This is a growing problem in our society that most politicians want to ignore for it is a lose-lose proposition for their political lives.

You have heard all the BS that the homeless are alcoholics, drug users, mental disabled or mentally ill, etc etc…. but is there a more true and more accurate reason for this grow stain on our society?

Most what you hear from those lay-abouts in politics is myth….that is righgt it is bullsh*t from the get go….

Here Padgett debunks some of the most common homelessness myths:

1. Most are mentally ill

“Decades of epidemiological research reveals that one-third, at most, have a serious mental illness. Many initially believed de-institutionalization or closure of mental hospitals a prime cause of homelessness, but this occurred well before the sharp increase in the 1980s.”

2. The majority abuse drugs and alcohol

“Experts believe only about 20% to 40% of people who are homeless have a substance abuse issue. In fact, abuse is rarely the sole cause of homelessness and more often is a response to it because living on the street puts the person in frequent contact with users and dealers.”

Let’s take a quick look at the issue….

Homelessness is also concentrated among minorities and groups with severe income deprivation. According to the latest survey, 32 percent of the homeless identify as Black and 31 percent as Hispanic/Latin. American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous populations suffer a particularly high rate of homelessness (83 out of 10,000 people in 2023). 33 percent of the homeless were in families with children, while 19 percent were under 18. A recent study found that the income of people experiencing homelessness remained persistently very low for a decade surrounding the period of homelessness, although nearly half of homeless adults had formal employment in the year they were observed as homeless and nearly all sheltered homeless adults either worked or were reached by at least one safety net program. This suggests that homelessness tends to arise in the context of long-term, severe deprivation rather than large and sudden losses of income. A recent cross-country analysis found that about two thirds of adult homeless people suffer some form of mental illness, with the rate in the US being particularly high.

While individuals may become homeless for many reasons, overall variations in homelessness are closely associated with the availability of affordable housing. The decline in homelessness following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 occurred alongside substantial declines in home prices and rents relative to family income. The rise in homelessness since then coincides with the subsequent sharp rise in housing costs relative to income (see chart). The geographical pattern is similar. States with high homelessness tend to be those with a shortage of affordable housing, as measured by an annual survey of the availability of affordable rental homes conducted by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. Similar patterns have also been found in Europe, where national studies have found that rising homelessness coincides with reduced availability of affordable housing.

Now for what has been learned about homelessness….

A new study from Case Western Reserve University, a nonprofit research university in Ohio, is shedding light on a leading cause of homelessness in America.

Meagan Ray-Novak — a research assistant at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School’s Center on Poverty and Community Development — led the research by conducting 40 extensive interviews with people in her community experiencing homelessness.

She says the study challenges outdated assumptions about homelessness.

“We were asking people very broadly what life was like before they became homeless, and what we found is that the majority of the population had actually experienced some type of loss,” Ray-Novak told News 5 Cleveland — a local ABC News outlet.

“Some kind of death, divorce, separation, and caretaking responsibilities that had significantly impacted their ability to stay in their home.”

Ray-Novak went on to explain that the study didn’t just show that grief was a unifying theme for people who were chronically homeless (living unhoused for more than 12 months at a time).

The study also uncovered how major trauma like this often comes at the cost of someone’s personal care.

More specifically, the death of an immediate family member or friend was often precipitated by the individual compromising their own wellbeing and livelihood to help a loved one.

https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/new-study-leading-cause-of-homelessness

So when you hear some wannabe know it all tell you their reasons for homelessness you can throw facts into the face and maybe get them to stop spreading the lies of politicians.

Or not.

Next we should do all we can to keep the truth out there and debunk that morons that will lie to avoid finding an adequate solution.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We all as consumers have been paying through the nose for our eggs….lots of bitching and very little from the politicians to lessen the burder on us with the exception of lots of rhetoric and ‘oughta do’

Trump, whose policies—from taxation to regulation and beyond—have overwhelmingly favored the ultrawealthy and corporations over working Americans. Meanwhile, one of the president’s signature campaign promises, to lower food prices “on day one,” has evaporated amid ever-rising consumer costs.

There is a report that we all know what it will say even before it was released….

As average egg prices hit record highs of nearly $5/dozen and a yearslong, worsening bird flu outbreak continues unfettered in all fifty U.S. states, the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch has released a new report detailing how the U.S.’s largest egg producer has exploited this crisis for profit.

In the report — “The Economic Cost of Food Monopolies: The Rotten Egg Oligarchy” — Food & Water Watch analyzes data from the first year of the current bird flu outbreak to detail how today’s soaring consumer prices are built on a foundation of corporate price-gouging.

Key findings include:

As Egg Prices Soar, New Report Details How Corporations Exploit Bird Flu Crisis For Profit

All the findings most of us egg eaters already knew beforehand….but what is to be done?

Well there is a plan….an investigation.

Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into the rising retail price of eggs, which has doubled in the past year and contributed to inflation. The inquiry will include whether large egg producers have colluded in raising prices or restricting the supply, the Wall Street Journal reports. The producers have said the avian flu outbreak is to blame; a statement by a trade group, the United Egg Producers, said egg farmers are “doing everything they can to fight back against this deadly bird flu outbreak.”

More than 150 million chickens, turkeys, and egg-laying hens have died in the outbreak since 2022, the Agriculture Department reports. Letters sent by the department to some egg companies for the investigation told them to preserve documents concerning their communication about prices and the flu with customers, competitors, and other companies. The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the price rose 53% year over year, per CNBC. “Farmers know people are frustrated and they are frustrated too by the situation,” said the head of an industry marketing group. “They know they are not able to put on the volume of eggs that people want.”

Democratic lawmakers called for an investigation into the issue last month, per ABC News. “You should look to the dominant food and grocery companies that have made record profits on the backs of working families who have had to pay higher prices,” they wrote to President Trump. “These companies often exploit crises like pandemics and avian flu outbreaks as an opportunity to raise prices beyond what is needed to cover rising costs.” And the Agriculture Department announced its own plan to lower prices last month.

That ought to do it!

An investigation will take about a year and all the while the bucks will keep rolling in for the egg producers….good plan!

We can immediately round up humans like cattle but no one has an idea how to lower egg prices….where’s the justice?

The meaning politicians cannot seem to stop price gouging but by a hefty fine and the practice can continue….what are we paying these idiots in DC to do?

I have had my say….now it is your turn.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”