[rangerone314]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'I') Know a Doctor that 'blew the whistle'. The medical community is like the Police Force, as they cover for themselves. She was paid off and black listed. She went back to school and became an Attorney and now is teaching collage.

[vision-master]

Things are looking reaaaaaaaal good - not.

A bud for mine (manager of a securities brokerage and investment banking firm) is now doing manual labor at age 50.

[patience]

Three of the counter people at the local McDonald's have Bachelor's degrees, but can't find a job that pays any better.

[gnm]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('patience', 'T')hree of the counter people at the local McDonald's have Bachelor's degrees, but can't find a job that pays any better.

[rattleshirt]

Indiana

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'T')hings are looking reaaaaaaaal good - not.

A bud for mine (manager of a securities brokerage and investment banking firm) is now doing manual labor at age 50.

[patience]

Thanks, rattleshirt. I shoulda said I'm in south Indiana. No tent cities here yet, but we have a lot of young people moving back in with their parents. A farm neighbor looked over the 6 ft. x 12 ft. chicken house I'm building and said, "Nice job, but watch out, somebody may want to live in here besides chickens!"

The Elkhart/Goshen, IN area had the highest unemployment in the US last month, I think, but that is up north. (That is the mobile home/RV mfg capital of the country, all of which is dead.) Here, it's officially about 9%+, but actually more like twice that. (U6 rate).

A pair of local guys who last year did home improvements, such as siding, roofing, and remodel, came by my shop last week with a lawn mower part to fix. They are mowing yards now, cheaper than the original lawn care outfits, so they can get work of any kind. Their clothes looked a bit rough, and their old car did, too, but they are still making it. Last year they completely remodelled a big house that whose owner planned to rent out rooms by the week. This year, the house is empty, and for sale. Dunno where all the people went who rented rooms there before.

[rattleshirt]

There are tent towns (less than 100 people each) near here but it isn't new. They have been there for years. Some different folks these days though.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ki11ercane', 'T')ax free day in Canada is May 31st. (yes, five months into the year)

[RonMN]

This isn't the first thread on the homeless & tent cities, but a thought popped into my mellon...Why not let the homeless set up camp at rest-stops along the highway?

Rest stops have bathrooms, showers, & drinking water. They have alot of land to pitch tents & most even have a place to "walk" your pet. They're away from large population centers. Big empty parking lots incase you're sleeping in your car as opposed to a tent. We could even add a few inexpensive fire rings for camp fires.

Even if this prevented most people from stopping at a rest stop, it would be a small price to pay in order to give these homeless people a place to set-up & not be hasseled & "moved on".

Good idea? Bad idea? Discuss...

[Ludi]

Looks good to me, except for the danger of having people concentrated near highways like that. You'd want to make sure there's extra security, and I'm not sure who is going to pay for it.

The major problem of tent cities is sanitation, so if communities could provide toilets, clean water, and if possible, shower facilities, that would go a long way toward avoiding the disease problems of these refugee camps.

Problem is, folks in tent cities are seen as "losers" and "deadbeats," not as good people down on their luck. So communities don't want them, and are not likely to provide facilities for them.

[Plantagenet]

A lot of the "homeless" in tent cities are alchoholics, drug addicts, and the mentally ill. They set up their "tent cities" near cities because they want to score drugs, panhandle, and get free food and other services from governmental and religious social service agencies-----they couldn't do that as easily at remote highway rest stops.

[RonMN]

I realize this would not solve all of the worlds problems...but it seems to me it would help. Especially when you consider the police man power that's already being used in constantly tearing down or relocating the tent cities popping up in every state.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I') realize this would not solve all of the worlds problems...but it seems to me it would help. Especially when you consider the police man power that's already being used in constantly tearing down or relocating the tent cities popping up in every state.

[Caffeine]

A large number of the homeless now were called "middle class" as recently as one or two years ago.

Where do you think all those people go when those homes get foreclosed on, Plantagenet? And how about the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have vaporized in the past few months? What happens to those people once they no longer have an income and NO jobs are available?

Many are able to move in with family or friends. Many are not.

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'T')his isn't the first thread on the homeless & tent cities, but a thought popped into my mellon...Why not let the homeless set up camp at rest-stops along the highway?

Rest stops have bathrooms, showers, & drinking water. They have alot of land to pitch tents & most even have a place to "walk" your pet. They're away from large population centers. Big empty parking lots incase you're sleeping in your car as opposed to a tent. We could even add a few inexpensive fire rings for camp fires.

Even if this prevented most people from stopping at a rest stop, it would be a small price to pay in order to give these homeless people a place to set-up & not be hasseled & "moved on".

Good idea? Bad idea? Discuss...

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Caffeine', 'A') large number of the homeless now were called "middle class" as recently as one or two years ago.

Where do you think all those people go when those homes get foreclosed on, Plantagenet? And how about the hundreds of thousands of jobs that have vaporized in the past few months? What happens to those people once they no longer have an income and NO jobs are available?

Many are able to move in with family or friends. Many are not.

[Pretorian]

ps oh and empty houses/apartments

[The_Toecutter]

People who live in their cars are often wrongfully searched and/or harassed by law enforcement or told to move elsewhere(where the cycle will be repeated). People who live in tents(as they are in these tent cities) are repeatedly removed by force because many communities don't want them nearby. People who squat in abandoned buildings are often forcibly removed by law enforcement for "trespassing". The U.S. also has many anti-vagrancy laws that effictively make homelessness a jailable offense. I suppose they could stay in shelters where they will likely have most of their possessions stolen and don't even have a garauntee of a bed(many are only given a chair to sit in).

IMO, the least expensive way to address this(on part of the taxpayer) would be to not bail out the banks at all, forcibly get rid of property tax collection(so that people can afford a place to live even with no job), outlaw states and municipals from passing anti-vagrancy laws(with plenty of statements from the U.S. constitution to back it up), and whatever homes are foreclosed on and owned by a bank that in such a scenario would be out of business should be given away to people who are homeless, for free, preferably to the person who previously occupied it. There's more than enough viable homes to go around for everyone who doesn't have one and which wants or needs one.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'A') lot of the "homeless" in tent cities are alchoholics, drug addicts, and the mentally ill.