[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by sparky

This would be fascinating. The "letting loose" of the mentally ill is well documented. I would like to know the exact repercussions and some numbers.

Also, what I would like to see is a poll, or some kind of statistics on the homeless themselves. I want to see a detailed questionnaire about how people became homeless, and what it would take to get them out of it.

The arguments about spending are USELESS without knowing how people got where they are. Money, shmoney. Money will not solve the problem of poverty. It never has. Like I posted before, I have known people who were homeless and died homeless. I know why they got there. I think there is a certain percentage of the population that is going to be incurable addicts, and it will never change. What about the rest ? Who the hell are all of these people ? The people I know from my hometown who are on public assistance all have kids from 3 or 4 different men, never got married, never graduated high school, chain smoke, drink cheap beer, and do nothing. And their parents were the same. It seems a cycle...learned, genetic... I don't know.

It is most definitely a cycle. That is why education is so important. that is why the middle class is so important. That's why we have to teach them about birth control in the schools. If I remember correctly, girls without a prominent male figure in the home are 3 times more likely to become pregnant out of wedlock than girls who do have a prominent male figure in their lives. Also, consider the cost of day care. How are moms who are making 40k a year before taxes supposed to pay for day care for the little ones while they work to make ends meet? TheEuropean countries have a much stronger focus on quality of life while we seem to have lost that in America for a variety of reasons.