This is rich, as California recently passed a homeless funding package of $12B, 43X times more than was spent on the recall. And this is to deal with their estimated 160K homeless, of which ~114K are unsheltered.
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/07/19/governor-newsom-signs-historic-housing-and-homelessness-funding-package-as-part-of-100-billion-california-comeback-plan/
https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ca/
▪️If $280M could really end homelessness for “tens of thousands” then the $12B CA is spending over the next 2 years should be able to end it for over a million, which is far more than their entire homeless population. Does anyone really think CA homelessness will disappear in 2 years?
▪️No, because the real problem with the CA homeless is mental illness and/or drug addiction. Even the LA Times admitted that 67% of LA’s unsheltered homeless suffered from at least one of these (after previously citing a bogus report that it was just 29%).
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-07/homeless-population-mental-illness-disability
▪️OD naively assumes in this meme that it only takes ~$10K/person and a homeless person’s issues disappear. Nonsense. There is no “ending homelessness” in CA without tackling the mental illness/drug addiction issue.
▪️Remember, CA has a unique homeless issue compared to the rest of the country, as they have by far the most unsheltered homeless, 51% of the entire US! These are, on average, a much different group than the sheltered homeless and require a different approach.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
▪️This is a proposal that pertains only to graduate level nursing degrees, not undergraduate ones (which were never considered professional degrees). The proposal will have a 30-60 day public comment period next year, where groups can object, before the DoE will decide on it.
▪️This is about how much federal student loans someone can take out for a particular degree. The cap on graduate degrees is $100k ($20,500/yr), while a “professional degree” limit is $200k ($50k/yr).
▪️Under the new rule proposal, professional degrees include:
🔹Pharmacy
🔹Dentistry
🔹Veterinary medicine
🔹Chiropractic
🔹Law
🔹Medicine (including osteopathic medicine & podiatry)
🔹Optometry
🔹Theology
▪️The nursing degrees excluded are ones like master of science in nursing (MSN), doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and PhD in nursing. These degrees would be limited to $100k in federal student loans, like all other graduate degrees.
▪️These changes came from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s...
