Shame of the US

As of 2005, USA TODAY survey says that there are something like 727,304 homeless people nationwide, meaning about one in 400 Americans were without a home.
There are approximately 1.2 million children who are homeless, with more than half under the age of six.
How much have we spent to date on the War in the Middle East?
Somewhere around $161 Billion if I am not mistaken.
How much have we spent in the following areas?
Public Housing
Public Education
Children's Health





HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($585 billion), the military portion from other departments ($122 billion), and an unbudgetted estimate of supplemental appropriations ($20 billion). “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*
The Government Deception
The pie chart below is the government view of the budget. This is a distortion of how our income tax dollars are spent because it includes Trust Funds (e.g., Social Security), and the expenses of past military spending are not distinguished from nonmilitary spending. For a more accurate representation of how your Federal income tax dollar is really spent, see the large chart (top).
Source:Washington Post , Feb. 6, 2007,from Office of Management and Budget
These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2008. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 17, 2007, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.

The Government Deception

How can it be in a Country as rich as the United States that we have people unable to find shelter? Apparently the Shelters are already full and we are not yet in the dead of winter. This is a Nationwide Issue. Perhaps we need to get our priorities straight and take care of the needs of the people in this Country rather then sending aid overseas?
That's my view of "It".

Addendum: Let us not assume that all people are homeless due to substance abuse issues, although many are.
There are many unforseen things that happen in a life that can lead to homelessness, the current housing market and the foreclosure on many mortgages is but one example. I could go on about the many ways that people can end up homeless but I think you get my drift.

Dr. T said...
Funny, we keep spending more and more on "helping" the poor, and we still have the poor. Now, you are aware of course that the homeless problem came about after the ACLU forced the release of mental patients who did not volunteer to be there, which also happened to coincide with the closing down of "flop houses" where the destitute could live for cheap (the liberals shut them down because they weren't as nice a place to live as the liberals' homes -- I guess homelessness is an improvement over flop houses and mental wards.
November 28, 2007 6:29 PM

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