Let me preface this blog with a quick note; I am not an economist and I do not claim to know how the economy works. I am, however, a voting patriotic constituent who recognizes obvious waste in the system. I see opportunities that are at the very least worthy of a blog and open for discussion.
In a previous post, I spoke about the amount of money that we send to other countries for various reasons of aid and Americans are even very generous, donating tens of billions to aid hunger and poverty overseas (http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/35#tab-content-oda-breakdown-donor-2). Why are Americans not donating to Americans in need? I get that wealthy Americans are looking for tax write-off opportunities but let's give to our brothers and sisters who need food.
Take a look at what programs like Hunters for the Hungry are doing (http://www.huntersforhungry.com/). These hunters provide hundreds of millions of venison meals each year to the homeless and hungry at soup kitchens and shelters around the nation. This without federal dollars. There are many other organizations like this and my hat is off for each and every one.
Now in my aforementioned previous post, I was talking about the annual ticket of $400 million that we give to Hamas. I would like to see that money go to the homeless situation using shipping containers to make small houses and neighborhoods to kick start the homeless back into society. So now about all the money from private donations that goes overseas...I cannot understand why we are not donating to organizations committed to feeding the poor and hungry here. Don't get me wrong, I feel for everyone but I think it sends the wrong message to poor Americans when we send the money around them to other countries. Can we not save our own? Does it not bother you when you drive past homeless people holding a sign and looking for anything you can give?
Perhaps the organizations that reel in the donations need to do a better job at two things; one they need to get American dollars donated to their American programs and two they need to do more outreach so that these people who take to the corners know that there are resources. What makes more sense to you? Giving a few bucks to a man on a corner who will probably buy alcohol or drugs or give to a legitimate organization who can do so much more with it to assist these people. Now before you call me heartless in my thinking, allow me to share a TRUE story. A friend of mine passed a man begging on a corner for money for food. My friend drove to a McDonald's and purchased a gift card because he wanted to make sure that this man he wanted to help would be able to get guaranteed meals. The man threw the gift card back at my friend and said "Fuck You!" Not so nice. We have to get these people off the streets and get them into programs to help them.
Let's step up and give back. Bring a good portion of this donated money back from overseas and put it to good use for AMERICANS! I am including a list of great verified agencies who combat hunger here in the USA.
Feeding America
Food Pantries
List of Charities
God Bless the United States of America!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Solving Our Nation's Problems - Homeless
Let me preface this blog with a quick note; I am not an economist and I do not claim to know how the economy works. I am, however, a voting patriotic constituent who recognizes obvious waste in the system. I see opportunities that are at the very least worthy of a blog and open for discussion.
We have a terrible homeless problem in the United States of America. In fact, the problem is so bad that there is an annual report submitted to Congress called The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf). That is correct, we have a report. So this report typically states that there are just shy of 700,000 homeless individuals on a given night. Do you want to hear something that is deplorable? 12%, or just under 58,000 are VETERANS. In my opinion, that is about 12% too high as we owe more to our veterans who served and fought to keep this great nation free. But that is a subject for another discussion.
Right now let's focus on the entire situation. So we have a serious problem here. We should be concentrating on this issue.
It astounds me the amount of money that we send to other countries (http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/funding-mosques-overseas/); especially countries that promote terrorism (http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-should-americans-fund-hamas-1401913021). In a nation that has a deficit that is beyond being out of control, we just continue to send billions of dollars to other countries when we have a plethora of trouble here that needs to be addressed. I have a plan to help the homeless and it would probably cost less money than shipping it out of the country.
Shipping Containers.
That's right, shipping containers. Those steel containers that are shipped across the world's oceans to be loaded onto trucks to be shipped coast to coast. Well, these are fast becoming an ideal solution to affordable and sturdy housing and home designers are being very creative.
Now shipping containers come in a variety of sizes and here is the thing; they range in price from free (when companies just want to upgrade stock) to around $5000. I have even seen links on the web that have new ones for as little as $850 if you want a smaller one. Shipping containers are being used to bury in the ground as apocalypse shelters to office buildings, shopping centers and beautiful homes.
So if we built neighborhoods with used shipping containers, even the smaller ones, and spent another $30,000 to finish each one, install a roof full of solar panels and make a simple little house of it would this not help our homeless? I am not saying that we need to make luxury housing. I feel like we need to do something to bring the homeless indoors. The very basic human need is to have a roof over your head. The little extra money to make them "green" makes them self-sustainable and affordable in the future. This is an example of recycling in it's general form. Let's re-use these containers for some good.
If we look at the $400 million sent to support Hamas each year and divide that by say... $35,000 to do one basic container home... we can create 11,428 homes. As I said, I may not have exact figures or even know how it is supposed to work, but I know that somehow I have a say in where my tax money goes and I think many will agree that $400 million each year solves a lot of domestic issues with homelessness right here in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Additional Reading:
Could Shipping Containers Help End Homelessness? - Huffington Post
We have a terrible homeless problem in the United States of America. In fact, the problem is so bad that there is an annual report submitted to Congress called The Annual Homeless Assessment Report (https://www.onecpd.info/resources/documents/ahar-2013-part1.pdf). That is correct, we have a report. So this report typically states that there are just shy of 700,000 homeless individuals on a given night. Do you want to hear something that is deplorable? 12%, or just under 58,000 are VETERANS. In my opinion, that is about 12% too high as we owe more to our veterans who served and fought to keep this great nation free. But that is a subject for another discussion.
Right now let's focus on the entire situation. So we have a serious problem here. We should be concentrating on this issue.
It astounds me the amount of money that we send to other countries (http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/funding-mosques-overseas/); especially countries that promote terrorism (http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-should-americans-fund-hamas-1401913021). In a nation that has a deficit that is beyond being out of control, we just continue to send billions of dollars to other countries when we have a plethora of trouble here that needs to be addressed. I have a plan to help the homeless and it would probably cost less money than shipping it out of the country.
Shipping Containers.
Now shipping containers come in a variety of sizes and here is the thing; they range in price from free (when companies just want to upgrade stock) to around $5000. I have even seen links on the web that have new ones for as little as $850 if you want a smaller one. Shipping containers are being used to bury in the ground as apocalypse shelters to office buildings, shopping centers and beautiful homes.
So if we built neighborhoods with used shipping containers, even the smaller ones, and spent another $30,000 to finish each one, install a roof full of solar panels and make a simple little house of it would this not help our homeless? I am not saying that we need to make luxury housing. I feel like we need to do something to bring the homeless indoors. The very basic human need is to have a roof over your head. The little extra money to make them "green" makes them self-sustainable and affordable in the future. This is an example of recycling in it's general form. Let's re-use these containers for some good.If we look at the $400 million sent to support Hamas each year and divide that by say... $35,000 to do one basic container home... we can create 11,428 homes. As I said, I may not have exact figures or even know how it is supposed to work, but I know that somehow I have a say in where my tax money goes and I think many will agree that $400 million each year solves a lot of domestic issues with homelessness right here in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!
Additional Reading:
Could Shipping Containers Help End Homelessness? - Huffington Post
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