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Jan 1, 2022·edited Jan 1, 2022Liked by John Hawkins

A quote from Manhattan Contrarian, Francis Menton, regarding New York's ineffective use of taxpayer money: "the level of spending remains astonishing. $3.5 billion for about 48,000 homeless represents about $73,000 spending per “homeless” person. That’s close to $300,000 for a family of four, a level that, if the family earned it, would put it in about the top 5% of income earners in the country — not to mention subjecting it to an income tax bill of close to $100,000 among the federal government, New York State and New York City.....But then, as noted here many times, no government bureaucracy ever solves the problem it is tasked to solve. To solve the problem would be to risk ending the program and putting the agency out of business." https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-12-31-as-bill-de-blasio-prepares-to-leave-office-part-ii-homelessness

The welfare industrial complex keeps this problem alive and it won't ever go away because of it.

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Best Wishes for a Happy New Year, John. I became a paid subscriber in September so now I'm going back into the archive and reading some of the essays before then. This is an excellent summation of why it's incorrect to name people who chronically live on the streets homeless. That word is a marketing ploy used by the city, state and federal government to continue throwing taxpayer money at a problem they don't want to solve. Some of those serving the "homeless" need that population to avoid becoming homeless themselves. Ok. That might be an overstatement but there's a reason huge sums of taxpayer money is wasted with nothing to show for it. Enabling the mentally ill and addicted is NOT helping them, however it is helping those who choose it as a lifestyle, and those who get paid to keep that population on the street. Love the way you keep it real, John. Hearing straight talk is music to my ears.

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