Make Up For Lost Time?

Diane the Contrarian, ever vigilant, is not holding her breath. Nope.

The recent influx of $1.5 billion stimulus dollars to address homelessness will help some folks move off the streets, but...500 cities getting funding? My quick Google check led me to a Census Bureau page that listed 718 cities over 50k. What happens to the cities that don't get funds--the unselected out of the 718 and the little ones?

What happens to the little ones--as in kids--who find themselves in the wrong place, with the wrong family at the wrong time? I've been astounded by the plethora of stories across the country talking about homeless families and youth. Seems to me we've given up on those who have no voice. Are we glossing over the big problem--poverty and its many ills--and tossing money at housing?

A recent NY Times article by one of my favorite poverty/homelessness writers Erik Eckholm pointed to a little-mentioned reality in our war on crime--the kids whose parent(s) go to jail, often leaving the kids to fend for themselves. These are the kids we should be worrying about instead of throwing good money after bad at banks, Wall Street, and the like. HEAR US has focused on this population, hoping at least to stabilize the education of children who end up homeless when a parent is incarcerated.

I'd point out what is obvious to me--that our quick-fix schemes--war on drugs, crime, poverty, etc.--seems to hurt those "we" purport to help. And someone else gets rich in the end. We're all responsible--it's our tax dollars being spent by our elected officials.

A perfect example of capitalism gone awry is found in a fascinating account of the Las Vegas housing market's rise and fall. This is worth listening to if you want to know, in simple terms that will disgust the average listener, how our so-called sophisticated financial system deteriorated by greed-mongers.

Seems to me that the best intentions of President Obama may be thwarted by the evil ways of money-grabbers. I will be happily surprised if this round of funds to alleviate homelessness doesn't make the rich even richer.