rates to near zero for too long created this and now imagine what Bernake's acts can do.
The poors will remain poor forever if fiat money is to be trusted and those who earned money with hard work will be robbed by this artificial money.
Your views on the US homeless are very true. Other emerging economies too face this decline in offtake of residential properties due to the shrinking survival income of those who once had a hayday not too far. Their reckless spending has affected those with no access to such income. Not only properties, even drugs are very costly these days where people with ordinary income find it difficult to survive.
ReplyDeleteVery true Gopal G.
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